This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Voters in Utah's 2nd Congressional District say climate change is the nation's most pressing environmental problem and that immediate action is needed to address it, according to a new poll by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
"The most important message is people are aware of the issue and they would like their elected officials and businesses to start paying attention and take action to reduce global warming pollution," said Sara Baldwin of Utah Clean Energy, an environmental group.
The poll was conducted by Harstad Strategic Research Inc., a Boulder, Colo.-based company, June 14-16 in the 2nd District and results were released Monday. Questions were answered by 404 registered voters in the district, which elected Utah's sole Democrat in Congress and which sprawls from Salt Lake City to St. George.
One issue not addressed in the poll is nuclear energy.
Half of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s 24-member Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Climate Change voted last week to endorse nuclear energy. Utah currently has no nuclear power plants, given the sensitivity of the issue in a state that has fought high-level nuclear waste storage, received nearly $1 billion in compensation payments for victims of nuclear-testing fallout and endured about $1 billion in cleanups from previous nuclear-energy activities in the state.
David Tuft, director of NRDC's climate change project, said the group included nuclear power as part of its survey but was not releasing that data at this time. He noted that nuclear energy is not part of the climate-change legislation Congress is currently considering.
Greg Hopkins, senior vice president for EnergySolutions, said the environmental group's opinion surveys are comparable to findings seen in polls by the Salt Lake City nuclear services company. He added, though, that EnergySolutions says nuclear power ought to be "part of the mix," including such options as clean coal and renewables.
"Nuclear will play an increasingly important role in the future," Hopkins said.
A Salt Lake Tribune poll last summer showed that Utahns were roughly split in their belief that global warming is occurring. Baldwin said as more businesses tackle climate change and as Huntsman gets more active on the issue, it has become more visible to the public.
* 42 percent said global warming/carbon emissions was the top environmental issue, followed by air pollution/clean air (39 percent) and water pollution/clean water (25 percent.)
* 63 percent said global warming is an "extremely," "very" or "fairly" serious problem.
* 70 percent said efforts should begin now to reduce pollution blamed for climate change.
* More than 80 percent said there should be incentives for energy conservation, more energy efficient appliances, tougher vehicle emission standards and expansion of alternative energy use.