"Frankly, we're leaving the federal government in the dust," Anderson said during a committee meeting that focused on what cities could do themselves to use energy more efficiently.

He cited the 200 cities that have agreed to follow the Kyoto Protocol, signed by some 156 countries but not by the United States, as setting an example and leading a grass-roots effort to let the world know Americans are concerned with conservation and global warming.

"People are paying attention all over the world" to the cities' efforts, Anderson said after the meeting, noting that Salt Lake City has taken several actions to reduce energy consumption, from converting the city's fleet to fuel-efficient vehicles to changing to more efficient lighting. He says that in two years, the city kept the equivalent of 23,000 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Anderson said the state and federal governments need new energy policies. He called it a "dereliction of responsibility" for Utah not to have an energy policy that moved toward renewable energy sources.

"Utah has fallen way, way behind," he said.

Anderson's comments come six months after he held his own summit on global warming at Sundance.

That event brought 46 mayors from 28 states to Utah for discussion of energy conservation.

- Thomas Burr