Emma Penrod

Environment reporter

Emma came to The Tribune after many years of working for small community newspapers. She covers environmental issues, with an emphasis on water, air quality, and public policy.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Water levels on the Great Salt Lake have been dramatically receding as seen near Antelope Island and research further confirms that humans are responsible for the decline. Scientists, advocates and water managers weigh in on what needs to be done to reverse the course of history. Saving the lake is possible, they say, but it won't be easy.

Scientists say the Great Salt Lake is disappearing, but could Utah residents save it?

By Emma Penrod | May 1, 2019, 6:53 p.m.

(Courtesy of Karen and Carl Wheeler) A view of the Gentile Valley in Idaho, where some farmers are worried that Rocky Mountain Power's plans to store more water in Bear Lake could subject their farmlands along the Bear River to flooding — or even lead the electrical utility company to use eminent domain to take the properties from them.

Farmers worry their livelihoods might be swept away as Utah, Idaho and Rocky Mountain Power eye new Bear Lake water plans

By Emma Penrod | June 1, 2018, 9:24 p.m.

(Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune)
The older connections that come out in order to install Weber Basin water district's secondary water meters. The new meters were installed on a street in Westhaven today as part of a program to reduce water waste in their area, Thursday, April 26, 2018.

New technologies could help Utahns save water — but are we willing to use them?

By Emma Penrod | May 21, 2018, 3:12 p.m.

(Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo) Rocky Mountain Power crew works on power lines near 800 south and Foothill Drive in Salt Lake City. State regulators have cleared the electrical utility to pass savings from with last winter’s federal tax bill on to customers, saving average users about 3.4 percent on their bills for at least the next two years.

Many Utahns’ electricity bills will shrink this summer — and there could be even more savings in the works

By Emma Penrod | May 11, 2018, 3:08 p.m.

(Nate Carlisle | Salt Lake Tribune) Big Elk Lake, as seen on July 13, 2015, sits at the end of a 1.75 mile trail in the Uinta Mountains in Summit County. Summit County is one of five counties in Utah that has had a report of Lyme disease.

Lyme-carrying ticks and other dangerous pests are creeping into Utah, thanks to climate change

By Emma Penrod | May 6, 2018, 4:07 a.m.

(Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo) Sugar House resident Scott Thomas, shown with his clean-burning Lipo Parlor wood stove in 2015. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that Utah will receive nearly $13 million for Provo, Salt Lake City and Logan, to fund exchange programs for inefficient wood-burning devices and take other steps in hopes of improving air quality.

Utah offered nearly $13 million in federal cash to address stubborn wood smoke problem

By Emma Penrod | May 3, 2018, 3:03 p.m.

(Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brent Haupt, who received an artificial heart at Intermountain Medical Center's Artificial Heart Program, speaks at a news conference in Murray, Tuesday, May 1. He shows the first version of an artificial heart he received — the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart — that kept him alive before he eventually received a much smaller modern device. Patients, families and doctors reunited to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the hospital network’s pioneering artificial heart program, which has implanted more than 600 life-saving total artificial hearts and heart-assist devices during the past 25 years.

New technologies let Utah doctors keep heart patients alive longer — even when their natural hearts stop

By Emma Penrod | May 3, 2018, 3:03 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | Tribune file photo) Haze hangs over a North Salt Lake neighborhood in 2016. On Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formally declared large portions of the Wasatch Front to be in violation of federal standards of ozone, a colorless, odorless airborne pollutant that can effectively burn sensitive lung tissues when inhaled.

Feds give Utah three years to bring ozone pollution down to acceptable levels

By Emma Penrod | May 2, 2018, 3:28 p.m.

(Brian Maffly | The Salt Lake Tribune) Abandoned mines in Mary Ellen Gulch have been discharging heavy metals and acidic groundwater into American Fork Canyon for decades. A new EPA report is highlighting concerns of toxic exposure as the canyon's popularity with recreation enthusiasts has increased in recent years.

Toxic heavy metals in soils may pose risk to recreation in American Fork Canyon, new report finds

By Emma Penrod | April 23, 2018, 3:44 p.m.

(Al Hartmann | Tribune file photo) The Utah Capitol shrouded in a December 2017 inversion over the Wasatch Front.

Utah’s ozone pollution is getting worse despite progress on other fronts, American Lung Association says

By Emma Penrod | April 18, 2018, 4:06 a.m.