Alexander Lofft is concerned about the air, and it’s not just for health reasons or global warming.
“I’m worried about Utah’s economic competitiveness because of the air quality,” Lofft said.
He’s serious enough about it that he put together a petition signed by 1,600 people. This week he sent it to Warren Buffet at Berkshire Hathaway’s offices in Omaha, that owns Rocky Mountain Power, in an attempt to help explore renewable energy.
“I thought it would be a great, audacious approach,” Lofft said.
Lofft runs Corporate Real Estate Group out of Park City. His brokerage does most of its work in Salt Lake City and he’s noticed some disturbing trends related to air quality, which in turn, may be affecting the quality of the state’s workforce.
“The air’s getting worse and worse,” Lofft said. “People are avoiding working in Utah and moving out because of the air.”
This directly involves Lofft’s business. He said he’s heard of companies considering moving to Utah as an alternative to Denver. But they reconsider because of the air quality. Consequently, it’s a loss of business for Lofft and an economic loss to the state.
Companies, he said, worry about moving their offices to the area because they fear potential health problems.
“We also learned of families moving out of Utah to escape the ill-health effects,” Lofft said.
Lofft said the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment studied the effects of air quality in the state and “they’ve recognized increased health problems in their hospitals, not only respiration problems but cardiovascular problems.”
These problems are driving away current and future businesses, he said.
“If the health problems continue to grow, it will become a very definite economic problem,” he said. “Companies looking at Salt Lake as a possible place have moved around it because they don’t want to move families and employees here. It’s coming in trickles. It doesn’t work in (the state’s) favor.”
The polluted air also has an immediate impact on the snow pack, he said. As the pollution particles drop on the snow, they melt the snow and poison the waters supply.
“If the snow pack goes out, we’re going to see a shorter ski season and we can see property values in Park City go out the window,” Lofft said.
These problems, he said, are independent of any talk of global warming.
“We don’t have to discuss global climate change,” he said. “It’s local-area pollution. It’s a very regional focus. This is a much more immediate impact. It’s something the Utah Legislature has an obligation to address, at least open-mindedly. We all want to see Utah grow and prosper.”
Lofft said coal power plants and vehicle emissions are what’s causing the pollution and there are plans to bring “several more” coal-powered plants to the state.
“That will only make things worse,” he said.
Lofft said there are more options that can be used in place of coal.
“I want my money to be spent on smart power,” he said. “For a person who moved here for the outdoor recreation, I want to see the air cleaner.”
Natural gas and renewable energy are available, Lofft said, and the state is starting to use more of it.
“But based on public opinion, they should be rolling it out faster,” he said. “With the increased health risk, they should be moving away from coal as fast as they can.”
Lofft said underutilized alternatives include natural gas, wind, solar, biomass and geothermal power. He believes these renewable-energy options could financially out-compete coal.
“Especially if you figure in carbon tax from the federal level,” he said. “Energy sources are dropping in price at the same time coal costs will likely be rising. The cost differentials are disappearing.”
Lofft doesn’t expect all the coal plants to shut down, but hopes the Legislature will look into other areas and shut down some of the older, dirtier coal plants.
“Ninety percent of Utahns are way in favor of renewable energy,” he said, citing a poll by the Deseret News. “It’s been building in Utah with the (low) snowfall winter and into the spring.
“Coal’s not going anywhere,” he added. “I’m not talking about shutting those down, not talking about losing jobs. But as we grow, it should be in renewables.”
Lofft said Utah has “amazing” resources in natural gas and geothermal energy.
“We have reserves as big as Wyoming’s.”
Lofft sees a boost to the local economy if it makes a shift to renewable energy.
“We are talking about jobs bonanza,” he said. “The income could be outstanding. Steam is created in the mountains and geothermal power is so cheap if it’s tapped correctly. The cheap power for this outweighs costs. We can make money off this.”
That shift is starting, and he said the “governor’s own position has changed to learn more about this more intimately.”
At the same time, Lofft is looking for more help from organizations and businesses to influence “legislation to do what they can to create a positive environment for renewables and an energy shift away from coal.”
For more information on renewable energy and ways to help, log on to www.lesscoal.com .