Utah's Voters' Top Concern: Energy

Mar 27, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Energy tops the list of voter concerns on the Utah Foundation's 2008 Priorities Survey. It didn't even make the top 10 just four years ago, says Foundation President Stephen Kroes.

"It's troubling to see some of the facts behind some of these issues, like the fact that fuel and electricity generation are going to be in short supply pretty soon," Kroes says. "So not only are we going to face higher prices at the gas pump, we are going to be facing higher utility bills. That's a real worry for us. As a state that's growing a lot we need an energy supply, we need a water supply, we need good housing supply."

In fact growth, which ranked tenth on the survey of voters' concerns, affects all of the issues on the list, Kroes says. These include public education, taxes, healthcare, immigration, crime, water issues, the environment, and transportation. For the first time, Kroes says the public sees growth as more of a problem than a perk. This point is not lost on Governor Jon Huntsman.

"I think the findings are consistent with a state that is growing as fast as ours," Huntsman says. "There's concern about growth and where growth is taking us and the ability to afford our future, which is of course, a very real concern. And that's why economic development will remain front and center as a headline issue."

However, economic development - the economy in general - was one surprising issue that dropped off the list of priorities this year. Though Kroes says this might be different if the survey were conducted today against the backdrop of the country's economic slowdown, which is just now hitting Utah.

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