Please join us on Zoom (link available via email) from 7-7:40pm MT every other Wednesday night: W March 2, W March 16, etc. All are welcome! We’ll talk about policy development and outreach efforts as we prepare to qualify for the Nov 2024 ballot by collecting signatures from about Feb 27 – Nov 27, 2023. (Mark your calendars, and follow the previous link if you’re new to the campaign and want to get caught up!)

Signature plan for Senate districts west of I-15: This Wednesday Jack Podolsky (one of our two great U of U interns) will present his research on signature-gathering opportunities for the 7 districts west of I-15 in Salt Lake and Utah counties: D10-D12 (West Valley City, Tooele, Kearns), D16-D18 (West Jordan, South Jordan, Bluffdale), and D22 (Saratoga Springs / Lehi). Please come to provide feedback and suggestions, and email me if you want to see the recording of the great Zoom presentation that Casey Hansen did earlier this month about the 6 districts south and east of Utah Lake.

Op-eds and SB187 update: We published two opinion pieces this week about climate and clean air: “These two Utah bills would help clean the air” by Dave Carrier in the Desert News and “The Utah legislature can act to Clean The Darn Air” by yours truly, Yoram Bauman, in the Tribune. (Both pieces may run in the print editions this Sunday, and Jan Kennington has another op-ed in the works.) Also, State Senator Derek Kitchen has published an online petition to help build support for SB187, the clean-air-and-climate bill we’ve been working on with him. Unfortunately, albeit not unexpectedly, SB187 is stuck in committee and is unlikely to advance, but having a bill in the legislative session (which ends next Friday, March 4) is part of the plan to raise awareness and build toward a 2024 ballot measure. To help expand our network of supporters please share the opinion pieces and/or Senator Ktichen’s petition and encourage your compatriots to join our once-every-two-weeks email list!

Let’s help Becky Edwards qualify for the ballot: Climate and air quality champion Becky Edwards, who served in the state House from 2008-2018, is challenging Mike Lee for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. To make sure she’s on the primary ballot she’ll need to gather 28,000 signatures by the end of March, so this is an opportunity for us to help a strong candidate… and get signature-gathering practice! Her campaign is doing a special blitz this Saturday (tomorrow) at locations around the state, so text or call your friends to encourage them to take a minute to go sign, and feel free to mention Clean The Darn Air! (Note that signatures will only count if the signer is a registered Republican at the time the signature is validated; voter registration forms will be available for folks who want to sign but need to fill out or change a voter registration form.) To join Becky’s campaign sign up here, and for the record there are also strong Democratic and Independent candidates. Here’s a recent Deseret News article with a quote from Democratic candidate Kael Weston (D): “My ideal ballot, not just as a candidate for U.S. Senate but as a voter in Utah, would have two names on it: Becky Edwards and Kael Weston.”

Grand Canyon 2023: We’re exploring the possibility of a campaign bonding experience in spring 2023 at Phantom Ranch, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The lottery for April 2023 ends today (F Feb 25) so email me ASAP if you’re a good hiker and are interested in helping join the lottery for a cabin reservation! (Or just go ahead and put in a free entryfor the lottery; note that you don’t have to commit now to going in spring 2023.)