Since there are sooo many places in Utah that the wind blows seemingly incesantly I'd love to see an expansion on the Spanish Fork Canyon windmills.

Not knowing much about Gov Herbert this is my first comment concerning him.

I do like the responsible way he seems to be approaching the subject of this great state's future in energy.

My first impressions of Herbert are that he's just a common sense guy. He's not extreme one way or the other. I like that. I think he'll listen to all sides and make decisions that simply make the most sense. I agree that discovering and developing Utah's energy resources don't have to compete with being good stewards of the earth. Herbert is going to do just fine.

Seems like a good, common sense approach from the new gov.

I'd just like to point out that solar and wind energy have a much bigger impact on the landscape than oil wells.

Utah has one of the largest and highest potentials for GeoThermal Energy in the nation!

Ever Hot and ever presnt re-newable underground water energy is highest on my list of things to do!!

Go for it.

Sure, mining and environment can work together. For example go down to San Juan county and look at the closed Utah Power & Light uranium mine. They did a good job!

In Moab, the mining industry was not quite as responsible. A multi-year project is not required (at public expense) to clean up the mess left by the mineral industry.

Some people have made millions off their mining efforts. Some have been good citizens and showed concerns for the futures. Others have seemed to be a little more greedy and extracted all they could and then got out.

It was the latter who have caused problems for others in the mining business and left an unforable image of the industry.

Yes, I agree with the Governor that with proper management, many things can be done in an acceptable way, but without some kind of management, there are companies who will just as soon leave the cost of the cleanup etc. to you and I as taxpayers.

Each of us should support rhe proper management concept and support and encourage those in the industry who have/will do a good job at working with the environment where their operations are located.

Come on Jasen, did you even hear what Rob and the Governor were saying? The Governor was pointing out the great potential of Utah's energy resources. Rob was pointing out the difficulty of ever capitalizing on these resources under the present policies emanating from the Federal Government. That does not represent conflict. Please listen more carefully and report more responsibly.

A funny little thing happened on your way to the comments section. The article was expanded to include what were apparently previously edited portions. Dicey little game...

Good on Guv Herbert for saying what is most needed to be said: Energy development and maintaining our quality of life are not mutually exclusive goals!

What a refreshing perspective.

You don't understand... the environmental and health impact of oil wells isn't just about what they look like on the landscape. When you burn oil, it creates pollution emissions that give us cancer, respiratory problems, tumors, etc. Wind and solar do take up landspace -- just like strip mining for coal takes up significant land (also check out how much land the Bingham mine has taken and there aren't any windmills there!), but solar and windmills don't require burning fossil fuels to create the health problems that cut our lives short or drive up health costs.

Thinking Man needs to think about the entire "life cycle" of oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear power to see how much land these fossil fuels do take -- and the toll on human health.

"Energy development and maintaining our quality of life are not mutually exclusive" -- take a look at Moab and the decades-long fight to get the uranium industry to clean up its mess. The original mining companies went out of business, so the burden was left to the county until the Federal government finally stepped in with a bailout.

Do you want to risk your quality of life for energy development? If we do oil shale, get ready for a stench that will stretch for miles around the mining and processing areas tht will impact agriculture (cows don't like unnatural stinky air). It means trading one way of life for another. And the electricity needed to transform shale into oil, where they'll "melt" the oil out of the ground, will require more coal-fired power plants in your communities to make it viable. And then don't forget the water needed to make that coal-fired power -- again, another trade off of water for either processing oil shale or for homes and agriculture.

The bottomline is that serious trade offs on our quality of life WILL come about if we pursue the kinds of energy development Herbert dreams about.

Who cares what the Guv says? What does SUWA say?