Source: Politics<\/p>\n
SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 Climate change is a matter of everyday conversation in Utah bars and at backyard barbecues. The Great Salt Lake continues to shrink. Pollution persists. Towns have enacted construction moratoriums to help conserve water. And Gov. Spencer Cox has called on residents to scrap their lawns for plants that thrive in the desert heat.<\/p>\n
His approach to climate change has left environmentalists frustrated<\/a>, believing the state is putting a greater emphasis<\/a> on economic development. But his tone \u2014 whether on Covid-19 vaccination or social issues \u2014 sets Cox apart from many of his Republican peers navigating their post-Donald Trump politics. <\/p>\n \u201cMost Utahns aren\u2019t as interested in the culture wars and some of the things that divide\u201d the country, said Cox, a lawyer, farmer and former lieutenant governor. \u201cWe work really hard to find common ground. We work hard and have said before that the Republican Party in Utah is big enough for Mitt Romney and Mike Lee and we really believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n Cox, who joined President Joe Biden\u2019s 10-member council of governors this summer, has also pushed back on legislation that would\u2019ve barred transgender girls from sports<\/a> that match their gender identity when many others signed new restrictions<\/a> this year. <\/p>\n And his attempts to address the pandemic created a tense standoff with his fellow Republicans in the Utah Legislature \u2014 culminating in a \u201cCovid-19 endgame\u201d measure that lifted statewide restrictions on gatherings, social distancing and mask-wearing. Now, the federal Education Department has opened investigations<\/a> into Utah and four other states opposed to school mask mandates.<\/p>\n Cox, in an interview in his Capitol Hill office overlooking the Salt Lake Valley on a day covered in haze from wildfires wafting from California, spoke with POLITICO about managing water in the nation\u2019s second-driest state, navigating the pandemic, and threading the politics of Trump in a deeply conservative place that winces at the brashness of the former president.<\/p>\n This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve advocated for masks and vaccinations to curb the spread of Covid-19, yet you signed a bill \u2014 maybe grudgingly \u2014 that cut your powers to manage the pandemic. How come?<\/p>\n While we weren\u2019t thrilled with the bill, it could have been worse. We were able to get significantly more time before the endgame. That was a big piece of it. \u2026 I honestly believe we saved lives by doing it that way and so, although not perfect, it was better than the alternative. There was no Delta variant at that time. … So hindsight and all those things, knowing what we knew then, getting those extra weeks was really important to getting people vaccinated.<\/p>\n Would you join other governors who are requiring government employees to get the vaccine?<\/p>\n I will not force state government employees to get vaccinated. I will do everything to facilitate [vaccines] and encourage that and help to make that happen.<\/p>\n Has trying to enforce a mask mandate been your greatest frustration?<\/p>\n I push back a little bit on the absolute certainty that everyone has on this \u2014 that every kid has to wear a mask every day and that there\u2019s no negative consequences to mask-wearing. \u2026 The legislature has left that decision now to counties and local health departments. So local health departments can make the decision to require masking. In some states there\u2019s a blanket no-masking. Utah isn\u2019t there. What the legislature did was say we\u2019re going to allow counties\/local health departments to implement mask mandates and they can do that for 30 days and then the county commission or county council can override that if they want to. It\u2019s left to the local decision. So the school district doesn\u2019t have the authority but the health department does at the local level.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard for kids, so I understand families who are trying to weigh that. I don\u2019t think it means they don\u2019t love their kids or don\u2019t care about their kids. I don\u2019t think the policymakers think that way either. It\u2019s much more nuanced than the public discourse has allowed these days.<\/p>\n Will your own children wear masks in schools?<\/p>\n My son graduated, so I just have one home and she\u2019s 14 and starting high school. She is fully vaccinated, and we\u2019ve left it up to her if she wants to. Because she\u2019s fully vaccinated, she feels pretty good.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve been pretty consistent about urging people to get vaccinated. Has it hurt your messaging when fellow conservatives promote vaccine skepticism and discourage mask-wearing?<\/p>\n Obviously, it\u2019s disappointing anytime that misinformation or bad information is out there. It\u2019s probably worse when it comes from sources who are elected sources or from talking heads. So that\u2019s been discouraging. But we\u2019ve been encouraged by the increases in vaccinations in the state. We\u2019ve had steady increases [in recent] weeks. We went from as low as 14,000 or 15,000 a week up to 19,000 and then 28,000 and then over 30,000. So that\u2019s been heartening to see 80,000 in three weeks changed their minds about the vaccine.<\/p>\n How much of it do you think is primarily driven by politics?<\/p>\n Certainly, politics plays a role unfortunately in everything these days. We have to choose a side. And it\u2019s almost like we aren\u2019t sure what side to choose until someone does it and then everyone moves to that side. I\u2019m certain that vaccinations would have been different had the presidential race turned out differently \u2026 There\u2019s no question that politics has played a role in this. We had an anti-vaccine movement on both the right and the left for some time. But it\u2019s grown as politics has become center stage.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s switch gears to another important issue: Water. The town of Oakley is banning construction to save water. Is that a trend?<\/p>\n