The Capitol in Salt Lake City is pictured on Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
It’s been almost two months since congressional Republicans passed their budget bill, nicknamed the “big, beautiful bill,” which had sweeping impacts on grants and funding for state programs.
Now, Utah officials are starting to see those impacts.
On Wednesday, officials from Utah’s departments of environmental quality, oil gas and mining, agriculture and food, and energy development spoke to lawmakers during a Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment interim committee about the negative and positive impacts on their state agencies.
Among the impacts are the elimination of grants helping mitigate radon, more funding for programs that help farmers during market downturns, scaling back credits for renewable energy, and boosting oil and gas production.
Department of Environmental Quality
President Donald Trump’s initial request would have slashed nearly 55% of the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, which would have had serious implications for state and tribal assistance grants.
That’s according to Tim Davis, director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, who told lawmakers Wednesday he worked with the state’s congressional delegation to preserve some of the funds that stem from the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water acts.
Still, Congress ended up cutting some programs from the Inflation Reduction Act, passed during the Biden administration — that includes a $1 million grant that Utah was receiving for radon mitigation in rural homes. Radon is an odorless radioactive gas commonly found in Utah homes that can increase risk of lung cancer.
Davis said he’s appealing that cancellation.
Funding that goes to the Utah Division of Water Quality, by way of the federal Clean Water Act, for rangeland and cropland improvement projects was also impacted. That funding helps staff five employees with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food — on Wednesday, the department said it’s working to restore those funds.
Utah Division of Agriculture and Food
Connor Peterson, director of legislative and government affairs for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, touted a number of provisions in the bill on Wednesday aimed at helping the state’s farmers.
Consider this:
- A total of $66 billion will go toward programs described as the “farm safety net” — that includes commodity programs that help with loss, risk coverage or unpredictable dairy margins. “It helps producers, farmers and ranchers during market downturns,” said Peterson.
- An increase will be made in the estate and gift tax exemption, nicknamed the “death tax,” that Peterson said will “help farms to stay in families, to pass down from generation to generation.” The exemption will increase from $5.5 million per person, or $11 million per couple, to $15 million per person or $30 million per couple.
- An annual block grant for specialty crops will grow from $350,000 to $1.5 million in Utah.
- Payments to farmers whose animals are killed by predators will increase, now compensating them for 100% of the losses, and compensating them for any unborn livestock. Previously, the program covered 75% of losses.
Utah Office of Energy Development
Jake Garfield, the deputy director of the Utah Office of Energy Development, told lawmakers Wednesday that the bill will have widespread impacts on the state’s energy industry, ramping up funding for traditional, extractive energy sources, while cutting grants and incentives for renewable energy. The bill does the following:
- Creates a $1 billion loan program from the U.S. Department of Energy for “traditional energy sources, as well as critical minerals,” Garfield said, telling lawmakers the office is hoping Utah will get a share of those funds.
- Phases out tax credits for renewable energy — mostly solar and wind — including both production and investment credits. Garfield said projects that began in June and will be completed in four years, or current projects that will be completed by 2027 will still be eligible, which could lead to a “rush to either start of complete solar or wind projects that were already in the works.”
- Designates China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as “foreign entities of concern,” which means energy projects that get materials from these countries will have to look for new sources and possibly incur higher costs. That could likely impact solar and energy storage projects that get materials from China, and nuclear projects that get uranium from Russia.
- Eliminates clean energy tax credits and loan programs from the Biden administration — that includes a greenhouse gas reduction program that funded solar projects. Utah was hoping to receive $62 million from that program.
- Phases out electric vehicle and electric vehicle charging incentives, which Garfield said will change current state projections for how many electric vehicles the state expects to see in the future.
Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining
Mick Thomas, the director of the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, said that the budget bill “indicates a shift in federal policy toward a pro-energy, growth mindset,” including a “renewed focus on domestic onshore oil and gas production.”
That includes:
- A reduction in the royalty fees paid by oil and gas operators
- Increasing the leases available for onshore oil and gas projects
- Resuming quarterly lease sales
Coal leases on federal land will also see a decrease in royalty rates.
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