THE SPECTRUM: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mitt Romney talked Monday with The Spectrum & Daily News over lunch at the Bear Paw Cafe in St. George.
Going over local issues from public lands to growth to climate change, Romney spelled out his priorities should he be elected.
Among some of the topics discussed were:
Public lands
Romney has applauded President Donald Trump for his recent order to shrink the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, and argued Monday that he thinks the Antiquities Act, the federal law that grants presidential authority to designate such monuments, needs significant revisions, voicing support of a new law to require any large monuments over a certain acreage to first be approved by state legislatures.
He stopped short of saying federally controlled public lands should be transferred to state ownership, as Utah lawmakers have proposed, but said he could support smaller “pilot programs” where state governments are given federal funding and then given management responsibilities over small areas.
“I think the state would do a better job because we care so deeply,” he said. “It’s right here in our home.”
Rural economic development
Utah’s fast-paced job growth and low unemployment rates have mostly been generated along the Wasatch Front and in St. George, but many of the more rural central and eastern parts of the state are still struggling. Romney said he supports county-specific plans to generate more economic growth, giving the examples of supporting more outdoor recreation opportunities in Grand County around Moab, or addressing endangered species issues in San Juan County.
Outlying counties could also use more focus on institutions of higher learning as economic drivers, Romney said, citing Dixie State University’s office of technology transfer, which takes ideas from students and faculty outside of the school to be commercialized.
“I think Dixie could teach something to the rest of the state,” he said.
Climate change
Romney said he agrees that climate change is happening and that human activity is contributing to it, but argued that the science isn’t conclusive about to what extent.
He said he would want to push automobile manufacturers to continue improving gasoline mileage and emissions controls, but said he believes things like “clean coal” should still be a part of the nation’s energy mix.
“We can hopefully help the planet from becoming too hot, but that would entail an analysis looking at the net effect of climate changes, as well as the net economic effect,” he said. “We’re not going to kill the economy to have an uncertain effect on climate.”
Lake Powell Pipeline
Romney said he would push for construction of the proposed 140-mile pipeline, which would pump Colorado River water out of Lake Powell and carry it to Kane and Washington counties.
“I would fight for the interests of our state,” he said. “I understand the senators from California might fight for their state, but hey, a deal is a deal and that’s our water.”
Role in the Senate
Romney, 70, said he wouldn’t expect to serve nearly as long as retiring Sen. Orrin Hatch, the seven-term senator whose seat Romney is trying to take, but he didn’t commit to any self-imposed term limits.
Asked whether he would accept a White House appointment if he were offered one as a senator — he had interviewed with Trump previously about becoming Secretary of State — Romney said he doesn’t see himself having a role in the Trump administration.
Russia’s election influence
Romney said he considers reports that Russian agents interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections a “serious threat,” arguing he would maintain his position as a critic of Russian Vladimir Putin and his regime.
“I think it’s important to recognize that Putin’s Russia isn’t a great country because it isn’t a good country,” Romney said.
Romney said he would investigate better ways to help states protect election equipment and to ensure secure elections, saying he would be open to a return to paper ballots if it meant hackers couldn’t infiltrate election systems.
A New Yorker report from Monday suggested the Kremlin had actually lobbied Trump to consider someone other than Romney when the president was picking someone to head the state department last year, but Romney declined Monday to comment on the report, which was based on an unpublished memo from Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer.
Getting the news
Romney said he follows a variety of news sources, listing The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Review, The Weekly Standard, The Atlantic and others, saying he felt it was important to read publications and view news stations that run the gamut of political leanings.
A user of social media — he posts on Twitter a few times each month, saying he writes them himself but runs them past aides before publishing — he said he would push for major social media companies to be more careful about which news is filtered through to each individual.
“I’d love to see our internet sources, Facebook and others, give people access to a wider array of articles than just those that tend to agree with the reader,” he said.
Original article: https://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/2018/03/05/senate-candidate-mitt-romney-utah-public-lands-climate-change-st-george-area-issues/395634002/