I’m a College Republican leader at Utah Valley University, and I recently had the opportunity to join Congressman John Curtis and students from other College Republicans at a trap shoot. The laughter of friendly competition filled the air as attendees lined up four-at-a-time to shoot clay pigeons — a familiar scene to those who grew up in rural Utah.

The occasion was Earth Day, and the topic of conversation was the environment. That might surprise some people, but it shouldn’t. While Republicans are often cast as not caring about the environment, many of us are sportsmen and -women. We interact with the environment on a regular basis and are most invested in its well-being. Many policies about climate change that are proposed in Washington are supported by far-left activists and are bad news for Utahns, but the conservative-led free-market climate movement is picking up steam fast, and Rep. Curtis has helped lead this effort to represent our values.

I want to thank the Congressman for his attendance at this event, and I want to salute him and the rest of Utah’s federal delegation for their continued leadership on this topic. Making sure stakeholders have a seat at the table — that’s the way we do things here in Utah.

As our representatives consider ways to achieve energy independence and safeguard our economy and environment, I hope they will keep offshore pollution in mind. Utah is home to leaders in cleantech, sustainable agriculture, and we help produce some of the cleanest steel in the world. We stand to greatly benefit from an America First-approach that holds foreign polluters — like China and Russia — accountable and rewards US manufacturers for already being cleaner and more carbon efficient.

With Republican leadership, we can leave this beautiful place even better than we found it.

Nicholas Compton, Woodland Hills

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