Utah needs proper infrastructure to meet the essential needs of its rapidly growing population. The state has grown exponentially in recent years, with no signs of slowing down. Population projections show that by 2050, Utah will have 5 million residents. A lot of work lies ahead to accommodate this rapidly growing population. 

Roads and infrastructure need to be revamped. Former President Trump signed an executive order that would lower the regulatory hurdles obstructing major construction projects with the intent to jumpstart the economy, which had been suffering due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The executive order scrapped the guidelines and procedures enshrined in the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Clean Water Act.

Debate surged on the sacrifice of the environmental well-being of Utah for the sake of speeding up the various development projects. Some suggest that more funding should be given to regulatory agencies to help enforce consequences for violators. However, this approach has been highly debated as well. The move to penalize violators will pose adverse effects, especially to disadvantaged groups in Utah, something that residents are not ready to face. 

Usually, these residents are more likely to attract huge penalties despite lacking the proper means to pay those penalties. These are social injustices that the citizens of Utah are not ready to live with.

Regulatory agencies might also use the same opportunity to impose heavy penalties on environmental lawbreakers, with the funds received from the violators likely to get lost in the hands of corrupt agency officials.

This is the glaring problem with how the penalty management system operates; the system is rigid and lacks proper correspondence. Instead of the Utah state channeling more funds to the environmental regulatory agencies to help enforce consequences to violators, funds should be used to streamline the current regulatory systems.

The existence of these rules and regulations poses stumbling blocks that derail critical infrastructure projects, which are vital pillars in building the economy of Utah. Furthermore, environmental and natural resource projects are part of the major projects expected to boom when the regulatory hurdles are removed. Doing away with the ecological regulatory hurdles is simply an effort that preemptively anticipates the needs of both the economy and the environment of Utah state.