By McKenzie Romero | Editor
As news of misuse and abuse of data collected by automated license plate readers like Flock cameras has raised eyebrows across the country, they were also raising in the Utah governor’s office.
Gov. Spencer Cox, asked about the controversy during his PBS news conference, said he was “deeply troubled” to learn that 97% of searches for Weber County’s data came from out of state, with no way for the Utah to verify whether its laws about accessing the information were being followed.
In today’s Dispatch we zoom in on the governor’s call to review how Flock cameras are used in the state, a plan to pull critical minerals from the Great Salt Lake, and a bill proposal to permanently remove an expired renewable energy requirement for utility companies.
The Utah Privacy Governing Board and the Utah Privacy Commission have been asked to “do a review of all of our rules and regulations around these cameras, especially how they’re being used with local agencies to make sure that they are not being abused, to make sure that the public understands how and when they can be used, and if there are abuses taking place, people are held accountable.” — Gov. Spencer Cox on his concerns about how data from license plate reader cameras is being used.
Flock Safety license plate readers are typically mounted on tall poles, with a camera and solar panel on top. (Photo courtesy of Flock Safety)
By Katie McKellar
Utah already has laws regulating automatic license plate readers, with a default ban on them unless they’re used by a law enforcement agency to access the data in four instances: as part of an active criminal investigation, to apprehend someone with an outstanding warrant, to locate a missing or endangered person, or to locate a stolen vehicle.
After the governor’s comments on Thursday, Clark Dice, communications director of the Utah Civic Compact, applauded Gov. Spencer Cox for saying Flock cameras are an issue Americans should be concerned with, and he praised the governor for asking state privacy officials to see if there are any gaps in enforcement of existing laws.
Lilac Solutions’ lithium extraction pilot program near the Great Salt Lake is pictured in August 2025. (Photo courtesy of Lilac Solutions)
By Annie Knox
A company extracting lithium from the Great Salt Lake was awarded a $100 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, with the money dedicated for construction of a new large-scale operation on the north arm of the lake. In all, the department is distributing $500 million between seven projects across the country.
Lilac Solutions, a California-based company, says most every drop of water it pulls from the lake goes right back in through a process using manufactured “beads” similar to grains of rice that pull lithium from brackish water as it flows through a container. They’re made in Nevada, with the rest of the process taking place at the company’s site on the lake, he said.
A solar installation in Emery County, with PacifiCorp’s Hunter coal-fired power plant in the background, is pictured on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By Alixel Cabrera
A couple of sections of Utah code mandating electric utilities to procure 20% of their energy portfolio from renewable sources expired in 2025. Lawmakers want to ensure the requirement is scratched for good.
Energy cooperatives supporting draft legislation to repeal the requirement had taken issue with the law because it prescribes a specific type of fuel, when the state’s recently established energy policy is “agnostic to fuel types,” said Nathaniel Johnson, executive director of the Utah Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
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