By McKenzie Romero | Editor
Earlier this year, a $1.8 million advertising campaign paid for by the state promised Utahns “nuclear energy is cleaner than a candle” and “nuclear plants emit less radiation than bananas.”
Environmental and health groups are now preparing to send a complaint about Utah’s nuclear “public education” campaign to the Federal Trade Commission, which, under the nuclear-enthusiastic Trump administration, might not be interested.
In today’s Dispatch we spotlight the challenge to Utah’s pro-nuclear ad campaign, how to breathe easier when Utah air quality drops, and the lawsuit opposing plans to allow cattle grazing on once protected land in the West.
“They’re outright misleading. To compare nuclear energy and nuclear waste to things like candles … is so utterly offensive to me as someone who has suffered the consequences of radiation exposure.” — Mary Dickson, a downwinder from Salt Lake City who has survived thyroid cancer, speaking against Utah’s pro-nuclear ad campaign.
Mary Dickson, a downwinder from Salt Lake City, speaks about an FTC complaint against the state’s pro-nuclear power campaign messaging during a news conference at the Utah Capitol on Aug. 17, 2026. (Katie McKellar/Utah News Dispatch)
By Katie McKellar
As part of Gov. Spencer Cox’s Operation Gigawatt — a plan to double Utah’s power production over the next 10 years with an “any of the above” strategy — state energy officials awarded a $1.8 million contract to “provide a marketing and communications campaign that will educate the public, policymakers, and stakeholders about nuclear energy and the role it could play in Utah’s future energy mix,” according to a call for bids.
Taking issue with that state-backed campaign and its messaging, groups including Downwinders, Inc., the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah and Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment are calling on the FTC to investigate whether the campaigns’ messages have been deceptive.
Wildfire smoke obscures the view of Salt Lake City from the Utah Capitol on June 23, 2026. (McKenzie Romero/Utah News Dispatch)
By Annie Knox
Smoky skies have teamed up with ozone pollution and dust storms over the Great Salt Lake for a many-sided assault on air quality this summer. Wildfire smoke has cleared away for now, but it may be just a matter of time before it returns to northern Utah during this historic fire season.
From the time of day you get outside to knowing when to keep your workout indoors, here’s what experts say about navigating the ups and downs of Utah’s air quality.
Cattle graze along the Snake River. Snake River Basin steelhead are among species that conservationists are concerned could be harmed by expanded cattle grazing under a new federal plan. (Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management)
OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE
By Alex Baumhardt
A nonprofit conservation group is suing the federal government over plans to allow cattle grazing on more than 24 million previously restricted federal acres across the West, including the Pony Express Trail in Utah.
The Center for Biological Diversity and the group’s endangered species co-director, Noah Greenwald, filed the lawsuit to stop the plan from moving forward in U.S. District Court in Portland. It names as defendants Doug Burgum, head of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and Brooke Rollins, head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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