ACTIVISTS FILE FTC COMPLAINT v. UTAH OFFICE OF ENERGY DEVELOPMENT
Three organizations filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, requesting the FTC investigate the Utah Office of Energy Development regarding false, deceptive and misleading advertisements and representations made by the Office in its promotion of the development of nuclear power projects in the State of Utah.
The FTC regulates advertising and may prohibit unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce. The complaint asks FTC to determine whether enforcement action is appropriate, including cease-and-desist orders, required corrective disclosures, and any other remedies necessary to protect Utah residents and consumers.
Downwinders, Inc., Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL Utah), and Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment cite and debunk UOED claims made on billboards and in newspaper ads that nuclear power plants emit less radiation than eating a banana, that nuclear energy is safer than a candle and less risky than eating leftovers or sitting in a chair. They also ask FTC to examine misleading claims about the costs, environmental impacts, and economic benefits as well as omissions of material risks of nuclear power.
“It’s disturbing and wrong that taxpayers are footing the bill for state-sponsored propaganda promoting this ill-considered nuclear power frenzy,” said Steve Erickson, longtime volunteer for Downwinders. “Utahns need to hear hard truths about nuclear power, the dangers, tradeoffs, not nuclear industry promotional pablum that distorts or diminishes the reality that nuclear power is not clean and certainly not safe as these ads claim.”
“The state’s new love affair with nuclear power is a capitulation to the AI data center industry, and yet another way this industry is exploiting Utah residents, Dr. Brian Moench, President of Utah Physicians for a Health Environment, says. “Every phase of the nuclear fuel cycle exposes the public to more radiation. The science has been clear for decades– there is no safe level of radiation exposure. When millions of people of are exposed to even small increases in radiation, there will be thousands of victims,” he said.
“This ridiculously offensive and outright misleading ad campaign touting nuclear energy and waste as safer than everyday items is a textbook case of false equivalency that insults the intelligence of every Utahn,” said Mary Dickson, journalist, playwright and Downwinder. “We have lived the consequences of the nuclear age with its claims of ‘there is no danger’.”
Carmen Valdez, Senior Policy Associate for Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, said “Frankly, spending taxpayer dollars on a misleading nuclear ‘education’ campaign that fails to tell Utahns what the state is actually planning is only further eroding public trust. Every part of the nuclear fuel chain carries some risk of radiation exposure, and Utahns deserve to understand those risks, especially as the state considers bringing high-level radioactive waste into Utah for disposal, despite our communities saying no to this proposal time and time again.”
News Coverage:
ABC4
Deseret News
Hoodline
KSL News Radio
KSL TV
KUER
Utah News Dispatch
Utah Public Radio
Watch UPHE debunk some of the states claims about the “safety” of nuclear ↓
Find the complaint here ↓