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John Daley Reporting
A series of high-profile ads is urging Utahns to warm up to the idea of nuclear energy. It's part of the Energy Solutions image campaign.
The US gets a majority of its electric power from coal burning power plants; in Utah that number is 95%. But those plants contribute mightily to our output of the leading greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Now, Energy Solutions is spending big bucks to convince the public nuclear power is the way forward.
TV Advertisement: "Over 20% of the nation's electricity now comes from safe, clean, domestically produced, nuclear power, energy that does not create greenhouse gases. It's not going to be easy to solve global warming, but there's too much at stake if we don't."
That's the latest in a series of ads the company Energy Solutions has been running and comes just weeks after it bought the naming rights to what was the Delta Center and is now the Energy Solutions Arena.
Steve Creamer, CEO, Energy Solutions: "What we're trying to do is take the controversy out of it, let people understand. If you understand things, you're usually not scared of things. And what we do is not scary. We're the guys who clean up. We're not the polluters. We're the guys who clean up."
We showed the spots to the co-founder of Utah's anti-nuclear waste group. He and other green advocates say nuclear is not the answer.
Jason Groenewold, Co-Founder, HEAL Utah "They are spending millions and millions of dollars to try and brainwash the people of Utah into accepting more nuclear waste into our state.
Lawson Legate, Utah Chapter of Sierra Club: "There are very real serious problems with nuclear power generation. And until those problems are solved that's just not the path to go down."
The questions about nuclear power are considerable. It's expensive, the security risks in an age of terrorism are high, and there's the waste --whether reprocessed on site or dumped here in Utah-- many are apprehensive about it.
Energy Solutions clearly wants the public to focus instead on another looming danger.
TV advertisement: "...Are now faced with extinction because of climate change. At Energy Solutions we're helping the nuclear industry deliver safer, cleaner nuclear power that doesn't harm the environment."
The company says the nuclear industry has made a lot of progress since the bad old days of Three Mile Island.
Mark Walker, Spokesman, Energy Solutions: "I think we need to look at the technology today as opposed to 20, 30, 40 years ago. It's much improved."
Because it doesn't produce greenhouse gas emissions, some environmentalists also think nuclear needs to be part of the energy answer, but most green groups instead favor investing in wind, solar and geo-thermal.
Jason Groenewold, Co-Founder, HEAL Utah: "Where we really need to put our energy and focus is on conservation, efficiency and renewable energy."
The company declined to disclose how much it spent on renaming the Delta Center. For this ad campaign the green groups say it must be in the millions of dollars. A spokesman for Energy Solutions told me today it's the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but probably not a million dollars.
