EnergySolutions is no longer just an eyesore in the West Desert. As of this afternoon, the sports arena you’ve known for 15 years as the Delta Center will be known as the “EnergySolutions Arena.”

Now every time you take your kids to a Jazz game, see a concert, or simply drive through downtown Salt Lake, you can be reminded that your state is home to the largest commercial nuclear waste dump in the nation. Dan Patrick on ESPN sports radio is already calling the renamed arena “The Dump.”

In its latest attempt at rebranding, EnergySolutions has branded Utah, for the world to see, as the nation’s nuclear waste dump.

EnergySolutions can spend how it wants the untold millions it makes off dumping the nation’s unwanted waste in Utah, but this is a slap in the face to Utahns who are uneasy about their state being known as the nation’s dumping ground. And Larry Miller, who admitted he was in “nuclear kindergarten” before being educated by EnergySolutions, could certainly have sold out to a company with a better image for the state of Utah.

But don’t be uneasy, Larry Miller says, because his company and EnergySolutions share a lot of the same ideals. And EnergySolutions’ president Steve Creamer is only looking forward to the day when his company’s name is on the lips of every fourth grader in Utah.

We did not choose to have a nuclear waste dump in Utah, that decision was foisted upon us by a state regulator who later admitted taking $600,000 from EnergySolutions’ former owner. And we were not asked how we wanted to name one of the most public and well known buildings in our state. So I hope you’ll join us in being “uneasy” and not taking quietly “EnergySolutions Arena” being shoved down our throats.

Here are a few simple things you can do to make your voice heard:
1) Write a letter-to-the-editor. This is the best way to get your voice out in wide circulation. Click here for our letter-writing page: http://www.healutah.org/
2) Submit a comment on a local news outlet or call a talk radio show. 183 Utahns have already submitted comments on the KSL website since this story broke this afternoon. See what others are saying and submit your own comment: KSL - www.ksl.com (read the story here KSL.com or click on the radio tab if you want to call in; ABC - www.4utah.com; KCPW -www.kcpw.org.
3) Write a letter to Larry Miller. Today he advised anyone who thinks his renaming decision is controversial to “find out what they’re talking about.” Well, help us educate Larry Miller. You can leave a comment for him here: www.lhm.com or here: www.deltacenter.com.
4) Join us to hand out action alerts outside of Jazz games (Contact us if you’re interested in this).

We don’t each have millions to buy naming rights to sports arenas or run ads in living rooms every night, but we can collectively speak up for what we think is right. Please take a minute to join us in doing so. Thanks,

John Urgo
HEAL Utah, Outreach Director