The ethics bar at the Utah Legislature is set so low on conflicts of interest that a legislator is simply supposed to declare that he or she may have a conflict with a piece of legislation—that’s all.

Yet, that was too much to ask of Rep. Mike Noel (R-Kanab) and Rep. Aaron Tilton (R-Springville) today as they continued to deny any conflict of interest with the nuclear power legislation their committee has been looking into and literally laughed off any suggestion to the contrary.

The situation would be funny were it not so egregious. Apparently, if you are the CEO of a company with plans in motion to build a nuclear reactor in Utah and, as a legislator, you are a driving force behind efforts to make it easier to bring nuclear power to Utah—as is the case for Rep. Tilton—that does not present a conflict of interest. Nor is it a conflict of interest—as in Rep. Noel’s case—if you are the chair of the committee tasked with drafting nuclear power legislation and your employer stands to make millions should your colleague Rep. Tilton succeed in his plans to build a nuclear reactor.

If you are at all upset by this situation, please take a minute to email this story to your state senator and representative. Let them know you are concerned when legislators are allowed to act as lobbyists for their own personal interests (or those of their employer). Any legislation that comes out of such a process is tainted, and all legislators need to know that.

Here are the links to yesterday’s Deseret News story: http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695219044,00.html and today’s story in the Salt Lake Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com//ci_7200144
To look up your legislators, go to: http://le.state.ut.us/maps/amap.html

While the discussion on nuclear power at today’s legislative hearing was a predictable cheer fest (a representative from EnergySolutions was even invited to testify), it was alarming when Rep. Tilton rose to talk about his company’s plans with his new business partner, Nils Diaz. Mr. Diaz is the former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who gave final approval to Private Fuel Storage to dump the nation’s high-level nuclear waste in Skull Valley, and so it’s hard to believe he has Utah’s best interests in mind.

Today’s meeting also gave Rocky Mountain Power an opportunity to unveil what looks like their attempt to derail true renewable energy development in this state, while at the same time provide a market for Rep. Tilton’s nuclear power. Stay tuned for more on this.
Please take a minute to email your legislators if you can. Thank you,

John Urgo
HEAL Utah, Outreach Director
68 S. Main St, Suite 400
SLC, UT 84101
(801) 355-5055