Month: August 2025

Utah State’s Fall camp is in full swing as the Aggies prepare for the 2025 season with their season opener against UTEP less than a month out. There are still some questions about the depth chart, especially at receiver and at offensive line, but there are other position groups where the starters are clearer. So, who are the predicted starters and who are the backups that could make a difference and potentially see the field? Let’s get into it!

This article in the series will cover the special teams unit.

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Kicker

Starter: Carter Brown (Junior): Carter Brown played for two different schools before coming to Utah State in Cincinnati (2023-2024) and Arizona State (2022). Coming out of Dawson High School in Texas, Dawson made 15 of his 18 field goals as a senior and made 15 of 16 as a sophomore. In his high school career, Carter Brown made 37 of his 43 kick attempts (86%). At Arizona State, Carter Brown scored 66 points, going 11-14 on field goals and making all 33 of his point-after attempts. In two seasons at Cincinnati, Brown appeared in 14 games and made 18 of his 24 attempted field goals (75%) and was perfect on 38 of 38 point-after attempts, scoring 92 overall points. Last season, Brown only appeared in two games, making 3 of his 5 field goals (60%), so he will be looking to make a much larger impact at Utah State.

Backup Kicker: Tanner Rinker (Sophomore): Tanner Rinker also played for two schools before coming to Utah State, as he played for Garden City Community College (2024) and Grambling State (2023). Tanner Rinkler prepped at Douglas County High School in Colorado and scored 53 points as a senior, making 7 of his 11 attempted kicks (63.6%). During his freshman season at Grambling State, Rinkler played in 11 games and scored 50 points, making 7 field goals out of 13 attempted (53.8%) while also performing kickoff duties. At Garden City Community College, Rinkler made 10 of his 13 kicks (76.9%) and made 46 extra points. The big thing for Tanner Rinkler to seemingly build on right now is consistency.

Punter

Starter: Landon Rehkow (Sophomore): Landon Rehkow is in his first season with Utah State after spending the 2023-2024 seasons with BYU. During his time with the Cougars, Rehkow appeared in two games in 2023 and three games in 2024. Overall, Rehkow punted five times for an average of 36 yards for the Cougars. Landon Rehkow earned All-Greater Spokane League honors as a punter in high school and served a two-year LDS mission. 
Backup Punter: Dylan Sprague (Sophomore): Dylan Sprague spent three seasons at Saddleback College from 2022-2024 and was 1 of 2 on extra points during the 2024 season. Sprague did not play in the 2023 season and redshirted the 2022 season. Dylan Sprague played high school football for Laguna Beach High School and earned Defensive Player of the Year honors at the end of his senior season in soccer.

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Punt Returner

Starter: Kahanu Davis: At Southwestern College in California, Kahanu Davis returned five kickoffs for 100 yards. Kahanu Davis also returned 22 punts for an average of 6.8 yards per return. At Utah State last season, Davis had success returning punts as he returned 12 punts for an average of eight yards per return. This season, Davis is the leading punt returner and should have an even bigger impact on special teams this year.

Other names to consider for punt returner: Javen Jacobs, Titan Saxton

Javen Jacobs, while at New Mexico last season, returned three punts for an average of 0 yards per return. During both his time at New Mexico and Arizona State, Jacobs returned 12 punts for an average of 2.7 yards per return. As a dynamic player who has a lot of speed, Javen Jacobs can be a major contributor on special teams.

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Titan Saxton: At Snow College (Utah), Titan Saxton returned 6 punts for an average of eight yards per punt and had 48 total yards on punt returns. Saxton also returned one kickoff for 22 yards.

Kickoff Returner

Starter: DJ Mayes: At New Mexico last season, DJ Mayes returned 5 kicks for 83 yards and averaged 16.6 yards per return. DJ Mayes has speed and shiftiness, and he also has the size that will make him hard to bring down in the return game.

Other names to consider for kickoff returner: Javen Jacobs, Demick Starling, D’Andre Barnes

Javen Jacobs returned three kickoffs for 139 yards and had an average of 46.3 yards per return. Between New Mexico and Arizona State, Javen Jacobs returned 10 kicks for 270 yards and averaged 27 yards per return.

Demick Starling played for Western Kentucky and Virginia before arriving at Utah State, and returned 15 kickoffs for 327 yards, averaging 21.8 yards per return. Starling does a great job of getting separation and does a good job of making plays in space, which could make a difference for the Aggies on kickoff returns.

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D’Andre Barnes has not returned a kick at the collegiate level, but one of the reasons that he does make this list of names to consider is because of his speed. Barnes might be one of the fastest players that the Aggies have, and it would not be surprising to see D’Andre Barnes use his speed to make a difference, especially on special teams.

Long Snapper

Starter: Hyrum Hatch: Playing last season at New Mexico, Hyrum Hatch was named a  College Football Network Honorable Mention Freshman All-American as a long snapper. Hatch was rated as the 80th-best long snapping prospect in the nation by Rubio Long Snapping as he served as the long snapper for the Lobos in all 12 games. Hatch played for Snow College in Utah.

Backup long snapper: Owen Edwards: Owen Edwards comes in from Hampton University, and during the 2024 season, Edwards served as the long snapper in nine games. Edwards also played long snapper in high school, prepping at Washougal High School (Washington), and was ranked as the 60th-best long snapper in the nation by Rubio Long Snapping. As a senior in high school, Owen Edwards was perfect on every snap and received a 4.5-star snapper rating.

MONTE CRISTO, Utah (ABC4) — A deaf Utah man who has been missing for over a week was found dead in his truck, according to the family.

Ty Webster, 38, went missing on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. His family confirmed on Thursday morning that he was found deceased in his truck in Rich County.

In a statement, Ty’s family expressed their gratitude toward all those who helped find Ty and issued a statement saying, “We, as Ty Spencer Webster’s family, need a moment to express our feelings of love and of all the prayers we have felt. We are deeply grateful for all the love and support in finding Ty’s truck. It is with heavy hearts that to say Ty was found deceased in his truck on Wednesday, Aug. 20.

We would like to thank the Clinton Police Department in their efforts to find him, especially Officer Shepard and Detectives Butcher and Hubbard. The Weber County and Rich County Sheriff offices and all others who responded.”

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.

About 50 miles east of Richfield in Sevier County — past Salina — there is an obscure exit on I-70 that brings you to a stop sign.

From there, you take a left turn and wind up on Convulsion Road.

That name gives pause to a new traveler. Is Dead Man’s Curve up ahead?

Eventually, following a winding, uphill climb, one encounters a flurry of activity at Sufco, a Southern Utah Fuel Company mine that opened in 1941 and is Utah’s most prolific producer of coal.

In a rural county like Sevier, this workhorse is vitally important and is the county’s largest private employer, with workers who make 105% above the average wage.

On Tuesday, Utah Sen. John Curtis, members of his staff, members of Sen. Mike Lee’s staff and others toured the mine following a roundtable discussion at city hall in Richfield and the 50-mile drive to the obscure exit.

Curtis, a founder of the Conservative Climate Caucus and an advocate of clean energy, said it is still important to preserve Utah’s coal industry and keep the state firmly grounded in an all-of-the-above energy strategy. Curtis said he is not blind to the country’s need for firm, baseload energy.

“I am supportive of all forms of energy,” he said. “We want all of our energy sectors to be prosperous.”

He emphasized that nuclear has to be part of the equation, as well as the continued pursuit of more geothermal resources, renewables and natural gas.

Utah has benefited from energy diversity, enjoying the lowest average monthly utility bills in the country. States like Connecticut and Hawaii pay twice the amount as do Utah consumers, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Struggles and triumphs

The fossil fuel industry has taken hits in recent years with shifting policies enacted by the Biden and Obama presidential administrations.

Many coal-fired power plants have been retired, and in 2024 Biden pushed pause on liquefied natural gas exports. That derailed the construction of what would have been largest LNG plant in the United States.

In 2015, the Carbon power plant shut down after a new rule on mercury emissions was issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It was Utah’s oldest power plant and a vital player in the economy of Carbon County.

At the time, the EPA figured the rule would impact 40% of the nation’s suite of power plants and many 1950s-era plants would be forced to retire in lieu of costly capital investments.

For those in the coal mining industry, as well as the producers of natural gas and oil, the ship is starting to move in a different direction after the 2024 election of President Donald Trump.

Trump wants permitting reform. He wants energy dominance. He wants expedited environmental reviews for coal leases.

Earlier this month, the Skyline Mine in Utah became the first in the country to receive the benefit of an accelerated review of its environmental impacts for a planned expansion. That was due to action by Trump.

Curtis said this new approach is a jump-start for the country and particularly Utah.

The reforms are vital, he added.

“This is really important. What we want is not for Utah to just be known for oil and coal and gas. We want Utah to be known for energy. We want all of our energy sectors to flourish and be prosperous.”

Curtis said the United States has to be the country in which other nations depend on for energy.

“And we want Utah to be the leader. And the way we do that is to make every electron important, no matter where it comes from.”

Challenges remain

Ryan Barney, vice president of Barney Trucking, said there is pressure on his industry and it does little good to mine the coal if there is not a way to transport it.

“It is not a sexy job.”

He said trucking often gets a bad rap and people don’t go to school to major in trucking.

The freight industry, however, needs to be acknowledged as a critical player, he emphasized.

Many of the roundtable participants stressed the importance of permitting reform.

Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield, said the time it takes to get a new transmission line or other infrastructure has reached a point at which it is ridiculous.

Albrecht worked for Garkane Energy, a rural electric cooperative, for 40 years and was its chief executive officer for 23 years before his retirement.

While he did run the state’s first nuclear energy bill last year — opening up new possibilities for Utah with the establishment of a nuclear consortium — he emphasized his heart lies in coal country.

“I realized I am a coal guy and always will be. We are going to need coal for many years before we get over this bridge.”

Opponents to the fossil fuel industry continue to bring lawsuits that entangle and can derail projects indefinitely.

It is a battle that everyone at the roundtable acknowledged but few knew how to change.

Checks and balances are important, as is the desire to have clean air, clean water and land not riddled with toxins.

Curtis and others at the discussion said no one in the room disputes that.

Despite the pressure, Utah is not giving up on coal.

In a statement from Emy Lesofski, the governor’s energy adviser and director of the Office of Energy Development, she said the state recognizes the tradition coal has embedded in the fabric of Utah history.

“Coal has played a significant and long-standing role in Utah’s energy mix for decades, fueling local economies, providing good-paying jobs and ensuring our residents enjoy reliable and affordable power,” she said.

“New energy technologies aren’t just focused on intermittent resources — they’re also helping traditional fuels like coal evolve into more sustainable energy sources.”

Brian Somers, president of the Utah Mining Association, pointed out the tug and pull of mining against the backdrop of environmental concerns.

He said the conundrum can be addressed due to safety practices in the United States and regulations in place that other countries lack.

The culture of mining

At Sufco, the miners are simply going about doing their job. The majority of the time, it is not about politics but about bringing home a paycheck.

A man they call Rambo is giving a safety briefing. There is a long check list of how to keep safe in an underground mine.

Young men in hardhats and other gear are clocking out after their shift. Others will take their place in an upcoming shift.

They walk by a continuous mining machine, bright yellow with knobs and a bevy of bells and whistles that facilitate long haul mining.

It is equipment worth $2.5 million and is operated by a hand held device — much like a video gaming controller.

But in this world, it is not a game. It is about staying safe and producing a form of energy that helps keep the lights on.

The miners are dirty and dusty and their conversations are often threaded with spicy expletives. It is a different world than what people may be used to on the Wasatch Front.

While Utah’s reliance on coal has dropped by about 30% since 2015, these black chunks of coal continue to have staying power in Utah and elsewhere in the West.

Many people have carved out a career in mining here at one of the largest underground mines in the United States. It is also the oldest continually operated mine in the country.

Wolverine Fuels, which operates Skyline, Sufco and other mines in Utah, produces 11 million tons of thermal coal.

Don Ervine occupies the “captain’s chair” in the monitor room at Sufco.

He’s been in mining for over four decades.

You could think of him as “Oz” or the man behind the curtain. He makes sure everyone is safe and has his eyes peeled on a computer screen watching. As the miners end their shift they check in at his counter.

He’s seen the industry change over the years, becoming safer and more practiced in the skill of extracting coal.

Ervine used to be an underground man, but moved to the monitoring room as the years settled in. Mining is not an easy job. It’s tough and demanding.

But mining operations are what he knows and it is under his skin.

“This has been my life.”

TREMONTON, Utah (AP) — Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty for a man accused of fatally shooting two police officers in northern Utah last weekend, according to new court documents.

Ryan Michael Bate faces 20 charges, including two counts of capital murder, for the deaths of Sgt. Lee Sorensen and Officer Eric Estrada. The Box Elder County Attorney’s Office filed a notice to the court late Wednesday that they plan to seek the death penalty for Bate.

Police say Bate, 30, killed the officers from the Tremonton-Garland Police Department with a high-powered rifle while they were responding to a domestic disturbance call at his home. Bate’s wife had called 911 and hung up multiple times to get help after Bate “slammed her head with a door, and grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against the wall,” according to charging documents. She later told police he had repeatedly threatened to kill her.

Box Elder County sheriff’s deputy Mike Allred and his police K-9 Azula, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, arrived at the scene as backup and were injured in the shooting. Bystanders persuaded Bate to drop the gun and he was taken into custody.

Bate was arrested last year on aggravated assault and domestic violence charges that were later dismissed, according to court records. He was charged late Wednesday with several counts of assault and domestic violence, in addition to the murder and attempted murder charges.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told reporters on Thursday that he thinks it is appropriate for prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case.

An attorney was not listed for Bate in court documents Thursday.

After seven months of drama, UTEP’s quarterback battle ended up where it was assumed it would be back in January: Malachi Nelson will get the start when the Miners open up at Utah State on Aug. 30, coach Scotty Walden announced Thursday.

That’s what was expected when Nelson signed with UTEP in January after formalizing his transfer from Boise State, but then it seemed unlikely when he emerged from the spring looking like the fourth quarterback on the roster.

More: El Pasoans Torres, Wilson, Arreola making case for playing time for UTEP football team

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Given more chances in a fall camp that was billed as a five-way battle, the sophomore Nelson, who began his career at USC in 2023, made the most of them. He showed enough steady improvement and enough talent that earned him five stars out of Los Alamitos High School, where he was a two-time Gatorade California Player of the Year, to move past Skyler Locklear, Shay Smith, Cade McConnell and Chad Warner.

Locklear, last year’s starter, will go into the Utah State game as the backup, and Smith is expected to have a role as a Wildcat quarterback. McConnell will start in the same place he started in 2023, as a fourth-teamer, when he eventually rose to a starter. The true freshman Warner presumably will redshirt, as almost all freshmen quarterbacks do.

More: Is UTEP going to the College Football Playoff? The New York Post thinks there’s a chance

Nelson’s ascension to a starter begins to fulfill the immense potential he showed out of high school, but he’s still new to playing at the FBS level. He didn’t get on the field at USC when he was behind eventual No. 1 NFL draft pick Caleb Williams. Then, last season at Boise, he went 12-of-17 passing with one interception in three games.

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At UTEP, he looked out of sorts in the spring, playing for his fourth team in four years, but looked more comfortable at the beginning of fall, then settled in and looked better and better as camp progressed. After the Aug. 9 scrimmage a week into camp he started regularly working with the first team, then stood out in the second scrimmage on Aug. 16.

That roughly equated to the timeline Walden set up for naming a starter, and that came true on Thursday.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Malachi Nelson named starting quarterback for UTEP football

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.

A wealthy financial technology executive says he intends to buy Wohali, the private golf community in Coalville that recently filed for bankruptcy.

Doug Bergeron said Tuesday he wants to buy Wohali if it goes to a bankruptcy auction. No auction is scheduled for the 5,000 acre golf and luxury home resort, whose owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections Aug. 8.

“It’s a little bit early, but it’s going to be a bankruptcy auction, so it’s going to be the highest bid wins,” he told KPCW. “There’s a boatload of constituents that hopefully can be taken care of.”

The Park City billionaire wants to transform Wohali into a destination golf course that could host PGA events and rival courses such as Pebble Beach and Bandon Dunes on the Oregon coast.

The former CEO of Verifone Systems previously self-financed the construction of a $65 million mansion in Deer Crest that was featured in the HBO film “Mountainhead.”

Read more at kpcw.org.

Since March 21, 2019, Utah gymnastics has competed at the Maverik Center a total of 15 times, maxing out at three times in a single season twice — in 2021 and again in 2024.

The Maverik Center, which hosts meets on a podium, something the Huntsman Center isn’t equipped to do, has become a key part of Utah’s scheduling philosophy and a key part of every season for the Red Rocks since 2019.

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The Best of Utah, which pits the Red Rocks, BYU, Southern Utah and Utah State against each other, has been held at the Maverik Center every year since 2020. It has operated in tandem with the Wasatch Classic, another four-team competition.

The Pac-12 conference championships were held there from 2019 until the conference’s collapse (in its previous form) in 2024. This past spring, the Big 12 conference championships were held at the Maverik Center for the first time.

Additionally, nationally televised premiere competitions sponsored by Sprouts have been held there before and will be held there again, including this coming winter. The latest version of the Sprouts Classic includes Michigan, NC State, Arizona, Clemson, LSU, Cal, Utah, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, UCLA and Ohio State in three four-team competitions.

Meets at the Maverik Center in West Valley City have always counted as away meets for Utah, since the U. is located in Salt Lake City while the Maverik Center is located in West Valley City, nine-plus miles away from the school’s campus. Away meets, in particular, matter in women’s college gymnastics given the way national qualifying score is calculated.

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The simplest explanation is that high-scoring away meets are more valuable than high-scoring home meets when it comes to NQS and NQS determines rankings, postseason seeding and more.

The Maverik Center being an away competition for Utah could soon be about to change, though.

A new proposal put before the NCAA women’s gymnastics committee earlier this summer is attempting to make neutral-site competitions located within 30 miles of a college campus — like the Maverik Center is for Utah — no longer countable as away meets for NQS, at least no more than once a season.

That means Utah could only count one meet at the Maverik Center as an away meet in a single season. Otherwise, when the Red Rocks compete in West Valley City, they would count as home meets.

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The recommendation, initially voted on by the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association during the 2023-24 season, can be read in full below:

“Recommendation

That only one contest held at a neutral site within 30 miles of an institution’s campus be permitted to count as an away contest for purposes of calculating a team’s NQS. This would include multi-team invitationals, duals, tri-meets, quad-meets and/or conference championships. A neutral-site contest in excess of the one permitted away contest would be designated as home contest for NQS purposes.

Effective date

— 2025-26 season.

Rationale

Currently, some programs are competing numerous times during a season within a 30-mile radius of their campus, with no restrictions on how many off-campus events can be counted as away contests, regardless of proximity to the institution. Given that a minimum number of away contests factor into the NQS formula used for postseason selection and seeding, this creates an unfair advantage for teams with access to local, off-campus venues, as they can create home environments for meets that are designated as away contests, which ultimately positively impacts their positioning for championships selections and seeding.

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This recommendation will still allow these local, off-campus contests to be conducted as scheduled and countable toward NQS as home events but will no longer allow multiple contests of this nature to be considered away contests for NQS purposes. It was also noted that the coaches association voted to approve this adjustment during the 2023-24 academic year, before forwarding to the committee for review and approval.

Estimated budget impact

None.

Student-athlete impact

This proposal would allow for greater consistency in the designation of home and away contests, subsequently creating more fairness in the championships selection and seeding process.

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The Maverik Center debate

Over the years there has been repeated discourse, online and elsewhere, about whether Utah gymnastics has unfairly benefited from meets at the Maverik Center counting as away competitions.

The majority of fans in attendance for competitions in West Valley City are Utah fans, after all, and the Red Rocks are able to sleep in their own beds and avoid prolonged travel that could negatively fatigue them before competition, unlike their opponents.

Moreover, many of the Red Rocks’ best team scores in recent seasons have come in Maverik Center meets.

All of these factors would suggest that Utah has been benefitting from Maverik Center meets in a similar way to meets at the Huntsman Center.

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Of course, it can also be argued statistically that Utah hasn’t actually benefitted from away meets at the Maverik Center in a meaningful way. Also, the Red Rocks have frequently outperformed their seeding in the postseason, suggesting NQS hasn’t been doing its job of correctly seeding teams and away meets at the Maverik Center may have been making the field more accurate than not.

Another proposed rule change could change how NQS is calculated, adding the number of meets to the calculus, which would have the byproduct of making away meets less vital, although still important. But a change making Maverik Center meets home meets for Utah, at least half the time, is notable.

Former Utah head coach Greg Marsden issued a passionate plea on social media regarding the change, which he said unfairly targeted the Red Rocks.

“The WCGA and NCAA Gymnastics committee’s proposal to restrict the away designation for neutral-site meets within an arbitrary 30-mile radius unfairly singles out one program while ignoring the broader reality of how and why these events exist,” Marsden wrote.

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He later added: “The committee’s 30-mile cutoff only highlights the weakness of the proposal. Why 30 miles? Why not 50, 100, within the same state or region? The committee’s proposed rule is essentially trying to redefine the standard, saying some neutral-site meets close to campus aren’t really ‘away,’ but proximity doesn’t change the fact that it’s neither the school’s arena, nor their event to control.”

The change, if approved, would go into effect this coming season, meaning only one of Utah’s three scheduled competitions (Best of Utah, Sprouts Classic and Big 12 championships) at the Maverik Center in 2026 would count as an away competition. Going forward, Utah’s proclivity for scheduling meets at the Maverik Center could be lessened.

The Salt Lake City-based nuclear services company EnergySolutions has for years worked to get Utahns on board with nuclear energy.

It held the naming rights to the Jazz’s home court for nearly a decade, hoping that becoming a household name would help change attitudes toward nuclear power, and almost 20 years ago, it launched an ad campaign to “take the controversy out of it.” Political contributions have long been part of the equation.

But as nuclear has competed with other technologies in the clean energy transitions of recent years, The Salt Lake Tribune found that EnergySolutions has taken a new direction — buying Republican state lawmakers memberships to a conservative influence group that has pushed energy policy in nuclear’s direction.

The Tribune identified 15 instances of EnergySolutions paying for memberships to the right-leaning American Legislative Exchange Council, commonly known as ALEC, for Utah elected officials. And while the individual ALEC donations cost $200, they’re a small portion of the money the nuclear services company spends in Utah in an effort to influence policy.

Those in-kind contributions to members of Utah’s supermajority GOP Legislature began as early as 2023, when 10 representatives and two senators reported them in campaign finance disclosures. So far this year, three lawmakers — including House Speaker Mike Schultz — have reported receiving “ALEC membership” from EnergySolutions:

Spokespeople for the Legislature did not respond to requests for comment.

EnergySolutions acknowledged receipt of questions from The Tribune, but did not send answers ahead of the story’s deadline. It currently operates one low-level radioactive waste management site in Utah, and has clients throughout the country and the world.

“We encourage our private sector members to actively engage with our public sector members, both Republican and Democrat alike, within the limits of all applicable state laws,” wrote Lars Dalseide, a spokesperson for ALEC, in an email. “The more our members interact and exchange ideas, the better the final product.”

Dalseide declined to share whether EnergySolutions is represented among its private sector members, saying it does not disclose membership lists.

While the prices of private sector memberships are not listed on ALEC’s website, it explains the benefits of its tiered membership system — each step offers increased access to policymakers and task forces that craft model bills to pitch to legislatures.

“All draft model policies are sponsored by an ALEC legislative member,” Dalseide said. “In every ALEC task force, both public and private sector members discuss and vote on proposed model policies. However, final approval of any draft model policy rests solely with the ALEC Board of Directors, which is composed entirely of elected legislators.”

Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, who chaired the organization in 2021, sits on the current board of directors.

“In other words,” Dalseide added, “while the private sector plays an important role, the process of developing an ALEC model policy begins and ends with state legislators.”

University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank said it isn’t unusual for private entities to pay for lawmakers to travel to conferences, but he couldn’t recall an instance of a company purchasing memberships to an organization.

Companies would likely send legislators to a conference like ALEC’s, Burbank said, “knowing that [the group] has a very particular point of view about how a legislature should behave … to try to indirectly influence legislators,” Burbank said.

Utah’s steps toward bringing nuclear energy to the state have coincided with EnergySolutions’ recent policy nudges by political donation.

‘Clean energy’

Last fall, Gov. Spencer Cox announced his “Operation Gigawatt” plan to double Utah’s energy production, with an emphasis on nuclear, in the next decade. The Legislature put $10 million toward that plan in its most recent session, and nearly $2 million of that is going toward a marketing effort to boost public support for nuclear.

The state’s laws have also been adjusted to make room for nuclear power. And some of the laws passed by the Utah Legislature reflect model policies ALEC urges its members to consider.

ALEC, nationwide, put forward a draft bill in December 2022 that would convene a commission to start states on the path of exploring the feasibility of nuclear energy generation within their borders. This year, the Utah Legislature created the Nuclear Energy Consortium “to advise the office and the Legislature on nuclear energy development in the state.”

In 2024, state lawmakers voted to strike the term “renewable energy” from Utah code and replace it with “clean energy,” which had a definition expanded to include “nuclear fuel.” Later that year, ALEC proposed other states do the same.

As Utah has determined it will begin building nuclear power facilities, partnering with multiple nuclear startups, it has also tapped EnergySolutions to study whether the company can work with the state’s Intermountain Power Agency to put a small nuclear reactor at its coal-fired Intermountain Power Project site in Delta.

The company has 180 days from its April signing of the memorandum of understanding, or until mid-October, to make a determination.

“We are excited to pursue this opportunity to create a clean energy hub for the Western United States,” EnergySolutions CEO Ken Robuck said in a news release announcing the agreement.

Democratic state Sen. Nate Blouin of Salt Lake City, whose professional background is in renewable energy policy consulting, said he isn’t opposed to the state exploring nuclear fuel as an energy source.

But Blouin, who has reported no contributions from EnergySolution, is frustrated that nuclear energy development has seemingly received more attention and resources from the state than other clean energy sources, like geothermal. “Those donations,” he said, “certainly raise questions about who is influencing our energy policy and why we are so heavily invested in nuclear.”

More money

Memberships to ALEC, which are $200, account for a fraction of EnergySolution’s political spending. Since the beginning of 2023, it has given a total of more than $55,000 to Utah lawmakers, according to campaign finance disclosures filed with the state.

While all of the ALEC memberships were purchased for Republican lawmakers, the campaign of at least one Democratic lawmaker, House Minority Leader Angela Romero, was among those that received cash contributions.

More than a quarter of the dollars donated went to Rep. Bridger Bolinder, R-Grantsville, whose West Desert district includes EnergySolutions’ Clive Disposal Facility, which lies approximately 75 miles west of Salt Lake City.

The company gave $11,000 to Bolinder’s 2024 reelection campaign. The next winter, he worked with Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, to introduce two pieces of legislation that directly benefit EnergySolutions — Waste Classification Amendments, or HB254, and Environmental Quality Amendments, or SB216.

EnergySolutions’ lobbyist, Casey Hill, helped the lawmakers present both bills in public hearings. One repealed the state definition for the type of nuclear waste EnergySolutions can accept in its Clive facility, instead relying on a less specific federal definition, while the other would streamline the expansion of such nuclear waste facilities.

While McKell received a total of $2,500 in donations from EnergySolutions in 2023, neither of the lawmakers reported that the company purchased an ALEC membership for them. Neither Bolinder nor McKell responded to questions about the company’s role in drafting the legislation.

EnergySolutions has made other well-timed donations, including a $7,500 one to the governor’s campaign about a month after it had secured the memorandum of understanding with IPA. Lawmakers disclosed 44 contributions from EnergySolutions in October 2023, when the Republican State Leadership Committee held its energy summit in Salt Lake City.

According to reports, the Republican State Leadership Committee has filed with the IRS, EnergySolutions has donated tens of thousands of dollars to the organization, with the most recent contribution made in 2020.

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