ETV News (9 Aug 2026) reported that at the One Utah Summit (4-6 August 2026, Cedar City) Valar received the Utah Department of Natural Resources' Horizon Award, and that Isaiah Taylor joined DNR's head, Joel Ferry (ETV calls him commissioner), on the main stage for a session on Utah's role in nuclear innovation; Carbon Commissioner Larry Jensen received a leadership award at the same summit. DNR's 2025 strategic plan lists among the department's units the Office of Energy Development (which owns the San Rafael lab, is Valar's landlord, signed its MOU and runs the state's nuclear education campaign: mine-035, gov-011, gov-025), the Division of Water Rights, which it describes as the regulatory body directed by the State Engineer (the office that would decide any change application for the water Valar seeks, loc-017, mine-015), and the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining; its measures include the state's acquisition of the San Rafael lab from Emery County. An award is not a regulatory act, and the Division of Water Rights decides applications under state law with public notice and a right to protest. Organizationally, the same department houses the office that hosts Valar and, through a separate division, the regulator of the water it seeks.

• Castle Country takes center stage at One Utah Summit (Kevin Butler) (ETV News, 2026-08-09) news
• Utah Department of Natural Resources 2025 Strategic Plan (Utah Department of Natural Resources, 2025) primary government
• NOTICE TO WATER USERS (Emery County applications; protests due Oct. 20, 2026) (Utah Division of Water Rights (legal notice published in ETV News), 2026-09-23) primary government “Protests must be filed with the Division of Water Rights”