FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake - Winter 09: Expansion of GSL Minerals: healthy dividend for the lake or unhealthy industrialization?

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Winter 09: Expansion of GSL Minerals: healthy dividend for the lake or unhealthy industrialization?

Expansion of GSL Minerals: a healthy dividend for the lake or just unhealthy industrialization?

"The artificial shrinking of the lake only enhances its vulnerability and leaves its continued habitat more prone to fluctuation and less capable of providing needed habitat and recreational opportunity at different lake levels."
- Utah Waterfowl Association

The scarcity of water in the West is a fact of life. And for the second most arid state in the nation - on average - Mother Nature only promises the Great State of Utah a scant 15 inches annually to make a go of it. We rely on a bumper crop of winter snow pack in the mountains to quench our thirst and to reconstitute our rivers and inflows into Great Salt Lake. And we all recognize the impacts of drought and can recall the record low lake level of 4191 ft. in 1963.

Last October, the final report issued by Governor Huntsman's Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Climate Change indicated that greenhouse gas emissions at or above current levels will result in a decline in mountain snowpack and the threat of severe and prolonged droughts. With that as a forecast for thinking hard about sustainability, perhaps it's time to expect more from decision makers. They seem to confuse taking a long view of managing our precious resources with juggling or balancing them. If we're going to be honest in our efforts to implement sustainable management principles for the lake, then we need both the words and deeds to do it.

A sobering story in the Salt Lake Tribune last fall focused on the impacts that farming and drought have had on the Locomotive Springs Waterfowl Management Area located on the northern edge of Gunnison Bay. This remote and crucial oasis used to provide fresh water and lush wetlands for resting and foraging migratory birds - but not anymore. Over the past 40 years because of increased groundwater pumping for agriculture upstream, and reduced precipitation - the springs have dropped 80 percent to a trickle. This has drastically reduced the carrying capacity it once offered to waterfowl and shorebirds. The Snowy Plover is a federally listed species that relies on Great Salt Lake freshwater springs for breeding. The Great Salt Lake population constitutes 55% of the entire breeding population west of the Rocky Mountains. Matt Lindon, assistant State Engineer is hoping that further studies by the Utah Geological Survey will help determine a sustainable solution for this perplexing problem - if it's not already too late.

Last August, Governor Huntsman established the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council, on which FRIENDS serves. The Council has identified key threats to the lake. At the top of the list: water supply/quantity, population growth (development and water demand) and the lack of understanding of what constitutes a "healthy" and sustainable lake system. The Council's imperative became clear: not only must we create an improved and effective management structure for Great Salt Lake but we must also base management decisions for the system on sound science so that we can sustain this hemispherically important ecosystem for generations to come.

Kaysville Mayor Neka Roundy with Davis County Economic Development and Tourism reported to the GSL Advisory Council that the economic value of Great Salt Lake is alive and kicking when it comes to dollars from tourism. Millions of visitors from around the country and the world ( and I don't just mean the birds) come to experience the mystery and the magic of our lake. Biking, birding, boating, duck hunting, photography, etc. etc, etc. - the lake is a magnet with an undeniable attraction that has been paying off for the state in millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs. These economic benefits tread lightly on the landscape and encourage repeat visits to this unparalleled part of the West.

So it's difficult to understand why the state is on a crash course to industrialize Great Salt Lake by encouraging the expansion of Great Salt Lake Minerals Corporation (GSLM) in Gunnison and Bear River Bays. Even if you consider the economic dollars that come from the collective industrial interests - industry is not the only game in town and it's not the only attribute the lake has to offer us. Much to the credit of the brine shrimp industry, they implement a sustainable model based on genuine population studies that acknowledges the limits of the resource, while also giving back in the form of research dollars to help us better understand the system.

Great Salt Lake Minerals' manifest destiny of needing to expand on the surface of the lake in order to increase its production of potassium sulfate is disappointing in a era when the merits of innovative thinking rate high on the charts. The company is currently under contract with a Canadian supplier of KCL which is used to supplement their production of potassium sulfate. That contract is soon to expire. The chance of negotiating as sweet a deal as it had in the past is slim so why not just expand the operation on the lake and get it all right from our own backyard? The state favors the idea even though this will require huge amounts of water from the lake and fresh water inflows that include those that feed Bear River Bay and Locomotive Springs.

In January 2009, the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE ) approved a 404 permit under the Clean Water Act for GSLM to relocate, extend and deepen an existing inlet canal in Clyman Bay. The canal transports water from the north arm of Gunnison Bay to a solar evaporation pond complex on the west side of the lake. The permit allows 22 acres of seasonally inundated Great Salt Lake playa lakebed to be directly impacted with dredge and fill. The canal would be extended by almost 2 miles north of its current location, widened to 50-60 feet and dredged to 11feet in depth. The rational for this project is to ensure that brine can be pumped from Gunnison Bay into evaporation ponds for potassium of sulfate and continued mineral extraction during the years of low lake elevations.

The US Environmental Protection Agency recommended denial of the project as proposed because "it could result in substantial and unacceptable adverse impacts on aquatic resources of national importance and on waters of the U.S."

It's a well known fact that Great Salt Lake provides a valuable habitat for over 250 bird species including the Snowy Plover and the White Pelican. Gunnison Island is home to one of three of the largest breeding colonies of White Pelicans in North America. Although Gunnison Island is located 5 miles east of the existing pond complex in Clyman Bay, it's likely that the extended inlet canal will act as a land bridge for foxes, coyotes and other animals to the island- a key threat to the pelican population.

We expressed concerns about how lengthening and deepening the canal would have the unprecedented effect of lowering lake levels. The lake level would be dropped to 4,188 ft. - approximately three feet lower than the lowest level recorded since 1851. Thus, enormous amounts of water could be funneled out of a lake already stressed by low water levels. Impacts of a continued low lake level have not been fully explored. Numerous questions need to be addressed before a final decision is made on this application.

According to Don Paul, former avian biologist for the Division of Wildlife Resources -
" The key to Great Salt Lake viability at this time is water. Water from several points of need and concern. Water quantity, quality, time of availability, and points of discharge are critical concerns relating to the maintenance of the ecosystem. Continued interest in modifying shorelines and the lake bottom are issues that threaten the system's capacity to cycle through its natural dynamics that is an essential need in preferred lake ecology."

FRIENDS, conservation and community interests urged the ACOE to connect the actions of this project into one Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) already in progress. That EIS is addressing the proposed 33, 000 acre expansion already approved by the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands in 2007. (See Wtr/Spring 2007 at www.fogsl.org). But the ACOE chose not to combine the actions.

In its Record of Decision on the inlet canal, the ACOE stated that "Sufficient information is not available to determine the potential effects that lower lake levels resulting from pumping would have on the perimeter of the lake. Impacts to the shoreline due to this decline are believed to be minimal. "

We don't find this decision reassuring or consistent with sustainable management of the system.

The inlet canal proposal is currently before the State RDCC (Resource Development Coordinating Committee). Public comments are due April 9th. Meanwhile, another agreement between GSLM and the state last December is coming down the pike. This time, the company wants an additional 37, 088 acres near Dolphin Island. Put that acreage together - 113,000 acres, and it's larger than Salt Lake City- all of it dedicated to evaporation. The ACOE is required to go back to square one with the EIS process.

If you care about the future of Great Salt Lake - now is the time to get involved.

"If we don't change directions, we're going to end up where we're heading."
-Rebecca Adamson - First Nations Development Institute

In saline,

Lynn

What you can do -

Send comments on the proposed inlet canal extension to the RDCC by April 9th. The project is identification as SOV- 0002-400

Visit the website: www.fogsl.org and read related comments that were submitted by EPA and FRIENDS et al in opposition to this proposal.

Express your concerns about this growing trend toward industrialization of the lake which puts other lake uses in jeopardy.

Address

Members of the Resource Development Coordinating Committee
5110 State Office Building
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114

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