Salt Lake City, Utah-A top official with the state agency being sued by conservationists for approving the Great Salt Lake Minerals (GSLM) plan to expand sulfate of potash production on the lake says all the rules were followed in the review process. A half-dozen or more organizations, including Friends of Great Salt Lake, the National Audubon Society, the Sierra Club Utah chapter, League of Women Voters, Utah Airboat Assn. and Utah Rivers Council, claim in their suit filed in state court that the go-ahead issued by the Utah Dept. of Natural Resources will pose, among other things, a threat to wildlife. The lawsuit also challenges the approval process used by the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands and appeals a Jan. 18 rejection of an earlier petition to the state to update management and minerals extraction plans before allowing further development on the lake. The office of the state attorney general declined comment because the complaint hadn’t been received. But Division director Dick Buehler told Green Markets Great Salt Lake Minerals’ application was approved last fall because it complied with all the guidelines established in the state’s Great Salt Lake comprehensive management and lake minerals leasing plans. In the record of decision, the Division determined that the aquatic plants and wildlife, water quality, scenic beauty, geology and cultural resources would not be substantially impaired. The Division also concluded that it had exceeded the minimum requirements in the planning, analysis, notification of the public, and reviewing and responding to the public comments. Buehler said the environmental concerns of the conservation groups are being addressed in the environmental impact study currently underway and expected to be completed this fall by the Army Corps of Engineers. He said the conservationists didn’t present any compelling reasons in January for revising the management and leasing plans and that both documents are due for updating soon anyway. The project would include an 8,000-acre pond on the east side of the Great Salt Lake in the Bear River Bay. GSLM also would build two new solar ponds on the west side of the lake.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain