Ogden, Utah-Recreation and environmental groups are worried about Great Salt Lake Mineral’s plans to build three new, large solar evaporation ponds and expand its potash manufacturing facilities west of here, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. “There have been quite a few people express their concerns at public scoping meetings about the loss of public lands used by boaters, hunters, bird watchers and other recreationalists,” Regulatory Project Manager Jason Gipson told Green Markets. He said the environmental impact study is in its early phase, and a draft EIS won’t be issued for another six to 12 months. Gipson also said the study will be assessing pond expansion as well as the plant expansion, including the impacts on water quality, vegetation, and wildlife, and possible effects on the brine shrimp population due to changes in the lake content. Great Salt Lake Minerals, a unit of Compass Minerals, proposes adding 25,000 acres of solar ponds to its western operations in Clyman Bay and 8,000 acres to its eastern operations in Bear River Bay. Plant Manager Corey Milne was not available for comment. Milne did, however, maintain in a Salt Lake newspaper op-ed piece that from initial evaporation to final product, which takes three years, “our production method does not consume or produce any hazardous materials and uses far fewer fossil fuels than other sulfate of potash methods.” Operations, he noted, have been conducted in an environmentally responsible manner since their start in 1968, and the 300 employees there “want to be responsible stewards of the lake and its ecosystems.” He said the expansion is necessary to meet the long-term need for additional SOP.
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