Salt Lake City-State planners are moving ahead to acquire land and build a facility for processing fertilizer or for other purposes on the shore of Utah Lake, where some 6 million pounds of carp are being removed as a threat to an endangered fish species. “Fertilizer is really one of the most promising uses we’ve heard about from people who have come to the site and talked to us,” Chris Keleher, assistant director of the recovery program under the Department of Natural Resources, told Green Markets. Biologists say ridding the lake of the bottom-feeding carp is the most important thing that can be done to take the June sucker, found only in Utah Lake, off the endangered list. Keleher said numerous companies have expressed interest in turning the catch into fertilizer, and one of the most promising, SoilRenu of California, “spent a lot of time with us expressing interest and discussing their business plans to produce liquid fertilizer.” The project has cleared its first hurdle, with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service conducting an environmental assessment and finding no significant impact from removal of the carp, opening the way for $1 million in federal funding. Another $500,000 is expected from the state to acquire property, build an access to the highway, and start work on the facility. In the meantime, Keleher noted, contractors are continuing the carp removal, which began in September. Some of the removed carp had been distributed to mink farmers for use as food, and to local farmers who used it for compost until neighbors complained about the odor.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain