GSLM expansion no threat to lake wildlife

Overland Park, Kan.-Compass Minerals insists that despite news coverage there is nothing in current data that indicates plans for expanding solar evaporation ponds on the Great Salt Lake in Utah by its Great Salt Lake Minerals Corp. would endanger the lake’s wildlife. “Our proposed expansion requires a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which will include a comprehensive environmental impact study,” said Compass Minerals. “The Corps’ permit is required because the project involves building dikes in lake waters, not because it threatens wetlands as a recent article in The Salt Lake Tribune asserted. The purpose of the environmental impact study is to determine what impact, if any, the proposed expansion would have on the lake environment. At this time, there is no scientific evidence that the proposed project will have any impact on birds at the Great Salt Lake.” The March 24 front-page Tribune article, headlined “Mining growth irks lake lovers,” focused on concerns of environmental groups that expanding the solar ponds to increase sulfate of potash production would pose a threat to “hundreds, if not thousands” of migrating pintail ducks and snow geese and others that depend on the lake for habitat. Three days later the Tribune editorialized that there needs to be a balance between developing the lake resources and protecting the wetlands that are critical to the birds, and suggested that “perhaps a smaller expansion” would achieve both objectives. Compass Minerals reminded critics that Great Sale Lake Minerals “relies primarily on solar energy to produce organically approved potassium sulfate, and throughout nearly 40 years of operation has adhered to all regulations and operated in an environmentally sound manner. “Our commitment to sustaining the viability of the lake continues to be a guiding principle as we explore expansion plans for our operations,” said GSLM. “Great Salt Lake Minerals Corp. and our more than 300 Ogden-based employees take very seriously our responsibility to the lake and its ecosystems. As we move through the permitting process, we are committed to engaging in a public dialogue regarding the facts and conclusions of the environmental impact study.”