GSLM says critics of expansion ignore facts

Salt Lake City-There’s a lot of misinformation going around about Great Salt Lake Minerals’ plans to expand sulfate of potash production on Great Salt Lake, according to the plant’s on-site manager. “We know there are questions about how SOP production can be expanded in harmony with a sustainable Great Salt Lake,” Corey Milne wrote May 15 in an op-ed piece in the Salt Lake Tribune. The Tribune had called earlier for Utah to deny the company’s application because of concerns over maintaining the level of the lake (GM May 17, p. 14). The application is undergoing an environmental impact study by the Army Corps of Engineers, which is expected to issue the draft document later this year. “This assessment ensures that our expansion preserves healthy vibrant lake ecology. Yet before the findings are released some critics are making unsubstantiated claims mixing bad math, exaggeration and just plain untruths to paint a phony picture about possible impacts on the lake and its water level,” Milne insisted. He said these detractors ignore the fact that the lake level today is exactly the same as in 1967 before GSLM built its first pond, and assume that every acre of proposed new solar ponds will be built immediately. In reality, he explained, the plan is to grow in stages over 40 years, in a phased approach allowing new ponds to be built as farmers’ demand for SOP increases over time. Milne stated that this would allow regulators ample opportunity to review the impacts of one phase before the next phase is started in “an incremental approach that accommodates future adjustments of ponds and water usage that will maintain the environmental quality of the lake while meeting America’s agricultural needs.” Milne concluded, “Expanding in incremental stages will meet the steady increases in demand for SOP and allow ongoing assessment of impacts while providing increased royalties that can address the true threats to the lake.”