Hello all! It’s been an interesting winter! We are grateful that Rep. Keven Stratton sponsored and worked diligently to get H.B. 240 passed in the legislative session. This bill amends H.B. 272 from 2018. There was constant monitoring, meeting with policy makers, listening, additional changes and waiting (so much waiting!) as we watched it move through the process. We are grateful we were heard and that much needed transparency and tighter guidelines are now in place.
We are grateful to all who attended the rally at the capitol in February, wrote legislators and continue to be a voice for the lake. There is still much to do!
We thank those who have signed the Don’t Pave Utah Lake petition thus far. We were able to give the legislators the petition with more than 9100 signatures!
The petition will remain in place but with a few updates. We wanted to let people know that H.B. 240 is helpful but the lake is still in danger. Because of that, we need people to continue to sign the petition.
If you have signed it already, you do not need to sign this revised petition. Your signature on the earlier version still stands.
Please continue to educate others, to point them toward truthful, valid data and information about the lake. We appreciate you and your efforts!!
A BIG ASK: Please send this link dontpaveutahlake.org to 15 people today!
The new petition language reads:
Despite its environmental, cultural, and economic importance, our lake is in grave danger because of a law passed in 2018. The “Utah Lake Amendments” (H.B. 272) created a loophole that allowed the lakebed to be given to commercial developers. Right now, an LLC called “Lake Restoration Solutions” is preparing to build 20,000 acres of dredged islands and house up to 500,000 people on them. The state legislature gave this company a $10 million loan guarantee in 2021 to subsidize their fundraising and permitting efforts (coverage here).
State resources and taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize a real estate venture that claims to have billions lined up from foreign investors. H.B. 240 was passed in the 2022 legislative session which provides needed guardrails and requires more steps for transparency. Yet, working to repeal H.B. 272 in the future will restore Utah Lake’s constitutional protection, ensuring Utah Lake is held in “public trust” in perpetuity for all Utahns, present and future.
Many healthy restoration efforts have been taking place over the past decades and are bringing the lake back to a natural healthy state. Efforts like the Walkara Way project, removal of carp and phragmites, the Provo River Delta Restoration Project and the Hobble Creek Restoration Project are helping the lake heal.
We call on Utahns from all political backgrounds to stand together to oppose this waste of taxpayer dollars that threatens our valley. Repealing H.B. 272 in a future legislative session will ensure that Utah Lake is managed responsibly for the people of Utah.
dont pave
Please do not make man made islands in Utah Lake.
The constant need for commercial building is disgusting and detrimental to the health of the planet. DONT PAVE THE LAKE!
Do Not Pave Utah Lake.
Anyone who has actually researched this restoration project and understands the republican and capitalistic nature of Utah, would be in favor of the project. Yes people are going to be making money off of it, yes things will change, yes their will be some roads on Utah lake… But the lake won’t be evaporating at alarming rates, with toxic silt on the bottom, hardly any recreation able to be done on the lake, very little shoreline, an ugly eyesore that no one can enjoy as it is now! The project is worth it and no Utahn is going to pay taxes to fix the lake, so the only way it will get done is by an independent company. Yes there will be people making money off the project but it will be worth it so we can all see the benefits! And yes there may be people living on the lake, but at least it will be usable! Think about it people!
This is a comment I made recently and still stand by it:
Letter to Utah Lake Solutions, LLC
To Whom It May Concern
I would like to add my concern about your Utah Lake Restoration Project to that of Dr. Ben Abbott and his group of scientists who have similar concerns. I support those expressed in his letter. Destroying the present benthic ecosystem by dredging sediments, removing and tying up the large seed bank, other macrophyte and invertebrate pools, great numbers of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, algae) in the island construction is extremely poor science (really not science at all). The dredging industry calls it “Environment Dredging.” There is nothing environmental about it, it is environmental destruction. Also, I have not seen any mention of doing a cost benefit analysis of the proposed project in your proposal, which should be done. The proposed activity, in my opinion, will negate the work (scientific studies and the successful lake restoration efforts) that has taken place to date and would waste these efforts.
A recent review of information (academic/journal articles, internet materials, conference/workshop papers, textbooks, etc.) was conducted on the environmental implications of dredging activities (Igwe, P.U., et.al., 2017). The authors of these works concluded that in addition to activities that are beneficial (keeping waterways open, flood and storm protection, etc.) dredging has a number of adverse effects, including environmental pollution, destruction of fish spawning grounds, removal of benthic organisms, and resuspension of particulate matter. The proposed island project will have these kinds of negative effects .
I live on the north shore of Utah Lake (for 22 years) and have a much different perspective than your comments on radio, etc., present. Utah Lake has been and still is a very productive ecosystem as indicated by the level of the fish and plant populations it presently supports and has in the past. At least two points in fact are the tremendous spring growth of vegetation around the lake shore where the water has receded; and within the enclosures placed in Saratoga Bay several years ago that excluded carp foraging, resulting in good regrowth of native benthic vegetation. I have been associated with habitat restoration projects in Southern California, Alaska, other regions of the United States and in the Amazon rain forest of Ecuador. I cannot sanction a project that would directly destroy the ecology of the lake, and which is most likely impossible to accomplish.
Dilworth W. Chamberlain, Ph.D., University of Southern California, Ichthyology, Marine and Freshwater Ecology/Botany, Habitat Restoration. Member, International Society of Ecological Restoration (SER), 5/13/2022.
(chamberlaindilworth@gmail.com)