Great Salt Lake under attack

Cody Williams

Cody Williams

Well-known member
Hey guys, I know there's nothing that anyone here can do about this, but I just needed to vent a little. Right now there are plans in the works to put 3 major dams on the Bear River which is one of the major water sources for the Great Salt Lake. The lake is currently 4" above reaching its all-time historic low level and these proposed dams could lower it by another foot or more. If the level goes down that far then thousands of acres of marshland will dry up and turn to dust, which will kill some of the most important waterfowl habitat in the western US. We stand to lose habitat for literally millions of waterfowl in the next few years.

The main driving force behind this is a scheme by local politicians in my valley, which the Bear flows through, to sell Bear River water to the cities along the Wasatch Front, which are growing at an incredible rate. Most of this water will go to watering lawns in the desert. Our local politicians are all about growth growth growth and to hell with the lake and the enviroment.

This has the potential to disrupt the migration patterns of so many waterfowl that the effects could be huge. Again other than complaining to the same politicians that are already in the pockets of big development there really isn't much that a average guy can do about it. Again I just wanted to vent a bit and get the message out, maybe we could get some support from Delta or DU, this could literally be the fight of a lifetime for Utahns that care about waterfowl.
 
Cody,

Drop a note to this organization. They're all about dams and rivers. Good luck. Sorry, not sure how to activate the link. Jim

https://www.americanrivers.org
 
Cody, local stakeholder action is key in these situations.

I'd be surprised if DU isn't already working on this, reach out to them. (see link below)

Other orgs that may be assistive are: Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Lands, Isaac Walton League, Conservation Lands Foundation, Trout Unlimited, Audubon Society, Great Salt Lake Association, etc. Any constituency that uses water from that creek/river. Don't forget DNR and USFWS. What about potential environmental hazards? I airborne silica a challenge if the water gets too shallow?

Single point issues never win big. Policy makers don't care about Ducks; however, they can be influenced by groups supporting ALL the things Ducks need. Land, water, etc.

There should be at least one group that can act as an operations office/administrator. They'll likely require some funding, but this can come from public and private sources.

Good luck. The threat is always real, but it seems that well organized and local partnerships are better received overall.

http://www.ducks.org/utah/Utah-Conservation-Projects/The-Great-Salt-Lake-Project-Phase-I
 
Thanks for the advice you guys. On the good news side of things, there actually is some organized resistance to this among conservation groups. The real key, as you guys pointed out, is getting different groups with different vested interests to work together towards a common goal.

Utah politics are.........weird. Quite frankly, you often end up with people voting against their own best interests in order to maintain the LDS church's stated positions and favored politicians, and it is next to impossible to fight a church-endorsed candidate, and those candidates are very rarely pro-environment. Hopefully this is something that everyone can come together on.
 
Cody:

This sounds like a really terrible idea.

I'd second the suggestion to get in touch with American Rivers. We are in a different place here in the northeast--taking out old obsolete dams rather than opposing the construction of new ones--but American Rivers was a real leader on the precedent setting Edwards Dam removal back on 1999. They've focused on impacts of dams as a major focus of their work for more than 20 years.

In particular, their "America's Most Endangered Rivers" annual list is a powerful tool for advocacy.

Both construction of new dams and water withdrawal/diversion issues were key factors for this year's Top Ten.



https://www.americanrivers.org/threats-solutions/endangered-rivers/
 
Cody: It is a proposal. While I do not know the exact details and whether the State or the Federal Government is proposing the project, one way or another, it will have to (or should have to) go through a withering legal and environmental review. Maybe a federal National Environmental Policy Act Review, (NEPA) or a similar state review. This process can last for many, many years. In any event, the groups that have been identified in this forum by our partcipants will no doubt weigh in at length. Baring unusual circumstances, this review will ultimately result in a correct and environmentally sound result. Typically hair brained ideas are quickly dispensed with in the process early on. I will send you by PM additional NGOs which should share an interest in this matter, but they probably already are aware of it. But you and your groups should contact them.
 
James, I'm not so sure. Are you familiar with western water rights? Something us easterners consider protected and free flowing is a commodity to be bought, sold, traded, then dammed, diverted, irrigated, and evaporated. The sump water that runs off builds higher and higher concentrations of pesticides, salts, and fertilizer until it will not support life. Some of the western rivers are so highly fought over that they fail to reach the Pacific a significant portion of the year, and sometimes miss years altogether.

I would like to have faith in the Endangered Species Act or Clean Water Act to be able to block such projects, but I doubt it will be so. Anyone else familiar with the Tellico Dam project in east TN? it was the first true test of the ESA. TVA the proposed dam(n) to bring business and money into a poor region by CREATING LAKEFRONT PROPERTY. The project added no hydroelectric capability. This was in 1978. The TVA used imminent domain to throw families off prime river bottom farm land, inundated it permanently, and lined the pockets of fat cat investors and TVA board members with the real estate profits of the resulting lakefront developments. Ultimately, the courts decided that the TVA had already spent too much money to stop.

The point being, fight it now, fight it hard, bring in every partner you can, throw down the gauntlet, because you can't get it back once it's gone.
 
Huge difference between 1978 and now. I don't see how any major dam project could make through the NEPA regulatory process. Even if it did, the lawsuits would never end.
I've dealt with NEPA for years. Have a love hate relationship with it. It's strangles and holds back good projects but can also put the brakes on bad shit too.
 
I'd like to think Carl is right about NEPA, but my experience (mostly in RE-licensing existing FERC-regulated dams) is that an awful lot depends on what local resource agencies submit to the feds for comments. If the local water quality, fish, and wildlife managers are in favor of the project, or tone down their comments about its impacts, the likelihood that the NEPA analysis says "no" is a lot lower.

Public pressure matters a lot to those local officials and the politicians they work for, so this from Micheal McCord is right on: The point being, fight it now, fight it hard, bring in every partner you can, throw down the gauntlet, because you can't get it back once it's gone.
 
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Huge difference between 1978 and now. I don't see how any major dam project could make through the NEPA regulatory process. Even if it did, the lawsuits would never end.
I've dealt with NEPA for years. Have a love hate relationship with it. It's strangles and holds back good projects but can also put the brakes on bad shit too.
Click to expand...

I can relate. I work with a lot of NRCS projects. Some glide right through, and some, you'd think we were feeding baby passenger pigeons to house cats the way they hold them up.

Edit: for full disclosure, the ESA went all the way to the SCOTUS over the Snail Darter and Tellico Dam was shot down. Congress ended up exempting it as a rider on another bill. NEPA/ESA did its job but a tiny fish can't stand in the way of progress.
 
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Thanks again guys, I appreciate any feedback we can get. Western water rights are a whole nother ball of snakes. Right now the irrigation canal company that I am a part of is in a fight with the state to hold on to all of the water that we were given a right to when our company was founded in the late 1880's, the state is getting really aggressive about reclaiming deeded water rights that they consider underused, all with an eye towards feeding Salt Lake City and the Wasatch front. This whole Bear River thing feeds into that as well. It will be an interesting next couple of years for sure.
 
Well, I am not so sure either. If it is a federal project or has any federal money or involvement, NEPA will apply and significant environmental reviews will have to take place. Some states require the same on a state level. So if there is any Federal involvement, NEPA should apply. But your point about fighting at the beginning is correct.
 
These rivers, by definition, are Waters of the US, so there will be a USACE Permit (Section 10 and Section 404) which will require an Environmental Impact Statement.
So yes, NEPA very clearly applies.
The process to prepare the draft EIS will take 3 years at the least, with another year for the final. Then another 10-20 years for all the lawsuit.
 
.... Then all the law suits....

Yes!

Engage the interested parties early, amazing what can get done/ be avoided if the right partners make it happen.

Financial support from locals is highly influential.
 
Cody: Carl is right. Excuse me..... I should have made the observation as he did that these waters are all "waters of the United States" and will require a 404 permit, likely a full environmental review-Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and perhaps state review as well, if not preempted. This more so true in the context of one the great natural resources of the United States, like the Great Salt Lake. Now having said this, all could go sideways as a result of the election-could Richie Rich frustrate the process, and could Hillary favor an interest which would contribute to the Clinton Foundation. Don't know.
 
I've been having some conversations with guys who are on the front line in this fight, and it seems like they are working on building coalitions among as many groups as possible to oppose what's going on. Time will tell but it's great that so many folks are coming on board to help out. As far as the results of the election influencing the outcome.......God help us all no matter who wins.
 
That's a pretty good article Ray, it sums things up nicely. It also shows that there are a lot of people aware of what's happening and who are willing to fight it. I actually work as a carpenter for Utah State University, I will have to track some of the authors of those papers down and talk to them face to face. Thanks for linking that!
 
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