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Politics & Government
Great Salt Lake Collaborative
This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions
journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to
help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake — and what can be
done to make a difference before it is too late.


GREAT SALT LAKE WETLANDS ARE THE LATEST BATTLEGROUND WITH THE UTAH INLAND PORT

KUER 90.1 | By Sean Higgins
Published November 6, 2023 at 6:02 PM MST
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Sean Higgins
/
KUER
Great Basin Water Network Deputy Director Chandler Rosenberg speaks at a rally
at the Utah State Capitol promoting a new report that details potential impacts
of development near wetlands critical to the Great Salt Lake, Nov. 6, 2023.

Opponents of the Utah Inland Port say the shipping and logistics hub is the
single greatest threat to the Great Salt Lake’s wetlands.

Stop the Polluting Port, Great Salt Lake Audubon, Utah Physicians for a Healthy
Environment, Great Basin Water Network and the Center for Biological Diversity
have published a new report claiming several port locations near the lake could
jeopardize nearly 53,000 acres of habitat in Salt Lake, Box Elder, Tooele, Weber
and Utah counties.

Dozens of opponents of the ports gathered at the Utah State Capitol rotunda on
Nov. 6 to promote the report and voice their concerns. Holding signs with
slogans like “destroy the earth at your peril” and “everyone needs clean air,”
activists lined the marble steps up to the old Utah Supreme Court chambers as
speakers outlined their unease with the ongoing port projects.

“We need to be doing everything in our power to reverse the lake's decline,
which means taking the most careful approach possible with anything that could
potentially harm the lake and its ecosystem,” said Chandler Rosenberg, deputy
director of the Great Basin Water Network.

According to the report, over 26,000 acres of wetlands could be impacted by the
inland port on the west side of Salt Lake City alone. That location is
approximately 1.5 miles from the lake.

“We simply cannot save the lake if we sacrifice these wetlands,” she said.

Rosenberg also warned against “sacrificing” places like the Great Salt Lake “at
the altar of the industrial economy and its fairytales of unrestrained growth
and endless profits.”

The inland port has been at the center of controversy since it was first devised
in 2016 as a way to boost economic traffic through the state. In the following
years, protests have shut down board meetings and even resulted in violence and
arrests. Opponents claimed the port would have negative impacts on air and water
quality along the Wasatch Front, and now that the port authority has adjusted
its approach to focus on satellite ports, the controversy extends to those
locations, too.

“Should these ports be developed, we will further degrade and greatly diminish
what is left of the habitat that is critical for the 12 million migrating birds
that use the lake as an essential stopover,” said Heather Dove, president of the
Great Salt Lake Audubon. “Great Salt Lake is the crossroads of the West for the
avian world.”

But advocates for the ports say there are no intentions to destroy wetlands near
the lake.

“The Utah Inland Port Authority views our stewardship of the wetlands and the
Great Salt Lake as absolutely critical,” said the authority’s executive director
Ben Hart. “That's part of our mission, making sure that we are good stewards of
the wetlands and the lake itself.”

To that end, the Utah Inland Port Authority Board adopted a new wetlands
compliance policy at its Nov. 6 board meeting. The policy allows for incentives
that encourage developers to preserve wetland habitats impacted by future
projects, though it does not explicitly mandate preservation.

“I love this as a first step,” said non-voting board member and Salt Lake City
Councilor Victoria Petro. “I’d love to see us be even more assertive in our
capacity so that anyone who is participating in our areas … must have a
demonstrated, documented strategy for how you’re going to protect wetlands.”

In Hart’s opinion, there can be both economic benefit and environmental
protection.

“We don't want to develop these [projects] overnight,” he said. “I think you're
going to get sloppy development that doesn't serve the community, doesn't serve
the economy very well. We want to make sure that these are projects that exist
over a generation and another generation,” he said. “And we absolutely can do
that while protecting the wetlands for future generations as well.”

Still, some opponents think the process is moving too fast and said changes in
how public comments are received by the board are an area where transparency can
be improved.

“Projects are introduced and approved so quickly that most community members are
unaware of what is coming,” said Stop the Polluting Port’s Joan Gregory. “More
time is needed for public input on projects that will impact communities far
into the future.”

Tags
Politics & Government Inland PortGreat Salt LakeAir QualitywetlandsProtestsUtah
Inland Port AuthorityGreat Basin Water NetworkCenter for Biological
DiversityUtah Physicians for a Healthy EnvironmentUtah State CapitolSalt Lake
City
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Sean Higgins
Sean is KUER’s politics reporter.
See stories by Sean Higgins
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