SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah will get $60 million for the Great Salt Lake in a settlement in a long-running legal battle with the federal government over the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
As part of the deal, Utah will transfer 22,311 acres of land along the Great Salt Lake to the federal government to be included in the refuge. Utah gets the money, which is earmarked for projects to benefit the lake.
"This is a big win for the health of the Great Salt Lake,” Governor Spencer Cox said in a statement Friday announcing the settlement. “We took a decades-old dispute and turned it into $60 million or more that will go right back into the lake. I’m grateful to President Trump and his administration, our legislative partners, and the state and federal teams who worked through the details and got this across the finish line."
The Utah State Legislature earlier this year authorized the land swap and settlement, but demanded the money be used for the lake, which has dropped to historic lows and presents an ecological catastrophe for the state. The lake contributes mightily to Utah's water supply and its declines have alarmed the public. The exposed lake bed blows dust into nearby communities (and the dust contains toxins that could impact public health).
The legal feud between Utah and the federal government over who owns what land around the area stretches back more than 20 years. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service runs the refuge.
