SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah now officially owns U.S. Magnesium's bankruptcy assets, with a federal judge in Delaware signing an order approving the purchase.
The order, signed Thursday, accepts the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands' purchase of the mineral extraction plant on the shores of the Great Salt Lake that environmentalists have branded as one of the state's "top polluters."
FOX 13 News was the first to report that the state of Utah had acquired U.S. Magnesium's assets. The Utah State Legislature rushed to vote to spend $30 million for it. Utah political leaders have repeatedly said they sought it for water rights and intend to keep most of the water in the lake as part of their efforts to help it recover.
The Great Salt Lake is once again declining due to impacts from water diversions, drought and a changing climate. This year will be no better with a record low snowpack so far. A drying Great Salt Lake presents an ecological crisis for the state with reduced snowpack, toxic dust (arsenic is among the minerals in the lake) and harms to public health and wildlife.
In the order that settles creditor issues, Judge Brendan Shannon preserved some environmental oversight.
"For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Order or the Purchase Agreement releases, nullifies, precludes, or enjoins the enforcement of any police or regulatory power by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality... against the post-sale owner and/or operator of property after the date of entry of this Order," the judge wrote.
