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5th annual ‘Rally to Save Our Great Salt Lake’ makes a splash on Capitol Hill

Demonstrators call for action to save the drying Great Salt Lake in a rally at the Utah State Capitol on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (Will Ruzanski/Utah News Dispatch)
As Gov. Spencer Cox pledges to fill the Great Salt Lake by Utah’s 2034 Olympic Games, conservation advocates question the plan’s feasibility based on current efforts At the 5th annual “Rally to Save Our Great Salt Lake,” hundreds of Utahns gathered in...
February 5, 2026

Utah to buy US Magnesium plant for $30M — an 'incredible opportunity' for the Great Salt Lake

The US Magnesium Rowley Plant in Tooele County on June 18, 2021. Utah officials said Wednesday they expect to close on the acquisition of the facility on Feb. 2 after a deal that's expected to bring more water to the Great Salt Lake. The US Magnesium Rowley Plant in Tooele County on June 18, 2021. Utah officials said Wednesday they expect to close on the acquisition of the facility on Feb. 2 after a deal that's expected to bring more water to the Great Salt Lake. (Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
ROWLEY, Tooele County — Utah is close to formally acquiring US Magnesium's facility next to the Great Salt Lake after its $30 million bid to acquire the plant won an auction this month. The state plans to close on the acquisition early next week, which...
January 29, 2026

Utah just bought U.S. Magnesium for $30 million. Now what?

from an existing restricted account balance to purchase water," Rep. Val Peterson, R-Orem, said succinctly. Utah buys US Magnesium plant, plans to give more water to Great Salt Lake Rep. Paul Cutler, R-Centerville, popped up with a question. "I just...
January 29, 2026

Utah set to buy one of the state’s major polluters in $30M ‘commitment’ to Great Salt Lake

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribine) The smut and sypsum piles at US Magnesium, which has ceased operations at the magnesium plant on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake, is pictured on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024.
The US Magnesium plant had been shut down since 2021 but continued to pump large amounts of water from the shrinking lake. Utah has successfully bid to seize control of the defunct US Magnesium plant, and it plans to donate the massive volume of water...
January 29, 2026

Utah buys US Magnesium plant, plans to give more water to Great Salt Lake

SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah has apparently won a bid for U.S. Magnesium's bankruptcy assets with plans to conduct environmental remediation and keeping more water in the Great Salt Lake. A filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, obtained...
January 29, 2026

Breaking: Utah buys US Magnesium plant, plans to give more water to Great Salt Lake

Aaron Kimbell, FOX 13 News
SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah has apparently won a bid for U.S. Magnesium's bankruptcy assets with plans to conduct environmental remediation and keeping more water in the Great Salt Lake. A filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, obtained...
January 27, 2026

Here Are Our Top 10 Stories From 2025

details on where millions of gallons of new water rights would be going. Read the full story here. No. 5 - Utah demands US Magnesium stop pumping massive amounts of water from the Great Salt Lake (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The US Magnesium...
December 31, 2025

What US Magnesium’s shutdown could mean for the nation’s supply chain — and Utah’s air

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The piles at US Magnesium, which has ceased operations at the magnesium plant on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake, is pictured on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024.
from the Great Salt Lake. Now, the mineral’s future looks uncertain. The half-century-old and financially troubled US Magnesium, situated on the west shore of Utah’s famed saline lake, could see its smelting plant shutter for good, and its longstanding...
December 16, 2025

US Magnesium’s bankruptcy leaves a looming question: What happens to the Great Salt Lake cleanup?

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The US Magnesium facility, which has ceased operations for over a year, may take at least $100 million to clean up, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
worry history may repeat itself for one of the nation’s biggest polluters. Bill Johnson has witnessed the extent of US Magnesium’s pollution up close. He’s seen the wastewater pond that was so acidic it bubbled like a cauldron. He noted where the...
December 9, 2025

How much water will Utah have to save to protect the Great Salt Lake by the 2034 Winter Olympics?

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Persisting drought conditions continue to drop water levels at The Great Salt Lake exposing reef-like structures made up of calcium and magnesium carbonate deposits called bioherms that resemble coral as seen on Wednesday, October. 1, 2025.
Utah pledged to save the Great Salt Lake by the time it hosts the Olympics. Is it possible? SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Spencer Cox recently stood on the edge of Farmington Bay, surrounded by some of Utah’s most wealthy and powerful people. He announced a...
October 22, 2025

US Magnesium bankruptcy delays state plans to cut off Great Salt Lake water access

(Fox 13)
SALT LAKE CITY — A hearing to decide whether to terminate US Magnesium's leases on the Great Salt Lake has been delayed in light of the company's bankruptcy filing. "Due to US Magnesium’s bankruptcy filing, today’s administrative hearing on the...
September 29, 2025

US Magnesium files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as Utah seeks to shutter operations

SALT LAKE CITY — US Magnesium, which operates a facility along Utah's Great Salt Lake, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday. The move comes weeks after Utah's Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands said it was seeking to terminate...
September 11, 2025

Utah demands US Magnesium stop pumping massive amounts of water from the Great Salt Lake

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The US Magnesium dike north of Stansbury Island on Saturday, March 26, 2022.
The company is drowning in debt, and the state has resumed actions to revoke its decades-old lease. US Magnesium’s production plant has been mothballed for years as it battles environmental regulatory actions, equipment failures, receding Great Salt...
September 4, 2025

Utah seeks to shut down US Magnesium's operations on Great Salt Lake

(Fox 13)
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands will seek to terminate US Magnesium's leases to operate on the Great Salt Lake after settlement discussions fell apart, FOX 13 News has learned. In a court filing in a legal battle...
August 18, 2025

Utah in settlement talks with U.S. Magnesium over 'acid pond' near Great Salt Lake

ROWLEY, Utah — The state of Utah is now engaged in settlement talks with U.S. Magnesium, one of the state’s largest mineral extraction companies operating on the Great Salt Lake. Utah’s Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands confirmed to FOX 13 News...
January 2, 2025

Our most engaging stories of 2024

File -- Mark Milligan, with the Utah Geological Survey, takes a photo of a mound formed by the mineral mirabilite on the shores of the Great Salt Lake on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. (Scott G. Winterton/Deseret News)
on a wall to keep ‘highly acidic’ waste away from the Great Salt Lake. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) US Magnesium, which has ceased operations at the magnesium plant on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake, is pictured on Thursday,...
December 26, 2024

Utah argues US Magnesium is ‘unable or unwilling’ to protect the Great Salt Lake as judge appoints outsider to run the company

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) US Magnesium, which has ceased operations at the magnesium plant on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake, is pictured on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. On Friday, a Utah judge appointed a receiver to take over the company, after state officials argued it was failing to do work required under a 2021 settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
US Magnesium says it stopped building a retaining wall meant to keep toxic waste out of the Great Salt Lake because it’s no longer mining magnesium and therefore, according to the company, is not creating waste to mitigate. State and federal agencies...
December 20, 2024

Why work has stopped on a wall to keep ‘highly acidic’ waste away from the Great Salt Lake

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The US Magnesium dike north of Stansbury Island on Saturday, March 26, 2022.
US Magnesium was required to install a massive underground wall to keep “highly acidic” waste away from the lake, under agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency. US Magnesium acknowledges it has stopped working on a massive hydraulic...
December 16, 2024

West Haven-based Trace Minerals supports latest Great Salt Lake legislation

This undated photo shows Trace Minerals' harvesting facility, located near the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Photo courtesy Trace Minerals
WEST HAVEN — House Bill 453, which establishes new parameters for mineral extraction companies operating on the Great Salt Lake, was signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox last month. And its passing was heralded as a victory by legislators on both sides...
April 17, 2024

Mineral companies use 7% of Great Salt Lake’s water. Here’s how a bill would change their business.

back on Compass’s complaints Environmental groups, Utah resource managers, the Great Salt Lake Commissioner and even US Magnesium — the second-largest extractor on the lake — all largely spoke in favor of the bill. Conspicuously absent was a lobbyist...
February 9, 2024

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