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Environmental group says changing Utah’s tax laws could put 20% more water in Great Salt Lake
impacts from climate change. It presents a significant public health, ecological and economic threat to the state with toxic dust, a reduced snowpack and impacts to wildlife and industries that rely on the lake. State leaders have rallied to try to...
November 16, 2022
Lots of options on the table for saving Great Salt Lake; but especially the simplest — use less water.
of no return to a healthy ecosystem. Utahns are becoming familiar with the long list of repercussions of a dying lake: toxic dust storms, imperiled bird populations, more than $1 billion in economic losses, a shrinking snowpack due to less “lake effect”...
November 8, 2022
Utahns will have to brace for 'painful steps' as Great Salt Lake shrinks
in its recorded history, having dropped this month to 4,188.9 feet. The impact of its decline includes reduced snowpack, toxic dust storms, harm to wildlife and human health and $1.3 billion in lost economic activity. "We are already seeing ecosystem...
November 6, 2022
Property tax bill could end a free ride for many water users in Utah's drought
SALT LAKE CITY — A major bill unveiled on Utah's Capitol Hill could dramatically change how water is paid for in the state. The bill was formally presented on Wednesday by Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, who co-chairs the Utah State Legislature's Interim...
October 22, 2022
Namesake
collapse before our eyes—as microbialites are beached, brine flies and shrimp die off, and birds migrate elsewhere. Toxic dust released from the dry lakebed endangers people, too. Meanwhile Bonnie studies the lake and tracks its decline.
October 17, 2022
‘Just add water and stir’ — Owens Lake shows Utahns that even when salty lakes hit their lowest point, they can recover
in it.” The utility has since been charged with rehabilitating the 110-square-mile dry lake to prevent it from generating toxic dust storms. Crews have largely relied on water to do it, in the form of shallow flooding in bermed ponds. Once they turned...
October 12, 2022
To balance its competing needs, is it time to follow Mono Lake's lead and mandate an elevation for the Great Salt Lake?
a need to send more water to the Great Salt Lake. Otherwise the millions of people living nearby face a future with more toxic dust pollution, dead birds, and, potentially, endangered species listings. And, in recent years, lawmakers have scrambled to...
October 12, 2022
The people living near Owens Lake endured decades of toxic dust. Here’s why they stayed.
Lone Pine, Calif. • The area around Owens Lake holds a certain kind of magnetism. There’s the spectacular Sierra Nevada to the west, crowned by Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the continental United States. There’s the charming town of Lone Pine,...
October 10, 2022
The saline lakes of the Great Basin and why they are in trouble
half its volume, and more than 800 square miles of lakebed are now exposed, vulnerable to wind-whipped storms that spread toxic dust along the Wasatch Front. “These lakes are relics of the past, and they hold a lot of answers to the way Mother Earth...
October 9, 2022
Dust hot spots: Where is Great Salt Lake's toxic dust most likely to originate?
food chain are other alarms on the horizon, says Perry, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Utah. Toxic dust from the drying lakebed ultimately became one of the first alarms that captivated researchers, though. The Great Salt Lake...
September 20, 2022
All of northern Utah at risk for toxic dust from shrinking Great Salt Lake, scientist tells lawmakers
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SALT LAKE CITY — All of northern Utah faces risk from dust storms laced with arsenic and other chemicals from a shrinking Great Salt Lake, a scientist warned a panel of lawmakers on Tuesday night. "The dust is dangerous regardless of what it’s made out...
September 20, 2022
Great Salt Lake a sovereign entity 'worthy of legal rights,' group says
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political leaders acknowledge the shrinking lake presents an environmental crisis for Utah with a dry lake bed creating toxic dust storms that can harm people's health, a reduced snowpack thatimpacts our water supply and significant impacts to wildlife....
September 13, 2022
New threat to Great Salt Lake? Mineral company wants to extend its canals.
have some experiences no one wants to have.” Dropping the elevation that low would expose more lakebed and kick up more toxic dust. Receding water also concentrates the lake’s salinity. Higher levels of salt threaten the life cycles of the brine shrimp,...
September 7, 2022
Utah youth hold “die-in” to mourn the decline of Great Salt Lake
the lake, “we see less water in the mountains, less water in our water system, less water for us to drink.” “And with toxic dust bowls that are starting to roll through and will continue to get worse and worse, we will see increased air pollution, we’ll...
September 4, 2022
New Jordan River 'blueprint' may have benefits for the Great Salt Lake
mining and smelting industries. These discharges also helped lead to the current programs with the Great Salt Lake's "toxic dust." Cline says increased "community value" in the river since the 1980s has made the river much more desirable. Still, the...
September 1, 2022
Group pitches Utah lawmakers on a pipeline to the Great Salt Lake
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level in its recorded history and presents and economic and environmental crisis for the state with reduced snowpack, toxic dust storms and impacts to animals and industry that rely on it. The lake has been shrinking as a result of water diversion, the...
August 29, 2022
Saving the Great Salt Lake is 'top priority,' Utah's new natural resources boss says
has hit a record low and presents a significant environmental and economic crisis for the state with diminished snowpack, toxic dust and impacts to industry and wildlife around the lake. "That’s precisely why I supported him today," said Sen. Derek...
August 26, 2022
'We've got to find answers and then take the action,' Romney says of Great Salt Lake
FARMINGTON BAY, Utah — As the airboats moved through the marshes, hundreds of birds took flight. Senator Mitt Romney marveled at them. "You fly by this area on commercial aircraft and you look down, you see the water but you don’t recognize how many...
August 18, 2022
SLCo Council urges action to save the Great Salt Lake
water diversion, drought and climate change. It presents an environmental catastrophe for Utah with declining snowpack, toxic dust storms and significant impacts to wildlife and Utah's economy. State leaders have rallied around the lake. House Speaker...
August 9, 2022
'Dust Lake City' disaster looming as Utah professor fights to save the Great Salt Lake
a long, dangerous shadow. Now, Owens Lake has water again, and that's what Perry said would be the solution to our toxic dust problem. "I was seriously considering a future name change for Salt Lake City to Dust Lake City because that was the future we...
August 9, 2022
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