THE UTAH LAKE EXPLOITATION PROJECT
“Hell hath no fury like an environmentalist aroused.”
In the 1970s, an unnamed US senator shared this sentiment with the New York Times in response to the unprecedented popularity of environmentalism and activists’ calls for dynamic policy.
In the 2020s, as environmentalism has regained popularity, for-profit companies have latched onto this movement. One such company is promising environmental restoration out of one side of their mouth, while schmoozing real estate investors and legislators with the other.
In a nod to our environmentalist forefathers, it’s time to raise some hell.
In 2018, Lake Restoration Solutions LLC (LRS) was formed and announced its inaugural project, the Utah Lake Restoration Project. Acknowledging the decades of neglect to Utah Lake, this group of lawyers, developers, and business analysts proposed a plan: dredge the bottom of the lake and create nearly 20,000 acres of islands using that material.
Dredging involves removing sediment from the bottom of a water body to increase depth and water flow. While dredging is selectively used for restoration purposes, it always has serious environmental costs, including a loss of biodiversity and water clarity. In the best case scenario, a dredging project is guided by peer- reviewed science and weighs the benefit against the harm before making a careful decision to move forward.
This is not, however, the best case scenario. Unfortunately, the Utah Lake Restoration Project has demonstrated little regard for this careful process. It has proposed a plan to begin the largest freshwater dredging project ever without adequately addressing the environmental harms or clearly demonstrating any benefits. It falsely claims the sediment in Utah Lake is universally contaminated -- a claim that has not been demonstrated by any peer-reviewed research.
Dredging is only half of the equation. This project also plans to use the dredged sediment to build around 20,000 acres of island in the middle of the lake, the majority of which are slotted to be used for a housing development. A project like this is unprecedented in scope, yet LRS has not provided any peer-reviewed research to demonstrate that it is necessary or even possible.
Projects of a much smaller scale (Ex. Osaka Bay Islands in Japan) took decades to plan and build and had a price tag nearing $20 billion. 1 Yet, the Utah Lake Restoration Project claims it can build islands eight times the size, at one third of the cost, in eight less years.
Even if LRS can fulfill its promise, it is unlikely that these man-made islands will be successful long-term. In the Middle East, for example, nineteen years ago, real estate developers in Dubai built islands out of dredged materials. Those islands cost billions of dollars and failed to last for more than a few years, sinking back into the sea and suffocating the coral reefs in the process. Without clearly demonstrating how its methods are any different, theUtah Lake Restoration project is now advertising one of the world's largest dredging and island building projects ever.
Call that hubris or ignorance, but don’t call it restoration.
In fact, LRS’s project would likely leave the lake desecrated if it is attempted. A letter signed by a multitude of environmental scientists, environmental policy groups, and legal experts raises critical concerns about the legitimacy of the so-called restoration plan. 2 This letter also highlights additional environmental concerns.
Environmental or structural concerns aside, maybe this project is simply misguided. Perhaps it really does have the best interest of Utah Lake at heart.
But since corporations don’t have hearts, consider LRS’s history. The company is anything but environmentally-friendly. For one, leaders of the company also run a non-profit promoting the hunting of endangered species. 3 As another example, a core political consultant for the project is a self-proclaimed “oil and gas lobbyist” that has made a career opposing national environmental protection legislation. 4 Finally, when a scientist and university professor, who has studied Utah Lake for years, raised concerns about this project, project leaders sued him for $3 million. 5
With these few examples in mind, it becomes deeply unsettling and frankly ironic for this company to expect us to believe that restoration is its true motive.
So, if not restoration, what is its motive? Why go through the effort of planning and proposing a project of this scale? A recent report from the Salt Lake Tribune offers some important details: the artificial islands are currently being sold to developers to the tune of around $480,000 per acre (or $1 billion for the 2400 acres already sold). 6 A price tag that high offers some insight to the real intentions of this project. LRS’s main motivation is profit, and that profit rests on how many real estate investors it can dupe into paying for land that is likely impossible to build.
I'm not a scientist, nor do I consider myself an expert on Utah Lake. I am, however, an environmentalist. And as an environmentalist, I find it deeply concerning when a for-profit company feigns restoration while exploiting a natural resource.
Hell hath no fury like an environmentalist aroused? To prevent an ecological disaster, I hope that sentiment still holds true today. Besides, in Provo if we’re known for anything it's being aroused, so let's give them hell.
Find your representative at this website and let them know what you think of this project. Tell them that you care what happens to Utah Lake and don’t buy the BS that LRS is selling. Let LRS know how dumb of an idea their project really is. Despite their self-proclaimed transparency, they have a very limited presence on social media. However, you can send them comments here, or comment on their instagram posts here.
3 https://biggameforever.org/about/bgf-team/
4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=VZ5qM5UuilQ&%3Bfeature=youtu.be
5 https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2022/02/02/facing-million-lawsuit/
6https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2022/02/02/artificial-islands-real/