UTAH LAKE BUILDING PROJECT MOVES FORWARD AS THE PUBLIC REMAINS DIVIDED: But public approval for the project is projected to grow.

• Author: Walker, Samuel
• Position: ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

Controversy continues to follow the proposal to dredge, restore, and develop Utah Lake as it continues its review phase with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and other state and federal agencies.

Lake Restoration Solutions (LRS), the for-profit social enterprise company behind the development, seeks to build 18,000 acres and 180 miles of new shoreline on the lake out of material dredged from the lakebed. The two-in-one solution would remove polluted sediments that contribute to the lake's toxic algal blooms while deepening the lake, which would make the lake colder and less turbid. These changes would help to stabilize the lakebed, limiting algae growth and allowing native vegetation to thrive.

"Nature is very effective at self-regulating when an ecosystem is healthy, and that is our primary restoration objective," says Jon Benson, president of LRS. "Removing 150+ years of contaminants from the lakebed, restoring aquatic vegetation, and bringing back mollusks all tap into nature's amazing power to sustain this lake for the long term. It will be a monumental effort, but it would be amazing to have a clean Utah Lake again. We think it's an objective worth pursuing."

The Utah Lake Restoration project promises to help solve some of Utah's most pressing issues, including an ongoing drought and the state's housing crisis while restoring the underused water body's ecological and recreational functions. The proposal sounds sweet to some Utahns who worry about mounting pressure on Utah's water sources as the state experiences massive population growth. Others remain skeptical about the feasibility and ecological impact of the world record-setting project.

The reviews conducted by the US Army Corp of Engineers, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency are still in their early phases. The USACE has selected an independent contractor to help with the lengthy environmental review of the project. After the independent review, a scoping phase will open the project to public input. This phase will be vital for gathering feedback from a divided public.

Until now, public involvement in the project has been limited. LRS hopes the upcoming scoping phase will expand the public's involvement in the project's next stages. "We are following the lead of the US Army Corps of Engineers, which is the lead agency for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process," Benson says. "The NEPA process calls for a great deal of...