Will human--made islands improve Utah Lake-or will it become "the Dubai of Utah?" An update on the Utah Lake Restoration Project.

• Author: Alsever, Jennifer

THE CONTROVERSY OVER the dredging of Utah Lake wears on, but the restoration project is moving forward nonetheless--even with plans for 18 human-made islands containing thousands of homes.

A federal feasibility and environmental Impact study has begun on the Utah Lake Restoration Project, which would dredge sediment from the lake's bottom and use it to create 34 islands spread across 28 miles of water. At least 16 of those islands would be preserved for wildlife habitat, camping, and recreation.

The US Army Corps of Engineers--which maintains and improves ports, harbors, and nearly 25,000 miles of inland and intracoastal waterways and coastal channels--will spend 18 to 24 months investigating the project's impacts, aimed at improving the water quality of the 300-billion-gallon lake. It will then decide whether the project should move forward. The US Environmental Protection Agency is also reviewing the project, as are the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Utah Department of Natural Resources, and the Utah Division of Water Quality.

"As we go through this environmental review process, the number of islands, the placement, and the shapeall of that will be refined," says Jon Benson, president of Lake Restoration Solutions, a for-profit social enterprise that will lead the cleanup and island development. "As we learn more about the lakebed, we will learn more about the ecology of the lake and what would be optimal for its health."

Public debate over the fate of Utah Lake has been heated, and Lake Restoration Solutions has even filed a lawsuit against Brigham Young University (BYU) professors who criticized the project and argued that dredging would likely do more harm than good. Ben Abbott, who specializes in aquatic ecology, then countersued LRS.

"The developers call this the Utah Lake Restoration Project. But it has nothing to do with ecological restoration," Abbott reportedly said. "It's a radical reengineering of the lake system."

Earlier this year, news stories cited documents that claim Lake Restoration Solutions and its real estate investors will start dredging next year and offering land sales by 2025, offering lots half an acre to seven acres each at $480,000 an acre. Benson says that information is false.

Benson says dredging has been discussed since the 1980s as a viable option to clean up the lake, but state and local officials have struggled to find a way to pay for it. With dredging costs estimated at $6.5 billion, island...