FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake - GSL Minerals Expansion Summary Sheet

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GSL Minerals Expansion Summary Sheet - July, 2009

WHAT THE GSLM EXPANSION PROPOSAL MEANS FOR GREAT SALT LAKE:

Great Salt Lake Minerals (GSLM) currently operates about 47,000 acres of evaporative ponds in the northern part of Great Salt Lake; 25,000 acres of ponds in the North Arm and 22,000 acres of ponds in Bear River Bay. North Arm brine is transported to Bear River Bay via the 21-mile Behrens Trench, taking a week to make the journey.

GSLM has proposed adding about 91,000 acres of ponds on the Lake, with 80,000 of those acres located within the confines of the Lake. This proposal follows their 2007 33,000-acre expansion proposal, which would be subsumed within the 91,000-acre proposal. Of the 91,000 acres, 83,000 acres would be located in the North Arm and 8,000 acres would be added to the northeast portion of GSLM’s current Bear River Bay facilities.

To support this expansion, GSLM has also applied for 353,000 additional acre feet of water rights to be taken from the North Arm (to view the application, click here). Currently, GSLM holds 156,000 acre feet of consumptive water rights within the Lake as well as an additional 67,000 acre feet of water rights in Bear River Bay (see maps below).

With its current operation, GSLM processes 6 million tons of salts annually, removing 1.5 million tons for sale and dumping 4.5 million tons into Bear River Bay. Although it is unclear how much will be discarded into Bear River Bay with the expansion, based on size alone, it is likely that GSLM will process in excess of 26 million tons of salts annually. Concerns associated with GSLM’s expansion proposal:
   •    Depletion of Lake levels
           o    Gunnison Island exposed to predators/humans;
           o    Loss of wetlands on east side of the Lake; corresponding loss of waterfowl habitat
           o    Loss of shorelines throughout the Lake
           o    Exposure of mudflats; corresponding dust storms carrying toxic dust and fine particulate                     matter over populated areas
           o    Possible destruction of ecosystem of North Arm
           o    Increased proliferation of invasive species (phragmities) on east shoreline
   •    Construction of dikes/infrastructure to support expansion
           o    Depletion of shorelines in western portion of North Arm
           o    Destruction of wetlands & shorebird/waterfowl habitat in both North Arm and Bear River Bay
           o    Increased access to predators to formally isolated bird populations
           o    Increased noise, destruction of Lake habitat
   •    Recreation
           o    Destruction of waterfowl habitat affecting duck hunters
           o    Impediment to navigation throughout the Lake, but especially in Bear River Bay
           o    Destruction of waterbird/shorebird habitat affecting bird watchers
           o    Loss of scenic beauty, aesthetics; conversion of natural systems into industrial mining facilities
•    Flushing of ponds into Bear River Bay
           o    Huge increase in amount of excess salt flushed into Bear River Bay; currently 4.5 million tons,                  likely to exceed 20 million tons
           o    Destruction of habitat due to increased salinity levels in Bear River Bay
           o    Concentration of toxic substances (mercury/selenium) in the flushed salts

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