SALT LAKE CITY — The House of Representatives voted unanimously to support a bill that allocates $40 million to saving the Great Salt Lake.
House Bill 410, sponsored by Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, creates private-public partnerships to spend the money to ensure water gets to the lake and restores habitat. In remarks from the House floor, Speaker Wilson said the lake has shrunk 11-feet since Brigham Young first had it measured.
"It fundamentally changes our climate, it has the ability to threaten our economy, the quality of life is different in our state because of it," the Speaker said.
Lawmakers and environmental groups have been very supportive of the bill, which FOX 13 News first reported on last week. The Great Salt Lake, a critical part of our eco-system, is in danger as a result of water diversion, drought and climate change. Dry lake beds have the potential to upend our snowpack and toxic dust storms threaten the Wasatch Front (among the minerals in the lake bed is arsenic).
The legislature is considering a number of water conservation bills designed to help the Great Salt Lake. Lawmakers recently took helicopter tours to see how dramatically it has declined.
The bill now goes to the Senate where it is expected to pass.
