The largest mineral extractor on the Great Salt Lake has agreed to reduce its water use in a first-of-its-kind voluntary agreement with the state.
Compass Minerals will permanently conserve 200,000 acre-feet of water in the drying lake each year, according to a deal finalized with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands on Tuesday. One acre-foot of water is enough to sustain two households for a year.
In exchange, the company will pay a lower severance tax on the minerals it extracts.
“This agreement is an example of the good we can accomplish when public and private come together to be a part of the solution,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a statement.
After tense debates during the last legislative session, Utah lawmakers passed HB453: Great Salt Lake Revisions. The legislation cracked down on water use during mineral extraction from the lake and greenlit voluntary agreements between mineral operators and the state.
“This was probably one of the hardest policy fights that I’ve been in in the Legislature,” said Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, who sponsored HB453.
“But by working together and coming to a compromise, we’ve been able to lay all that aside and do something that’s in the public’s best interest,” Snider continued.
In the agreement, Compass also has committed to adjust its water consumption from the north arm of the Great Salt Lake based on the lake’s level.
The company can withdraw its full water right when lake levels are high, explained Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands Director Jamie Barnes, but it has agreed to decrease use — or stop taking water completely — if the lake reaches critical levels.
Compass Minerals also relinquished 65,000 acres of land around the lake that it had been leasing. That land is now withdrawn from mineral extraction and will be managed by the division.
“The Great Salt Lake is a vital ecosystem and economic engine that we must all work to protect,” said Edward C. Dowling Jr., president and CEO of Compass Minerals, in a statement.
“Through this voluntary agreement, we commit to significant contributions toward lake health, while also ensuring future predictability in our water use allotment that supports sustainable production,” he continued.
Compass Minerals has taken minerals from the Great Salt Lake for over 50 years, producing sulfate of potash, salt and magnesium chloride.
The company caused a stir last year when it announced plans to ramp up lithium production on the lake, a process that would require a lot of the Great Salt Lake’s water. Utah lawmakers staunchly opposed the project, arguing it posed an environmental risk to the shrinking lake, which remains several feet below a healthy elevation.
Compass Minerals backed down from its lithium proposal in November, announcing that it was “suspending indefinitely any further investment in its planned lithium project” until given “clarity on the evolving regulatory climate in Utah.”
“Compass, in close partnership with the state and our citizens, made some challenging decisions to reach this agreement,” said Speaker Mike Schultz in a statement. “Their commitment to working hand-in-hand with us underscores a shared dedication to protecting the Great Salt Lake.”
Companies like Compass Minerals that extract minerals from the Great Salt Lake deplete about 7% of its water.
The companies pay royalties to the state on the minerals they extract, and that money funds projects across the lake, like removing invasive species and restoring vegetation.
“It’s a really great example of being mindful and practicing sustainability,” said Lynn de Freitas, executive director of Friends of the Great Salt Lake, about the Compass Minerals agreement,” from an industry that gets its livelihood from the Great Salt Lake.”