The Great Salt Lake, a puddle of its former self, supports millions of migratory birds, Utah’s lucrative brine shrimp industry and multiple mineral extractors.
As the lake shrinks — partly because of widespread drought, but also as the result of industries diverting water from rivers that feed it — toxic dust blows into the Wasatch Front from its exposed lakebed, which also emits planet-warming gases.
Does the state have a responsibility to save the Great Salt Lake?
A coalition of environmental groups made its case for why the answer should be “yes” before a 3rd District Court judge in Salt Lake City on Tuesday.
“We are in court today because the state denies its legal obligation to protect the waters of the Great Salt Lake, an iconic resource that the state holds in trust for the people,” said Stu Gillespie, a senior attorney with Earthjustice who represents the coalition, in a statement before appearing in court.
“As trustee, the state has a duty to ensure adequate water reaches the lake,” he continued, “but it has failed to do so.”
The coalition wants the court to set timelines and targets for the state to help the lake reach a minimum healthy elevation of 4,198 feet above sea level, which hasn’t happened since 2002. The lake level as of Tuesday afternoon was five feet below that: 4,193 feet above sea level, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
To boost the lake, the environmental groups argue, the state should limit upstream water diversions. The state contends that doing so would violate water rights enshrined in the state constitution.
After a full day of arguments, Judge Laura Scott directed each side to submit additional briefs.
Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, the American Bird Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and the Utah Rivers Council sued several state agencies in September 2023.
Their argument hinges on the public trust doctrine, “a legal principle establishing that certain natural and cultural resources are preserved for public use,” according to the Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute.
The Utah Department of Natural Resources, Utah Division of Water Rights and Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands — all named defendants in the case — asked Judge Scott to dismiss the case in December. The state agencies argue that the Great Salt Lake lies outside the public trust.
The defendants also argued that they’re already working to support the drying lake. They pointed to the $500 million that the Legislature has put toward improving the lake and the creation of the Utah Office of the Great Salt Lake Commissioner.
The state agencies were joined by several water rights holders — Salt Lake City, Provo City, Rocky Mountain Power and other water districts — who were allowed to intervene in the lawsuit on their behalf.
Additional intervenors were allowed to join the case as well. A series of written arguments from both sides and from the intervenors, plus amicus briefs — filings from groups interested in issues the case raises — have been filed over the past few months.
The fight over whether the judge should dismiss the case proceeded to arguments on Tuesday.
In an emailed statement after arguments ended, the Division of Water Rights said that it cannot comment on the specifics of the dispute, but added that “the State Engineer remains committed to respecting the legal process.”
Jamie Barnes, director of the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, said in an emailed statement that “the Great Salt Lake is an important resource.”
“The state of Utah manages this resource in accordance with the public trust and must act within the parameters of the law as it is written,” she added.
Environmental advocates in the 1980s successfully used the public trust doctrine to save Mono Lake in California. Los Angeles was drinking the saline lake dry, and the courts found that the state had a responsibility to support the lake.
“Utah has caused 40 years of immense harm to the Great Salt Lake with policies which have encouraged rampant upstream water diversions and wasteful water practices,” said Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, in a statement. “We need to stop Utah from creating further harm from its decades of neglect for the Great Salt Lake — the largest remaining wetland ecosystem in the American West.”
