Five years in, the Utah Inland Port Authority has little to show for its massive development project in Salt Lake City. The heart of the project, the transloading facility, never made much business sense. So far, development in the Northwest Quadrant is mostly distribution warehouses with low-paying jobs that will eventually be automated. Potential negative impacts to Salt Lake City and public health far outweigh the benefits. With the Great Salt Lake under threat, it makes even less sense.
UIPA has now turned its attention to “project areas,” previously referred to as satellite ports, in rural Utah. They are based on the same model as the Salt Lake port.
The recently approved Iron Springs Project Area Plan, northwest of Cedar City, will house almost 900 acres of industrial development, including two transloading facilities, one run by Commerce Crossroads, the other by Savage Services, a company that primarily transports fossil fuels.
Like port development in Salt Lake City, Iron Springs depends on tax increment financing to get off the ground. This could mean up to $83 million going to Commerce Crossroads and Savage Services. Commerce Crossroads would also receive a $10 million loan for rail infrastructure from the Authority Infrastructure Bank. Public funding and public risk for private development.
Currently there are few exports and only 12 maritime shipping containers from Iron and Washington counties over an entire year, according to the project plan. Annual area imports of 1,512 containers, or 4.1 containers per day, still don’t justify even one transloading facility and creates a surplus of empty containers. The Iron Springs Plan leaves the door open to export just about anything, including coal and alfalfa. We just don’t know and questions to the UIPA board go unanswered.
Like the Salt Lake Port, the Iron Springs Port is located near wetlands, neighborhoods and bird and wildlife habitat. Locomotives and transloading equipment, as well as increased diesel truck traffic, threaten air and water quality and human health. While the plan encourages sustainable practices, as in the Salt Lake City plan, they are not required. Environmental concerns are identified but there are no plans to prevent or mitigate harm.
This plan allows a generous 200,000 gallon per day potable water limit in order for businesses to receive tax differential. Cedar City currently gets its water from limited watersheds and overdrawn aquifers and is attempting to get water from neighboring counties to alleviate the shortage.
Meanwhile, at its April 11 meeting, the Tooele County Council passed a resolution supporting the development of a port just south of I-80, even though there has been no feasibility study and little communication with residents. The area contains wetlands and there are no utilities in the immediate area. The Tooele port would be in the same nonattainment airshed as Salt Lake City and concerns with its development are almost identical to those of the Salt Lake port, including impacts to the Great Salt Lake and its ecosystem.
Tooele County is already being impacted by the Lakeview Business Park, a 1,700-acre business development just 10 miles from this proposed port site. What is the business case for this project?
There will be many more of these projects in other counties as local government entities engage with UIPA. While they’ll all be different, there are commonalities. The same questions Salt Lakers asked will need to be asked again.
What are the impacts to air and water quality and where will the water come from? What about wildlife and natural areas? Will human health and quality of life be impacted? Will development lead to increased use of herbicides and pesticides? What are the industries you want to attract? Will they still be viable in 10 or 20 years? Should tax differential be given to private developers when rural Utah has many needs? Will these publicly subsidized businesses compete unfairly with already existing local businesses?
If these “project areas” are truly meant to benefit rural Utah, local residents and experts must be invited to the table, not just developers and politicians.
Katie Pappas
Katie Pappas is a retired nurse and long time Salt Lake resident working for a better future.