Can this tweak to Utah vehicle law help reduce toxic Great Salt Lake dust?

An undated photo of dust picked up by the Great Salt Lake by a vehicle illegally driving on the dried lakebed. A new bill that goes into effect May 4 clarifies that all motor vehicles are banned from dried lakebeds and navigable rivers in the state.Motorized vehicles are banned from traveling on exposed lakebeds and navigable rivers in Utah, but a problem emerged in recent years with the way it’s written in state law.

While the bill impacts areas like Bear and Utah lakes, as well as the Bear, Colorado and Jordan rivers, the reason the change matters — and why Rep. Doug Owens, D-Millcreek, pushed for a minor tweak in the law — has everything to do with one exposed lakebed in particular: the Great Salt Lake. Since it’s a terminal basin lake with no outflow, chemicals that flow in don’t leave, except through evaporation. It’s why the lake is salty and why chemicals then get absorbed into the sediments.

“We did see a pretty big increase in recreation, but particularly in areas that are a little bit more off the beaten path, so areas around the Great Salt Lake … became more of a destination for people to really go beyond the social distancing,” Curry said. The updated law officially goes into effect on May 4, along with all the other bills signed this year.

Just another example of the average Utahn's inflated sense of self-entitlement -- 'I can drive whatever I want anywhere I want whenever I want and damn the effects on others'.

Instead of addressing the fact that we use the lion's share of our water supplies on alfalfa to be shipped over-seas, which is what is creating these dried lake beds to begin with, our politicians -once again- address the symptom instead of the cause.

This story comes courtesy of the Great Salt Lake Collaborative. Learn more here:

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