While a canal that failed in a deadly landslide last month may have been leaking badly into the ground below, the state's top geologist said that is not likely to have been the only cause for the collapse of the Northern & Logan canal.
"It is clear that there is no one single cause there," Utah Geological Survey director Rick Allis told the state Executive Water Task Force on Tuesday. He noted that Logan had seen an unseasonably rainy June and pointed out that the land above the canal includes a golf course which was heavily watered. Any of those factors could have contributed to the slide that caused the canal's failure, Allis said.
But Allis said that shouldn't prevent a careful review of what went wrong -- and of what could be done to stop similar disasters across the state.
Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert agreed. After initially saying he wanted a full investigation of the Logan disaster, Herbert was forced to back off of that charge when his office concluded that no one had the authority to probe the failure under current state law.
On Tuesday, however, Herbert once again called for a review, saying it was essential to any effort moving forward.
"I don't know what the cause of the Logan situation is, but we have to find out so we can avoid it in the future," he said. "If it is just the perfect storm, I am interested in finding out why -- if it's an act of God, I need to know so that I can check in with him."
Herbert said after the meeting that he was not asking the task force to investigate, but rather to identify who should investigate. "At least that, at a minimum," he said.
Herbert's office had earlier said that no statute gives the state the authority to investigate. So although Herbert has the power to order a probe, said spokeswoman Angie Welling, "no one would have to participate."
"To some extent it would be a fruitless endeavor," she said.
The city of Logan has also indicated it won't scrutinize the causes of the collapse. And the Utah Attorney General's office, which had several representatives at the Tuesday meeting, also has indicated that it won't probe the canal collapse.
