Since becoming a state, Utah has owned, and still owns, every square foot of the Great Salt Lake and all water therein.
Utah also owns every drop of water in all the Utah streams flowing to the Great Salt Lake.
In a show of greed and hypocrisy, the state is now asking the federal government for $1 billion to save the Great Salt Lake.
This is a state that has long lusted after the federal public land in the state, because the state is sure it can manage natural resources better than the feds.
Now is a prime opportunity for Utah to demonstrate its superior management ability by fixing the lake without any dreaded federal involvement.
The state Division of Water Resources is the agency that, following laws of the Legislature, overallocated water in every watershed in the state. The state broke it; the state should fix it. Although there is some precedence. In 1907, the Wasatch National Forest was created at Utah’s request to stop the devastation of the watershed caused by unregulated timbering, mining and livestock grazing.
Dennis Willis, Price