The Utah Legislature passed two significant bills during the 2023 and 2024 Legislative General Sessions, H.B. 513 and H.B 453. The Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands then promulgated rules to carry out the directives set forth by these important laws put in place to safeguard Great Salt Lake. The rules create a process for operators seeking to extract new minerals or utilize new processes for the extraction of minerals to prove that their process will not harm the biota or chemistry of GSL. The rules require operators to conduct a feasibility assessment on GSL with up to five acre-feet of brines for a period of up to nine months.
The feasibility assessment must demonstrate that the operator and its proposed extraction technology are commercially viable and will not harm GSL before moving to the next stage of applying for an Operational Royalty Agreement. FFSL received its first feasibility application on 10/21/2024 and approved this application with conditions. The application and supporting documentation, not including items redacted due to the operator’s claims of business confidentiality, have been posted below. Additional information will be posted as it becomes available. Questions or comments may be directed to Ben Stireman, Deputy Director, at bstireman@utah.gov.