On Oct. 10, the Deseret News published the article “A dusty tale in California and words of wisdom for Utah as the Great Salt Lake shrinks” about the shrinking of the Great Salt Lake and the dangers that this situation presents.
The news item mentioned how the Utah State leaders are concerned about what is going on. I have two suggestions to our state leaders if they really want to make a positive contribution to solving the problem.
First, stop using the term “historic drought.” This is climate change, and saying historic drought gives the false hope that the weather will return to historic normals soon. It will lead to poor decisions and legislation.
Second, take action to stop population growth along the Wasatch Front. Growing population and business growth will result in even more water being diverted from the Great Salt Lake to other uses. That means shutting down the Economic Development Tax Increment Financing program which gives tax incentives to companies to locate and/or expand in Utah. This needs to be done ASAP.
If the Great Salt Lake completely dries up, it will be the largest environmental disaster in the history of the United States. Do our state leaders really want to be remembered for that?
David Callister
Millcreek