SALT LAKE CITY – Amid growing public concern about the fate of the Great Salt Lake, U.S. Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) discussed that issue during an Oct. 20 interview with Todd Weiler, the president and chief executive officer of the Sutherland Institute.
During the discussion that took place at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, Curtis called for the same type of bold thinking that helped early settlers overcome the region’s original water challenges.
“It’s not just an environmental issue,” according to Curtis. “It’s a monetary issue. It’s a health issue. It really affects us in almost every aspect of our lives …
“As your federal senator, I am not coming with the answers,” he acknowledged. “I’m for looking to Utah to say, ‘Here are the answers, and here’s the help we need from Washington, D.C’.”
Political observers note that it’s hardly surprising that Curtis would want to involve himself in any solution to the shrinking Great Salt Lake, since the Beehive State’s junior senator is widely rumored to be eying a run for governor in 2028.
In recent weeks, the issue has been hotly debated in local partisan political campaigns.
In the race for the 3rd District seat in the Utah Legislature, Independent candidate Patrick Belmont condemns Utah’s tendency to invest in enormously expensive infrastructure project rather than conservation.
“I’ll push to measure actual consumption,” he says, “along with building honest basin water budgets, rewarding verified conservation and ensuring that saved water actually reaches the Great Salt Lake.”
Democratic congressional candidate Peter Crosby of Providence meanwhile offers a more step-by-step approach to the Great Salt Lake’s problems.
He recommends clearing thousands of acres of water-consuming invasive plants (phragmites) that now surround the lake, restoring the state’s aging water infrastructure and purchasing an estimated $300 million annually in existing water rights from agricultural interests to feed the lake over the next few years.
But Curtis emphasized that restoring the Great Salt Lake shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but one that will require a combination of conservation, infrastructure investment, technological innovation and cooperation among federal, state and local leaders.
Part of the senator’s responsibility in that effort will be to secure congressional approval of the $1 billion to save the Great Salt Lake in the Trump administration’s proposed budget.
“Now we as legislators have to figure out where that money is going to come from,” Curtis explains. “That’s the mode that I’m in right now, working with my colleagues to help them understand why a $1-billion investment in the lake is a good investment,” he adds. “To do that, I’m physically inviting them here to Utah. I’m talking to them. I’m trying to educate them.”
But Curtis believes that any plan to save the Great Salt Lake must involve Utah’s agricultural community.
“The number of successful cases where we sit around in Washington and mandate what takes place in Utah is zero,” he admits.
“Mandating to (Utah farmers) or telling them what to do is a big mistake. Bring them in as stakeholders … is smart.”
Curtis concluded the Sutherland interview by stressing that watching Utah’s philanthropic community, its legislators and business leaders come together to address the Great Salt Lake issue has been encouraging.
“We’re not only relying on the federal government,” he emphasized. “This is an all-hands-on-deck approach that is just really impressive to me.”
The Sutherland Institute is a conservative public policy think tank founded in 1995 by Utah businessman and philanthropist Gaylord K. Swim.