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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE -- Week One Action Alert
FRIENDS opposes two bills,
HB124 and
HB135, which would limit a city's “Extraterritorial Jurisdiction” over their watersheds. Currently, cities can regulate land outside of their boundaries that provides drinking water, and these modifications would
strip those rights. Specifically, under these bills, Salt Lake City would lose its “Extraterritorial Jurisdiction” over Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons’ watersheds. FRIENDS does not want cities to lose their ability to maintain water quality standards.
Please call, email, or tweet your Utah Representative, Utah Senator, and House speaker Greg Hughes and let them know you oppose HB124
and HB135 because you are concerned about protections for our watershed.
FRIENDS is also following these bills:
HB103
Water Conservation Revisions (Support)
HB130
Resource Conservation Amendments (Support)
HB216
Jordan River Recreation Area (Support)
HB244
Culinary Water Discount (Under Review)
HB249
Statewide Resource Management Plan Adoption (Oppose)
HB253
Trust Lands Amendments (Under Review)
HCR1
Concurrent Resolution on Global Warming and Climate Change (Support)
HCR4
Concurrent Resolution on Economic and Environmental Stewardship (Support)
HCR7
Concurrent Resolution on Environmental and Economic Stewardship (Support)
HCR10
Concurrent Resolution Approving the State Resource Management Plan (Oppose)
HJR8
Joint Resolution Honoring Utah's Sportsmen and Sportswomen (Support)
Public Meetings Regarding Promontory Landfill
FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake, Utah Sierra Club, HEALUtah, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment,
Utah Rivers Council, Utah Audubon Council, Utah Airboat Association, Utah Waterfowl Association,
Great Salt Lake Alliance, GSL Audubon, Western Resource Advocates, South Shore Wetlands & Wildlife Management, Inc., League of Women Voters of Salt Lake, National Audubon Society, residents and business owners from Box Elder County,
and our organizing partners, the Great Salt Lake Institute and Weber State University, will be hosting two public information meetings to discuss Promontory Point Resources, LLC Landfill and its application with the State Division of Waste Management and Radiation
Control for a Class V waste permit -- a permit specifically designed to accept waste from out of state.
 Monday,
February 5 from 6:30-8:00 at Westminster College's Gore Auditorium
Tuesday, February 6 from 6:30-8:00 at Weber State University's Elizabeth Hall, Room 229
A Class V permit would allow the company to receive California
Hazardous waste, which that state defines as “waste with a chemical composition or other properties that make it capable of causing illness, death, or some other harm to humans and other life forms.” Waste would also include coal ash from throughout the West
and Midwest. Coal Ash, or as Utah calls it Coal Combustion Residual, is the by-product of burning coal to generate electricity and, depending on where the coal is mined, can contain an array of dangerous toxicants. These include arsenic, lead, mercury, antimony
and boron. The landfill would also be able to accept special wastes and small quantity generator hazardous wastes, such as low-level infectious waste, heavy metals, solvents and a variety of organic compounds like PCB’s.
Located on the SW tip of the Promontory Peninsula on the north
shore of Great Salt Lake, the landfill operation brings great potential risks to the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem, a Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network Site for millions of migratory birds, and to the $1.3B in revenue that the Lake generates annually
to the State of Utah.
A presentation on this issue will be provided by Allan Moore,
Solid Waste Program Manager, Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control. The Division is currently evaluating the company’s application for a Class V permit and will determine if a draft Class V permit will
go out for public comment. Q + A session will be provided.
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House Bill 135 "Extraterritorial Jurisdiction" Over Canyon Watersheds
To read more about Rep. Mike Noel's House Bill 135, which aims to strip Utah cities' authority to protect our drinking water sources,
click here.
To read the bill,
click here.
House Bill 124 "Water Holdings"
To read Rep. Kim Coleman's House Bill 124, "Water Holdings Accountability and Transparency Amendments" which aims to strip Utah cities'
authority to protect our drinking water sources,
click here.
Proposed Bear River Development
To read more about the proposed development of the Bear River,
click here.
Promontory Point Landfill
To read more about the Promontory Point Landfill,
click here.
Know Your Representatives
Review who your Utah Representatives and Senators are by
clicking here.
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