Utah’s legislative session is underway — and HB 60 is already moving.

You can’t unlink air quality and the Great Salt Lake. But House Bill 60 tries to do exactly that by blocking public health and environmental concerns from being considered in water decisions that could drain the lake even further.

If the legislature really intends to save Great Salt Lake, HB 60, would never see the light of day.

As written, HB 60, would prevent the Utah State Engineer from considering the public welfare, i.e. environmental or public health considerations (think lake dust blanketing the Wasatch Front), in evaluating any protests of water rights applications that could drain the lake even more. This is exactly the opposite of what the state engineer should be doing, and the opposite of what will be needed to prevent the lake from becoming a toxic dust bowl.

For communities already living with the consequences of a shrinking Great Salt Lake, this is alarming. When the lake dries, it exposes dust containing toxic metals and fine particulate pollution that directly threatens respiratory and cardiovascular health across Utah, including people, ecosystems, and communities along the Wasatch Front.

This bill does not protect the lake. It silences the public and removes critical checks and balances at the exact moment transparency and health protections matter most.

Unbelievably, HB 60 has already passed House Committee and the next steps will move fast.

📞 Please call your Reps today!!! Tell them to oppose HB 60. We already suffer too much air pollution. We are all afraid that letting the Great Salt Lake dry up will make that much worse. Decisions about water use at the Great Salt Lake are decisions about the air we breathe, and Utahns deserve a voice in both. Utahns don’t want a dried up lake bed!

🔗 Find your representative: https://le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp

#GreatSaltLake #HB60 #UtahAir
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Information at Bridgerland Audubon’s Legislative Updates https://BridgerlandAudubon.org/legislative-updates/
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