Our Natural Heritage
If the Great Salt Lake (GSL) dries up, we aren’t just looking at a dusty view; we’re looking at toxic arsenic dust in our kids' lungs and the total collapse of our "Greatest Snow on Earth" economy.
As an economist, I see a state giving away our most precious resource—water—for pennies on the dollar to benefit overseas interests, while our own future evaporates. It’s time to stop being "polite" about a literal catastrophe.
Why "Wait and See" is a Death Sentence
I’m tired of hearing politicians talk about our "Natural Heritage" like it’s a pretty postcard. Our mountains and our lake are the literal life-support system for our state’s ecology (and snow). If the Great Salt Lake disappears, the Utah we love disappears with it.
I refuse to be the generation that watched our air become toxic and our snow disappear because we were too afraid to stand up to a few powerful interest groups.
Stop Exporting Our Future in a Hay Bale
Let’s look at the math, because the science is screaming at us. We are currently diverting massive amounts of water to grow alfalfa—a water-intensive crop—and then exporting it to China. * The Fact: We are literally shipping Utah’s water across the ocean while our own lake hits record lows.
The Economic Reality: Our "snow-dependent" economy brings in billions and supports thousands of local jobs. We are sacrificing our long-term economic stability for short-term agricultural exports that don't even stay in our state.
It’s time to use economic policy to protect the lake. We need to stop subsidizing the destruction of our own backyard. If you want to use Utah’s water to ship hay to the other side of the world, you should be paying the true cost of that water—a cost that reflects the risk you're putting on every person breathing the air in this valley.
Little Cottonwood Canyon: The People’s Mountains, Not a Private Playground
Then there’s the LCC Gondola. They call it a "solution," but as an economist, I call it a transfer of public wealth to private interests. We are being told to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a permanent scar across our canyon that primarily benefits a few ski resorts. Meanwhile, our actual public transit, and the buses that real people use every day, are underfunded and inconsistent.
The Caretaker Perspective: Our canyons are a public trust. We should be protecting access for everyone, not just those who can afford a luxury lift.
The Solution: Enhance the bus experience. Expand electric transit. Solve the problem without destroying the ecological health of the canyon for a private-interest project.
Reason Over Rhetoric
Why aren't our officials listening? Because the "Gondola Gang" and the "Alfalfa Lobby" have deep pockets. But they don't have the science, and they definitely don't have the logic.
We can have a thriving economy and a healthy lake. In fact, we cannot have one without the other. This isn't about "hating growth" or "hating farming." It’s about Economic Resilience. A resilient economy doesn't commit suicide by draining its own water supply.
I choose our kids. Every single time.
