Since all of the list are not members of U.S.F.R.A. and don't receive our
newsletter I am forwarding the requested information on what is going on
with the salt restoration. Hope this helps.
Ellen Wilkinson, Secretary
Message from Gary Allen, U.S.F.R.A. President:
As of the end of December,
Reilly has pumped about 316,000 tons of salt back on the Bonneville Salt
Flats (BSF). This is about 184,000 tons behind where they should be after 2
months of pumping to meet the 1,500,000 tons per year per the MOA. This is
primarily due to having to shut the brine pumps down for about 21 days
through November and December for low brine levels. December did show
significant improvement and January 2002 seems to be showing a positive
trend of continuous operations with good brine levels. As of mid January
this year with 4-1/3 years of pumping, approximately 5.7 million tons of
salt has been returned to the Bonneville Salt Flats. The MOA goal for the 5
year period was 7.5 million tons.
Save The Salt board members recently met with BLM personnel from both the
Salt Lake Field Office and Utah State Office relative to the upcoming Lease
Readjustment for Reilly's potassium lease on federal lands including those
on the BSF. Note that the process is not a lease renewal but a readjustment
to account for changes in costs, production levels, price levels for
products removed, and other factors relating to the operation of the
facility over time. The lease readjustments must be in effect by January 1,
2003 by law. The products are primarily granular potash and liquid MgCl with
a small amount of NaCl. It is interesting to note that 75% of the royalities
go to the state with Utah getting 100% of the royalities from state lands
and 50% of the royalities from the federal lands due to the large amount of
federal lands in Utah. Also, royalities are paid by Reilly based on what is
sold by Reilly, not what is removed from the leases. The BLM and the state
of Utah are totally dependent on Reilly's accounting for the amount of sales
for a given year.
Save the Salt has requested that Reilly be bonded to continue the salt
restoration project and to make it a permanent part of the lease
requirements. We have also requested that it be constructed to provide for a
net gain of salt back to the salt flats relative to the amount of salt
removed via the Reilly production processes and to account for the 40 to 50
years of previous salt removal without any effort to return any of the salt
to the BSF. To effect this goal requires the BLM to mitigate the cost of the
salt restoration project via other adjustments in the lease to reduce Reilly
's overall costs. This process is further complicated by the fact that the
BLM does not know how much salt is obtained by Reilly from federal lands vs.
state lands vs. Reilly's own private lands. The BLM has requested input from
the racing community on suggestions for mitigating the cost of the salt
restoration process. Your letter is important reference making restoration
part of the lease. Letters should be sent to Glenn Carpenter, District
Manager, BLM Salt Lake Field Office, 2370 South 2300 West, Salt Lake City,
UT 84119. NO Form Letters! Also, the Salt Lake BLM is considering a meeting
on the lease readjustment in the Southern California BLM offices because of
the amount of interest in the Bonneville Salt Flats there. The BLM also
noted that it would also be good to invite representatives of the
advertising and movie industries if anyone knew some organizations to
contact. The point being that the racers are not the only permit holders to
utilize the unique qualities of the salt flats and those other organizations
should have the opportunity to express their interest in continuing the
Bonneville Salt Flats restoration process.
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