Record low water levels are seen in the Great Salt Lake from Antelope Island on Friday, July 22, 2022. (Kristin Murphy/Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Mitt Romney’s bill to study ways to save the Great Salt Lake passed through the Senate yesterday, but only after it got wrapped into a much larger water resources bill.
Sen. Romney’s Great Salt Lake Recovery Act included ten million dollars for the Army Corps of Engineers to study in order to stop the lake’s further decline, along with other saline lakes in the West.
Romney’s bill got folded into the much larger Water Resources Development Act of 2022, which pays for water development projects all over the country. It passed the Senate on Thursday in a vote of 93 to 1.
Now that it’s reached the House, the bill has the backing of three of Utah’s four representatives; Reps. Chris Stewart, John Curtis, and Burgess Owens.
The representatives, along with Romney, released a joint statement saying “The rest of the country is now understanding the widespread repercussions of a diminished Great Salt Lake. We must be willing to do whatever is necessary to make sure we preserve this iconic body of water.”
The statement added that the passage of the bill highlights a sense of urgency about protecting the Great Salt Lake.
Romney, Owens and Stewart also took to social media to celebrate the bill’s passage through the Senate.