Ashtyn Asay, Daily Herald file photo

Another day, another poll to get Utah County residents’ opinions on the future of Utah Lake.

Several polls conducted by members of the Utah Lake Coalition and concerned citizens on Utah County city groups on Facebook showed that, out of 976 respondents, a majority did not approve of the Utah Lake Restoration Project, a proponent of Lake Restoration Solutions.

“There has been a lot of talk about the Utah Lake island project, and I am trying to get a sense of how the public feels about it,” reads one of the polls. “The developers propose to dredge the lake, build islands covering 20% of the surface area, and build housing for up to 500,000 people on the lake to help fund the project.”

When asked the above question, or one with similar verbiage, 84.2% of respondents selected that they oppose the project.

According to Jacob Holdaway, a Vineyard resident and critic of the project who posted a poll to the Vineyard Utah Community Group Facebook page, the results didn’t come as a surprise. Holdaway’s post showed that close to 90% of respondents were opposed to the project.

Ashtyn Asay, Daily Herald file photo

“I wasn’t shocked by the 90% opposed,” Holdaway said in a press release. “I did the survey because I know our Vineyard residents, I live here, I know the anger towards this project, the false narrative being pushed would only be believed by someone removed by our community.”

In a poll conducted by G1 Research and commissioned by Lake Restoration Solutions, of 618 Utah County residents surveyed, 76.6% were in favor of intervention to improve the lake and 67% of respondents stated that they supported the Utah Lake Restoration Project to some degree when asked the following question:

“The State of Utah, the EPA, and other federal agencies are currently evaluating a project to improve Utah Lake. The Utah Lake Restoration Project proposes making the lake deeper and cooler, restoring wetland vegetation and wildlife habitat, creating miles of new shorelines and beaches for recreation, and establishing waterfront communities. The cost of these improvements would be in the billions. The sale of the property on some islands is proposed to fund the entire restoration effort without a tax increase.”

Craig Christensen, executive director of local environmental group Conserve Utah Valley, sees the project, and the poll, in a different light.

“It appears you can get a professional ‘opinion poll research company’ to say anything you want,” Christensen said in a press release. “Every neighbor I talk to wants Utah Lake to be restored, no insight there. Yet I have only come across a handful, out of hundreds who think saving it by killing all the fish in the lake, dredging it, building islands and roads across it is a viable way of ‘restoring’ the lake to what it used to be.”

Third-party contractor chosen for LRS

Lake Restoration Solutions announced Wednesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has selected Anchor QEA as the third-party contractor that will prepare the environmental impact statement for the Utah Lake Restoration Project.

The EIS must be completed as part of the NEPA process, which evaluates proposals like the Utah Lake Restoration Project that would require major federal action.

An EIS is required if a proposed major federal action is determined to significantly affect the quality of the human environment. Anchor QEA will be directed entirely by the USACE as it completes the statement.

“We are excited for this opportunity to assist the USACE in developing an environmental impact statement for the Utah Lake Restoration Project,” Katie Chamberlin, Anchor QEA principal, said in a press release. “Our team has conducted similar assessments for decades, including assisting federal agencies with developing NEPA documentation, managing EISs for Utah-based projects, and ensuring that projects comply with USACE’s NEPA guidelines. We are looking forward to sharing our team’s expertise and working closely with the USACE to support them in developing an objective evaluation of the Project.”

Anchor QEA is headquartered in Seattle, and has completed similar EIS projects including for the Alcatraz Ferry Embarkment, Rock Bay Remediation and Habitat Development and Storm Recovery in the Gulf Coast.

More information on the NEPA process can be found at http://epa.gov/nepa.

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