Saving the Salt

[NathanStewart]

http://www.savebonneville.com/

"Dan Warner" 

Mike

OMG that's one of my favorite pictures!  I had a neighbor as a kid that had that pic framed and hanging in his kitchen! 



Awesome looking book BTW. 

[rouse]

How amazing is that? DW got into the 200 club with it 

Way to go Dan 

Rouse

[dw230]

Could have gone faster if Fast Honda Jim had checked the toe.

DW

[rouse]

I thought you may have had a little to much scrub radius, but who am I to say. After all, you can't argue with the results.

Rouse

[sofadriver]

What is the process used to put Intrepid's swill back onto the salt? Does it just pour out of a pipe onto the surface?   

[kiwi belly tank]

Lack of knowledge on the whole mining thing has been the norm for most racers & I was no exception until I spent the time exploring & sampling out there last month. We all expected the BLM was doing their job to manage & protect the salt & we'd abide by the rules & do our job & that was pay money to go racing.
"Save The Salt" should be better equipped to answer that question but here's my opinion based on my recent explorations.
I doubt it is feasible to pump into the aquifer & since we saw an instant degrading of the surface when the pumping started I would assume it's surface pumped.
There are basically three surface pumping locations that I found. One that's close to the plant that connects the plant to the west end of the flats, the next is located near the public viewing area on I-80 & that is connected to the main canal going to the plant plus through pipes under the freeway, the frontage road & the railroad to their ponds. The third location is about 16 miles east on I-80 & that is piped under the freeway & railroad to a canal & on to their ponds. This pumping location is at the east end of the drain field that runs around the north side of the salt flats & connects to the pumping location close to the plant.
Take a look at the video's & you'll get a better understand the whole mess, that's the reason I spent the time doing it.
  Sid.
      https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyhS1Ov4la4uQ_gIWv-iBPQ

[sofadriver]

Seems to me that dumping Intrepids salty water onto the salt in just a few  places is a waste. The salts being returned but not to the surface. It needs to be applied sparingly over the surface so it wont wash the existing crust down even more but at a rate that will allow the water to quickly evaporate and new layers of salt to build up. What if it were pumped back onto the surface this way?

[donpearsall]

I actually hate the salt and it has cost $1000's in damage. We should be spraying asphalt onto the surface instead.
Don

[salt27]

I actually hate the salt and it has cost $1000's in damage. We should be spraying asphalt onto the surface instead.
Don

Probably not a good idea as it might foul the mining operation.   

[Bob Drury]

  How bout Rhino Lining or Lizzard Skin (its both water soluble and sandable!).
                                                                              Ol' New knee Bob............  and boy oh boy it is one one sore M.F.er (8 days in)

[fredvance]

Been there, done that, the first month is b---, do your pt and six months from now you will be amazed.

[tallguy]

If brine is being pumped back onto the salt flats, what keeps this brine
from just seeping down through the salt (and perhaps dissolving it) into
the aquifer?  It seems to me that replenishing solid salt instead of brine
could be more effective in repairing the racing surface.  Could Intrepid
afford this?  Could anybody?

How about the following, different approach to "fixing" the salt flats?

Since the salt seems to be washing down into the aquifer, thereby not
being left on top where racers can use the salt, I suggest that a non-
permeable "pan" (clay?  asphalt?  concrete?) be installed in the ground.  
This pan would start as a trough, and could be pretty shallow -- say, about
12 to 20 inches.  It would be closed at the sides and at the ends, and
(per racing lane) would be fairly wide (i.e., 90 feet) and very long (i.e., 13
miles for the long courses, and about 5 miles for the short courses).  The
trough would be lined with the non-porous stuff, then filled with salt.  Rain
would, of course, tend to dissolve the salt in the trough, and any overflow
would disappear into the aquifer.  But maybe the salt could be replenished as
necessary, with solid salt (not brine!) at a price that could be afforded/justified.  
This would provide a more-permanent racing surface similar to what was available
for decades.  

Alternately, maybe racing on salt, per se, is not -- and maybe has never been --
the best way for land speed racers to run their vehicles, notwithstanding the
convenient and self-repairing flatness, long distance, and lack of things (other
vehicles, trees, buildings, etc.) to hit if something goes wrong. Corrosion and lack
of traction seem to be big issues.

I can't think of any relatively-economical way to replace nature's self-leveling
lakebeds, but maybe a gradual trend toward dirt instead of salt is what the cards
hold.

Meanwhile, I am willing to help preserve/replenish the salt by donating a limited
amount of $ and/or time.  I invite comments/suggestions.  Thanks for reading.

tallguy

[velocity]

SAVE THE SALT COALITION             UTAH ALLIANCE[/font][/b]

Contact:   Louise Ann Noeth  |     805.312.0893  |     louise@landspeedproductions.biz


Land Racing Advocates Join Forces for Bonneville
 
September 8, 2015 – The Save the Salt Coalition and Utah Alliance are working closely together as advocates for the land speed racing (LSR) community to protect the Bonneville Salt Flats (BSF).  The following is a report on current actions.

The Save the Salt Coalition is an international group of businesses and organizations with a vested interest in the BSF. The Utah Alliance provides expertise and connections at the state and local level. Major LSR sanctioning organizations are members of both groups. The two groups have partnered on the shared mission of restoring the BSF as the premier venue for setting world land speed records. The collaboration allows experts within the groups to undertake specific projects. 

The cancellation of four of the five major racing events for 2015 due to weather and deteriorating conditions has helped place a spotlight on Bonneville.  As a result, the Save the Salt Coalition and Utah Alliance have already had extensive discussions with officials at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) which oversees the BSF, mining officials, geologists, engineers, lawmakers in Congress and at the state and local level.  Numerous press interviews have also conveyed the plight of the BSF to the world via newspapers, magazines, websites and blogs.   

Two educational meetings have been now scheduled: one for the public (Sept. 9) and another for elected representatives, government officials, industry and other interested stakeholders (Sept. 14).

➢   Wednesday, Sept. 9: Salt Lake City:  a one-hour informational meeting called
“100 years of Bonneville-Racing History from the Racers Perspective” presented by Louise Ann Noeth at 4 pm @ Totem’s Restaurant, 538 S. Redwood Rd., Salt Lake City.  Land speed cars will be on display in the parking area at 3:00 pm.  The public is encouraged to attend, and press and public officials have been invited. 

The second briefing will take place on September 14th at the Bonneville Salt Flats.  Representatives from the two Coalitions will conduct a private tour and present the racer’s perspective to government, industry and local community leadership. 

The private tour will allow the parties to engage in follow-up discussions and begin identifying tangible restoration actions.  Both groups have already identified a number of short- and long-term actions to be considered.  They include expanded brine pumping, barriers to keep the pumped brine within the racing area, and targeted dry salt laydowns.  Reaching consensus on actions to be taken will be assisted by BSF core samplings to be taken this fall and winter by geologists, and consultations with engineers and water experts. 

Conveying information is also critical.  Toward that effort, the Utah Alliance is creating a website repository of photographic, film and historical documentation about the BSF available to everyone.  The website will be unveiled in the near future.  It will be an additional resource for the main www.savethesalt.org website which serves to keep the public informed of day-to-day actions. 

For more information, visit www.savethesalt.org

Utah Alliance
Leadership:  Dennis Sullivan (President USFRA); Rick Vesco (founding member STS);  Larry Volk (founding member USFRA); Gary Wilkinson (Save the Salt; Vice Chairman, USFRA); Hugh Coltharp (Treasurer & founding member USFRA); Tom Burkland (Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials); Russ Eyres (Save the Salt; SCTA/BNI Liaison); Roger Lessman (Nevada State Govt. Liaison).


Save the Salt Coalition
Chairman: Doug Evans, Chief Operating Officer, Luken Communications
Public Information Officer: Louise Ann Noeth / 805.312.0893 / louise@landspeedproductions.biz
Coalition Contact: Stuart Gosswein, stuartg@sema.org
Members:  ACCUS, FIA, American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC), Bonneville Nationals Inc. (BNI), Bonneville 200 MPH Club, Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials, Cook’s Land Speed Events, East Coast Timing Association, FIA Land Speed Records Commission, LandSpeed Productions, Luken Communications, Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), Off-Road Business Association (ORBA), Performance Warehouse Association (PWA), Save the Salt Foundation, Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), Speed Demon, The Enthusiast Network (TEN), Utah Alliance, Utah Salt Flats Racing Association (USFRA), United States Automobile Club (USAC). 

[entropy]

Sid,
thanks so much for making the vids & posting them.
You are on a whole other level than most of us with respect to your investigations and curiosity about the salt.
I'm sure you apply the same level of diligence to your salt vehicles and i'd love to see one sometime.
karl

Lack of knowledge on the whole mining thing has been the norm for most racers & I was no exception until I spent the time exploring & sampling out there last month. We all expected the BLM was doing their job to manage & protect the salt & we'd abide by the rules & do our job & that was pay money to go racing.
"Save The Salt" should be better equipped to answer that question but here's my opinion based on my recent explorations.
I doubt it is feasible to pump into the aquifer & since we saw an instant degrading of the surface when the pumping started I would assume it's surface pumped.
There are basically three surface pumping locations that I found. One that's close to the plant that connects the plant to the west end of the flats, the next is located near the public viewing area on I-80 & that is connected to the main canal going to the plant plus through pipes under the freeway, the frontage road & the railroad to their ponds. The third location is about 16 miles east on I-80 & that is piped under the freeway & railroad to a canal & on to their ponds. This pumping location is at the east end of the drain field that runs around the north side of the salt flats & connects to the pumping location close to the plant.
Take a look at the video's & you'll get a better understand the whole mess, that's the reason I spent the time doing it.
  Sid.
      https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyhS1Ov4la4uQ_gIWv-iBPQ

[Sumner]

What is the process used to put Intrepid's swill back onto the salt? Does it just pour out of a pipe onto the surface?   

It does and you can see ....



.... the delivery manifold above.  We have to remember that the salt flats are under water almost every winter and this has happened forever and then they dry out going into summer every year.  So the brine water mixes with the other water and then it is up to the wind and such to distribute it over the area we race on.  Not a very exacting method and the reason they look for the best places for courses each year as one year one area is thicker after the drying and another year a different area.  Here is a quote from a link on STS's site ( http://www.savethesalt.org/hostory.html ) to a BLM report that briefly describes what is happening...

Over the winter, Intrepid produces high quality brine in its holding ponds by mixing water with the sodium chloride or salt that is left as a by-product of the potash mining operation at Bonneville. When the brine has reached an optimum concentration in early spring, it is pumped to the north side of Interstate 80 via canals and discharged onto the southern section of the Bonneville Salt Flats near the access road. When temperatures rise in late spring and the salt flats begin to dry out, this salt laydown brine is added to the natural salt crust layers at Bonneville.

The stickler this year is that the mud flow happened first and spread out on the salt surface and then the lay-down salt from this years lay-down was deposited over the mud so that according to the SCTA minutes I read from their July meeting they found a 1/4 inch thick and very rough surface over about two inches of mud with the original salt that was about 2 inches thick under that and was what we have been racing on the last few years. They felt the silt had run down from the mountains during heavy rains and settled on the old salt surface and then the mining company pumped the brine out and incrusted the mud with a thin layer of salt creating a very rough surface.  Now keep in mind that those measurements and where the mud is isn't uniform over the whole basin,

Sumner