Save The Salt Foundation Report 8/23/22

[bobc]

Twelve page report on the salt.....

http://www.landracing.com/docs/2022_STS.pdf

[wickedwagens]

That doesn't sound great.  Hopefully winter and mother nature are good to it.

[manta22]

The problems always seem to circle back to the BLM, doesn't it?

[jl222]

  If save the salt needs a tape measure, I can send them one.

  Thats why we show fotos of tape in the water where 2''  becomes 6 inches.

  Crew member says there was 6'' of water in our pits. Foto of tape in water shows 2 inches.

                  JL222 

[ronnieroadster]

  If save the salt needs a tape measure, I can send them one.

  Thats why we show fotos of tape in the water where 2''  becomes 6 inches.

  Crew member says there was 6'' of water in our pits. Foto of tape in water shows 2 inches.

                  JL222

   Water at our pit space was up to the trailer tire rims that's a few more inches than two.    Just saying.
     Ronnieroadster

[SPARKY]

          BLM to the rescue  now we know why they never get there  :   they can't stay on their bike!

[37 ROADSTER]

You do realize that these pictures were taken three weeks after speedweek was cancelled

[kiwi belly tank]

  I'll try to be politically correct here to not pi$$ anybody off.....nah can't do it!
The facts & logic seem to be lost on many people including Save The Salt Foundation.
We are trying to race on "AN ACTIVE MINING SIGHT THAT IS CONTROLED BY THE BLM FOR PROFIT." They have no interest in giving up that income from "Public Land" & that's in the millions $$. The only money they have spent on Bonneville that I can see in recent history is a couple of new signs saying how great they are at taking care of our public land but Joe Public doesn't know that's just BS!
  Here's how the mining process works. There are two systems that pump from the water table under Bonneville, one system is at the east end towards Floating Mountain & flows to the mine via a canal that can be seen west bound on I-80. The other system is to the north between the salt & the Silver Island Mountains with a series of pumps & flows down the canal at the Bend. The third system is from standing water on the flats that is held there until salt saturation is at the optimum quality or quantity, then Intrepid pull the plug & drain it to their settling pond.
  Re the Save the Salt meeting.
  a-Berm installation. I believe the theory behind this is to prevent the so called runoff dirt from the mountains contaminating the salt but when I cut sample holes in the salt a few years ago I found no evidence of that anywhere. The theory from STS at that time was the salt crust was thin because the runoff dirt had covered the salt & the new thin crust had formed on top of that but I proved that wrong & I'll leave a link to one of the videos at the end.
  b-Google tells me an EIR is an Effective Interest Rate & a NEPA is National Environmental Act & we sure should have had some of that a looong time ago!
  c- It angers me when I see "in 1999 & 2000 4 Mil Tons" of salt was pumped back on to the flats but that's not the whole story. Most of that was flowed off back to the mine taking along with it the the new forming salt crust. That yellowish depleted tailings crap that they pump back on (4 mil tons) is just enhancing their yield! The reason the pumping program has tapered off in the last 20 years is due to the declining water availability to run the program.
  d- The holes in the Salduro Dyke. Well that's a long story in its self. The Salduro Dyke area belongs to Intrepid & was isolated from the mining company way back when I-80 was built & the ground level in there was lower than Bonneville. As you probably know the rest area on I-80 is located there so here's where it get's interesting. There was always two low spots in the dyke but a bunch of years ago natural erosion had taken them down to the point that the surface water could flow from the flats into that area & thus taking salt with it. For 25yrs up until a few yrs ago I had a friend at the mine & this is the story I got from him. Since it was their dyke they went over there & fixed it then the BLM told them to unfix it so the salt could build up inside the dyke & create a better public area & that's how it is today. The salt is now thick enough to drive on in any conditions without breaking through so it's no surprise to me that the gaps have been filled in.
  c- Intrepid want 5 mil $ of our money to allow them to pump their junk back onto the flats to take more salt. Why does STS not recognize or acknowledge the reality in this pumping program! If you pump X amount on there, let it hang out for a while so it soaks up what's there then pull the plug & flow it all back to the mine, how is that leaving 4 mil tons behind when it's giving the mining company more product to process. How long has STS been doing it's "thing" now, 25+yrs? So the goal is to raise another $750k & do what exactly? I'd like somebody to tell me where all the previous money actually went because we seem to be hearing the same old story over & over again & getting the same results!!!
  Bonneville is public land (in theory) but it is controlled by the BLM to their financial advantage & they have lost sight of the public's interest in using their land & access has been taken away in many cases & I believe this is there intention with Bonneville.
  Spending money to pump more junk over the flats & back to the mine is just accelerating the death of Bonneville racing, it's coming, has it arrived?
  The last time I spoke my mind on this I had people calling me & suggesting I not make waves on this subject. I don't know how they all got my number but to save them the trouble this time, send me a pm & I'll gladly send it back because I'd really like to know where your head is & what your agenda is!
  Sid.
  link to videos, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyhS1Ov4la4uQ_gIWv-iBPQ
   

[SPARKY]

   Hear Yee! Hear Yee! Hear Yee!      Here's to Sid:  Hip Hip Hooray!    Hip Hip Hooray!    Hip Hip Hooray!   

[manta22]

Laying back and waiting for things to improve seems to have had little effect. Why aren't the Utah congressional representatives helping? The only thing that seems to work these days is national media coverage.

[Stan Back]

Thanx for writing your well-written post on the condition of the salt and the BLM and intrepid Potash and the little-known Intrepid Salt Co.

For 50 years I've seen the rail cars not leaving empty.  I think it's too late.  Close the barn, the horses are gone.

[ronnieroadster]

Sid Thanks for putting this all in perspective.
   
   Having had the unfortunate pleasure of retrieving our stuff from the salt after Speedweek was canceled the drive in the lake was certainly an eye opener. The salt burgs were a big concern I wonder what the surface will look like where that thin salt came from.
 Reflecting back to my first visits to the salt flats as a tourist back in the 80's I recall from the bend in the road both sides of what is now dirt was pure white. all the way to lands end.  So much has changed!
 Ronnieroadster

[desotoman]

Sid, great post, thank you. People should only PM you with Thank you's.

Save the Salt was founded in 1989 according to their website. 33 years later and the salt is almost gone. BLM should be ashamed at how they have handled this problem.

Here is a interesting read copied from the STS website dated 1989.

Tom G.

1989

BLM Recreational Lands Manager, Gregg Morgan interviewed by ESPN notes,

?We are concerned with the loss of salt on the perimeter and with the overall loss. The study we completed a year ago, which updates the one we did 14 years ago shows that we are losing 1% of salt from the surface each year. That amounts to 1.6 million tons annually. At that rate, in ten years possibly there will not be enough salt to race on and in thirty years not enough salt to sustain what we call the Bonneville Salt Flats.?

Save the Salt (STS), is founded by racers, businesses and community members. Save the Salt Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and to promote its history and motorsports legacy. The organization aspires to keep this national treasure available for future generations.

[bobc]

Bob the Web Elf here,

I think LSR is cool, surprisingly like motorcycle trials, where not going fast is good.     Great people, very similar groups.  Been to Bonneville a couple times on a bike trip, thanks Jon!

--Rant--    But I live in a little mountain valley in NM, and we've been fighting with BLM over mining and "recreational" shooting for years!  The worst is the shooting, we've been trying to close down what BLM calls a  not-designated area (that has BLM  signs that say "Suggested area for shooting") for 12 years.  Despite the mountainside being turned into a wasteland, and nobody dares hike there anymore, and there's tons of lead in the watershed, and bullets are being put over residents' houses (!) .... they refuse to shut it down.  My wife worked for the BLM many years.... her description of them is "Pusillanimous".  Fits exactly.  Nobody wants to take the horns and fix things, or the manager is on a temp assignment and isn't about to take on such a thorny issue.   BLM here finally admitted we have a shooting problem in our neighborhood, BUT it'll take a year or two to actually shut our problem down, if it gets through the processes.  I totally understand the BLM/industry/salt problem at Bonneville.
-- End of Rant --

Sorry, BtWE doesn't usually get this riled up, but after many years our neighborhood association is really locking horns with the BLM.  The salt problem is much bigger than our local stuff, but I understand.......

[kiwi belly tank]

Sid, great post, thank you. People should only PM you with Thank you's.

Save the Salt was founded in 1989 according to their website. 33 years later and the salt is almost gone. BLM should be ashamed at how they have handled this problem.

Here is a interesting read copied from the STS website dated 1989.

Tom G.

1989

BLM Recreational Lands Manager, Gregg Morgan interviewed by ESPN notes,

?We are concerned with the loss of salt on the perimeter and with the overall loss. The study we completed a year ago, which updates the one we did 14 years ago shows that we are losing 1% of salt from the surface each year. That amounts to 1.6 million tons annually. At that rate, in ten years possibly there will not be enough salt to race on and in thirty years not enough salt to sustain what we call the Bonneville Salt Flats.?

Save the Salt (STS), is founded by racers, businesses and community members. Save the Salt Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and to promote its history and motorsports legacy. The organization aspires to keep this national treasure available for future generations.

  Thanks Tom, it's been longer than I thought it was. I wonder how much money has been raised over those 33yrs & where it all went, does anybody know? Their current goal of $750,000 could sure buy some stuff!
 & that reminds me Tom, I need to ship your Algon injector!
  Sid.