Lake Powell Pipeline and Bear River Dam Bill Passes in Committee

Just three days into the 2016 Utah Legislative Session, Utah’s water development lobbyists made an attack on Utah’s rivers. SB 80 would take $36 million sales tax dollars every year to fund the Lake Powell Pipeline and Bear River Development. This attempt to fund these destructive projects passed its first hurdle after a heated discussion on Wednesday, January 27th in the Senate Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee.

But the fight isn't over! With a Senate floor vote coming in just a few days, we need your help now more than ever. Act now by telling your State Legislators to vote NO on SB 80. Find your legislators.

A $33B Trojan Horse for Lake Powell Pipeline:

The water industry lobbyists hired to push SB 80 are coasting on the claim that Utah has a $33 billion statewide spending need for water development.

After hearing of this ridiculous claim, the URC looked into the documentation supporting this statement and produced a 50-page analysis exposing many fraudulent claims. Most of these purported funding needs were found to be bogus, apparently designed to misinform the media and decision-makers and conceal the $2 billion Lake Powell Pipeline inside a massive list of projects.

Some of the findings included scores of emails to local governments documenting that many projects in the $33 billion funding request have already been paid for, have been constructed, or will be paid for by other revenues like water rates, bonds and property taxes.

trojan

Last Fall, two Senators sent a letter to Utah Auditor Dougall asking for an Audit of water industry lobbyists’ claim that Utah has a $33 billion statewide spending need after the information came to light that no substantive documentation exists for the majority of these costs. SB 80 would provide funding for Lake Powell Pipeline construction against the express recommendations of Governor Herbert’s proposed budget and preempt this audit request.