Documents obtained by The Tribune shed some light on the murky financing behind the billion-dollar project to dredge Utah’s largest freshwater lake.
, the fast-growing municipality on the lake’s northeast shore, has pledged $5 million toward the project, according to Mayor Julie Fullmer’s September 2020 letter to the EPA endorsing the company’s loan application. The prospectus shared with potential investors last year included the Fullmer letter, along with other letters endorsing the project.
The Tribune requested the EPA release Lake Restoration’s two WIFIA applications and their supporting materials, but the agency declined, saying the company has classified it as “confidential business information” that is protected from public disclosure. “Shoreline improvements and barrier estuary islands offer potential protections of these redevelopment investments on the shoreline, in our conservation zones and in our surrounding burgeoning transit-oriented development, which has been patterned to offer sustainable design for our environment and community,” she wrote in an email.Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.
“Unfortunately, the cost of a holistic, comprehensive solution is beyond the financial abilities of the State’s normal budgeting parameters,” wrote GOEO Executive Director Dan Hemmert in a June 1, 2021, letter of support to EPA.