An environmental group says that the state has denied it a permit to study potential mercury contamination in fish, but a state official says the permit was denied because Utah is doing its own research.

Jeff Salt, executive director of the Great Salt Lakekeeper group, said the denial was "a move designed to keep Utah's citizens from finding out about mercury levels in local fish."

The organization had wanted to collect fish samples from the lake's watershed for mercury testing. It planned to use anglers from sport fishing groups to catch up to 2,075 fish from 83 waterways in a four-state, 35,000-square-mile area, Salt said.

"These samples were to be sent off to certified labs for testing of mercury levels in the flesh of the fish. The information was to be shared with people across the state," he said in a press release.

According to Salt, the Utah Department of Natural Resources questioned the reliability of the plan and said the project could be counterproductive.

"That's absolutely ludicrous," Salt said. "They just don't want citizens out collecting scientific information that might make them look bad."

However, Robin Thomas, spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Natural Resources, said the department is part of a mercury work group, interfacing with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and the Utah Department of Health and other federal and state agencies to decide how the state will collect, monitor and evaluate fish samples for mercury contamination.

"These agencies are charged with the responsibility to protect the health of Utah's water and environment," she said in an e-mail statement. "They are staffed with highly qualified individuals dedicated to providing verifiable scientific information to the public."

Walt Baker, director of the Utah Division of Water Quality, added in the statement, "Our goal is to come up with a comprehensive statewide approach, not simply a sampling effort for the Great Salt Lake watershed alone, as Jeff Salt has proposed."

Thomas indicated that the part of the Department of Natural Resources that denied the permit was the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. She said the department supports that action.

Thomas added, "Salt and other private-interest groups have been invited to attend the mercury work group and have agreed to participate."

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