"There's a substantial economic gain to the public as a whole by leasing that land," he said.

According to the record of decision approving the lease, Great Salt Lake Minerals estimated that royalties from its expanded business would generate at least $2 million for Utah.

The record of decision also states that little, if any, bird use is known or observed and that recreation is virtually negligible.

But an April 28 letter from the Governor's Office of Public Lands Policy Coordination states that the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources had some misgivings about the lease.

DWR officials were concerned that construction of dikes two miles from Gunnison Island may disturb nesting birds.

The current dikes the minerals company operates in Clyman Bay are about four miles from the island, which is home to the third-largest breeding colony of American white pelicans in North America.

"Pelicans are known to be highly susceptible to any disturbance and will, at times, totally abandon nesting sites," the letter states.

The letter also says juvenile pelicans may get confused and become trapped in evaporation ponds and dikes may provide breeding grounds for California gulls, which could attack the pelicans.

Grierson said his division's employees went to the area and found that humans aren't likely to impact the pelicans' rookeries because they are more than two miles from potential dike construction.

Peggy Landon, spokeswoman for Great Salt Lake Minerals' parent company, Compass Minerals, said the company engaged in its own environmental studies before it applied for the lease.

"Our company is committed to operating in an environmentally responsible way," she said. The company is expecting a lengthy, thorough investigation by the Army Corps of Engineers.

But Becker said the state shouldn't leave the environmental decisions up to the federal government.

"The federal process cannot be a substitute for the obligation the state has under its own laws to make sure the Great Salt Lake is protected," he said.

---

E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com