Environmental group leery of Utah Lake bridge plan

Carol Walters is determined to do all she can to stop a bridge from being built across Utah Lake. The 60-year-old Provo resident said she couldn't live with herself if she just sat by and let it happen.

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking at a bridge across Utah Lake and knowing I didn't do anything to stop it," Walters said.

Walters along with about a dozen others from the Utah Valley Sierra Forum, a local environmental group, brought a letter to the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands Monday afternoon and pleaded for thoroughness when reviewing the Utah Lake bridge proposal.

The division has been put in charge of making the decision of whether or not to allow Utah Crossing Inc., the group that has proposed to privately build a 6-mile, $600 million bridge, to go forward.

During the meeting with the local environmental group Monday, Tim Garcia, the deputy director at FFSL, said his agency is not taking its responsibility lightly.

"We are going to take our time on this thing," Garcia told them.

He explained that his agency is still only in the second step of the process. After compiling all of the public comments, which were due by Monday, his agency will determine what will need to be looked at and addressed.

The Utah Valley Sierra Forum is looking for more structure and thoroughness in such a decision.

"It is very disturbing that no comprehensive study has been done to determine the consequences of constructing this bridge," the group's letter states. "A comprehensive environmental impact statement is only reasonable, responsible and prudent. For the FFSL to render a decision on the bridge without the benefit of a full environmental impact statement would be irresponsible and a violation of the public trust."

An EIS has more guidelines on what needs to be looked at, Walters said.

Because the lakebed is owned by the state and the bridge would not be built on wetlands, an EIS is not required, Garcia said.

Along with presenting the letter, James Westwater, chairman of forum, asked that his group be allowed involvement in the decisionmaking process.

"We have a lot at stake here," he told Garcia.

Westwater said his group is acting as the "voice of the lake." He said in the meeting that he has heard many people who are deeply against the building of a bridge but few who are passionate for a bridge being constructed.