August 7, 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUWA Challenges Destruction of 125,000 Acres of Public Lands in Utah’s West Desert – 8.7.25
Wild and remote area would be turned into an industrial zone, impacting scarce groundwater and migratory birds who use the Pacific Flyway while destroying dark night skies.
Contacts:
Hanna Larsen, Staff Attorney, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (801) 428-3992; hanna@suwa.org
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Salt Lake City, UT – Today, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) filed a lawsuit in federal district court challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) 2019 decision to approve a nearly 125,000-acre potash mining project, the Sevier Playa Potash (SPP) Project, as well as BLM’s 2025 decision approving a modified version of the Project. Together, BLM’s decisions set the stage for the SPP Project to impact and damage Utah’s remote West Desert for decades. BLM failed to consider the full range of environmental impacts from this large-scale industrial development, including impacts to groundwater, migratory birds, and dark night skies, all in violation of federal environmental law.
Background information and a statement from SUWA Staff Attorney Hanna Larsen can be found below.
“By failing to conduct the required environmental analysis for a project of this magnitude, BLM has rubber-stamped a decision to irreversibly alter the extremely wild and remote nature of Utah’s West Desert,” said Hanna Larsen, Staff Attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). “The impacts of turning Sevier Lake into an industrial zone will destroy important habitat for migratory birds, ruin incredibly dark night skies, and imperil groundwater resources for decades to come.”
About Sevier Lake
Sevier Lake is located in a remote and largely undisturbed area of Utah’s West Desert within the Great Basin National Heritage Area, an area currently devoid of light or noise pollution. Like the Great Salt Lake, Sevier Lake is a highly saline terminal lake along the Pacific Flyway that serves as an important stopover point for migratory birds. Although it is fed by the Sevier River, upstream water diversions cause Sevier Lake to be largely dry during certain times of the year. The groundwater drawdown required for the SPP Project, along with the nearby proposed Pine Valley Water Supply Project, will have significant, yet unaccounted for, impacts to groundwater in this fragile desert region that could adversely affect areas as far north as the Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge.
About SUWA’s Litigation
In August 2023, SUWA filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the BLM, challenging the agency’s 2019 decision to approve the SPP Project. BLM’s decision violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) because it failed to consider the full range of environmental impacts from the project and failed to consider alternatives that would cause less damage to the environment. SUWA and the BLM later jointly moved to dismiss the case without prejudice after the mining company submitted a revised proposed mining plan; that plan was approved by BLM on June 10, 2025.
SUWA’s new lawsuit once again alleges that BLM’s 2019 decision violated NEPA because it failed to consider many of the SPP Project’s environmental impacts. SUWA submitted extensive comments to BLM highlighting potential impacts on a number of environmental resources including but not limited to, water quality and quantity, climate, air quality, visual resources, and migratory birds. But BLM largely ignored this information and failed to fully consider the SPP Project’s impacts.
Additionally, SUWA alleges that BLM’s 2025 decision to approve the modified SPP Project also violated NEPA because BLM simply rubber-stamped the proposal. BLM approved the modified Project using an administrative shortcut and entirely relying on the SPP Project’s 2019 NEPA analysis.
SUWA submitted detailed information explaining to BLM that it could not make a new decision using this shortcut approach because the SPP Project’s 2019 NEPA analysis was inadequate and unlawful. SUWA’s comments included a technical memorandum from a Utah Professional Geologist with new information about the SPP Project’s anticipated – but unanalyzed – groundwater impacts. BLM did not acknowledge or address the new information before making its decision to approve the modified SPP Project.
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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards this world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.
