June 11, 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUWA Statement on BLM’s Approval of the Sevier Playa Potash Mining Project – 6.11.25
Wild and remote area could be turned into an industrial zone, impacting Pacific Flyway
Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Salt Lake City, UT – Yesterday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved the first phase of the Sevier Playa potash mining project, “…granting Peak Minerals authorization to move forward with construction and operations. This decision allows for the extraction of potash and other minerals…along with the development of supporting infrastructure both on and off lease areas.” Background information and a statement from SUWA Staff Attorney Hanna Larsen can be found below.
“The area—currently wild and remote—would become an industrial zone filled with evaporation ponds, dikes, roads, powerlines, a processing plant, and a rail loadout facility,” said Hanna Larsen, Staff Attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “The impacts of this industrialization will be clear on both the lakebed and the surrounding public lands, significantly impairing important habitat for migratory birds, ruining incredibly dark night skies, and adversely affecting water resources for decades to come. SUWA will continue its work to protect this area.”
Background Information:
In August 2023, SUWA filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), seeking judicial review of the BLM’s 2019 decision to approve nearly 125,000 acres of potash mining in Utah’s remote West Desert, known as the Sevier Playa Potash (SPP) Project. BLM’s decision violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) because it failed to consider the full sweep of environmental impacts from the project and also failed to consider alternatives that would cause less damage to the environment, including migratory birds. SUWA and the BLM later jointly moved to dismiss the case without prejudice after the mining company submitted a revised proposed mining plan that was approved on June 10, 2025.
Sevier Lake is located in a remote and largely undisturbed area of Utah’s West Desert known as the Great Basin Heritage Area; an area that is 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 additional water drawdown from the Sevier Playa Potash Project, along with the proposed Pine Valley Water Supply Project, will have significant yet unaccounted for impacts to groundwater in this delicate desert region that could adversely affect areas as far north as the Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge.
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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.
