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8 LONG TITLE
9 General Description:
10 This concurrent resolution of the Legislature and the Governor calls attention to the
11 deterioration of Utah's world-famous Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway and
12 urges the Bureau of Land Management to restore the Bonneville Salt Flats International
13 Speedway to safe high-speed racing conditions.
14 Highlighted Provisions:
15 This concurrent resolution:
16 ▸ calls attention to the deterioration of Utah's world-famous Bonneville Salt Flats
17 International Speedway;
18 ▸ strongly urges the Bureau of Land Management to formulate a plan, with the
19 participation of the Utah Alliance, Save the Salt Coalition, and other concerned
20 stakeholders, including Intrepid PotashWendover, LLC, to restore the Bonneville
21 Salt Flats to safe land speed racing conditions;
22 ▸ urges the Bureau of Land Management to improve monitored restoration that will
23 maintain the internationally recognized Bonneville Salt Flats International
24 Speedway in safe high-speed racing conditions; and
25 ▸ urges the United States Congress and Utah's congressional delegation to take action
26 to ensure that the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway is restored to safe racing
27 conditions.
28 Special Clauses:
29 None
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31 Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
32 WHEREAS, in 1910, future Salt Lake City Mayor Ab Jenkins became the first person
33 to ride a motorcycle across the Bonneville Salt Flats, a bounded watershed covering
34 approximately 77,000 acres or 120 square miles;
35 WHEREAS, in 1914, Teddy Tetzlaff set the first unofficial land speed record at the
36 Bonneville Salt Flats;
37 WHEREAS, top tire companies began sponsoring events at the Bonneville Salt Flats to
38 test their tires;
39 WHEREAS, beginning in 1932, Ab Jenkins spent three decades setting hundreds of
40 national speed and endurance records on the Bonneville Salt Flats, some of which remain on
41 the record books;
42 WHEREAS, in 1935, the first internationally recognized world land speed record was
43 set at the Bonneville Salt Flats by Britain's Sir Malcolm Campbell;
44 WHEREAS, this record prompted the international land speed racing community to
45 relocate all future efforts from Daytona Beach, Florida, to the Bonneville Salt Flats;
46 WHEREAS, thousands of land speed records would follow over the next several
47 decades;
48 WHEREAS, in the 1960s, racers began to notice a thinning of the salt surface and
49 voiced concern to the United States Secretary of the Interior and federal lawmakers;
50 WHEREAS, in 1963, the Bureau of Land Management issued leases covering 24,700
51 acres on the Bonneville Salt Flats to the east of the race tracks and collection ditches were dug
52 to allow for withdrawal of salt brine;
53 WHEREAS, in 1975, the "Bonneville Salt Flats Race Track" (aka Bonneville Salt Flats
54 International Speedway) was added to the National Register of Historic Places;
55 WHEREAS, in 1976, the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association was founded in response
56 to the Bureau of Land Management complaint that not enough land speed racing events
57 occurred each year to obtain agency support;
58 WHEREAS, in 1985, 30,203 acres of the Bonneville Salt Flats was designated an Area
59 of Critical Environmental Concern and Special Recreation Management Area;
60 WHEREAS, in 1989, the Save the Salt Coalition was founded by racers, businesses,
61 and community members to help protect the Bonneville Salt Flats and promote its history and
62 motorsports legacy;
63 WHEREAS, in 1992, the Save the Salt Foundation was formed to raise funds for
64 Bonneville Salt Flats restoration activities;
65 WHEREAS, in 1997, a five-year test salt brine pumping project was implemented
66 through the cooperation of the Bureau of Land Management, Reilly Industries, and racers;
67 WHEREAS, in 2012, the limited salt brine pumping project was made permanent;
68 WHEREAS, in 2015, the Utah Alliance was formed to provide state-based expertise on
69 the Bonneville Salt Flats;
70 WHEREAS, in 2015, all major racing events were cancelled due to unsafe salt
71 conditions and weather; and
72 WHEREAS, in 2015, concerned stakeholders met with legislators and congressmen and
73 urged immediate action to restore the Bonneville Salt Flats:
74 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
75 Governor concurring therein, strongly urges the Bureau of Land Management to formulate a
76 plan, with the participation of the Utah Alliance, Save the Salt Coalition, and other concerned
77 stakeholders, including Intrepid PotashWendover, LLC, to restore the Bonneville Salt Flats to
78 safe land speed racing conditions.
79 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor urge the Bureau
80 of Land Management to improve monitored restoration that will maintain the internationally
81 recognized Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway in safe high-speed racing conditions.
82 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor urge the United
83 States Congress and Utah's congressional delegation to take action to ensure that the
84 Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway is restored to safe racing conditions.
85 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the United
86 States Secretary of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, Intrepid Potash Wendover,
87 LLC, the National Park Service, the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association, the Southern
88 California Timing Association, Bonneville Nationals, Inc., Bonneville Motorcycle Speed
89 Trials, Land Speed Events, the Save the Salt Coalition, the Utah Alliance, and the members of
90 Utah's congressional delegation.