For some time, pumping in an average of 1.2 million tons per year stabilized Bonneville’s crust and even led to some small increases, but the pumping volumes have been more limited in recent years. The potash mine’s owner and the racing community created a salt brine return system in the 1990s, which was implemented with BLM approval.
It’s estimated that 50 to 75 million tons of salt were removed from Bonneville, with much of that salt currently located in large evaporative potash processing ponds. Racing and mining survived side-by-side until BLM started issuing leases in the 1960s that allowed salt to be transferred south through miles of ditches without any proof that there’d be no damage to the racing portion of the Salt Flats. Over 60 miles long, the Bonneville Salt Flats are divided in half by highways and railroad tracks, with racetracks on the north side and a potash processing plant on the south side. “Frankly, Bonneville has been studied to death,” notes SEMA. Their response to racers’ concerns? A long line of studies. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been the custodian of the land.
If you want to go really fast, Bonneville is the most famous place in the world to do that.”īut according to the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), while racers were once able to push velocity limits on 13 miles of racetrack at Bonneville, today there’s only eight miles of straightaway available for those attempting to set land-speed records.įor over half a century, the land-speed racing community has continued to sound the alarm that government neglect and mismanagement is destroying the beloved Salt Flats. “For motorcyclists,” Hall of Famer and former fastest man on two wheels Chris Carr told American Motorcyclist, “the Bonneville Salt Flats is one of our seven wonders of the world. The Restore Bonneville program has stalled, bureaucracy has failed, and the legendary Salt Flats are at risk…but you can help
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