https://www.cbsnews.com/video/debate-rages-over-the-future-of-the-bonneville-salt-flats/ Just saw this on "CBS This Morning".
Amen to that. I didn't see it, just read what's being said by salt racers and they say most of the facts are lies. They know exactly where the salt is disappearing to. The picture of the donuts in the sand is NOT being caused by racers.
The racers may cause very minimal damage to the salt flats, but it is the mining operations that have caused all the significant damages to the flats
I missed the clip on TV but found it by googling Bonneville News Clip. It turns up about 4 or 5 items down a list and is just over 8 minutes long. The BLM rep doesn't say much at all and the mining company wouldn't go on camera, but did give a figure on tonnage of salt being returned to the flats. An interesting segment that I thought was fairly presented to the public. I'm a Bonneville fanatic who has attended almost every other year since the 50th running in 1998 when the salt was 4 or 5 inches thick. My take is that massive amounts of salt need to be moved. To get that done requires massive pressure from the public. However I fear that pressure could lead to a complete shut down. I can't imagine a US Government department head admitting they have screwed this pooch for a hundred years suddenly reversing gears to honestly repair the past damage.
HOw can racing reduce the thickness of the salt? That doesn't make sense, they just drive over the top of it. Mining hauls it away.
Apparently every one missed the dumbass voice-over saying that the racecars were built by "greasers". Also, the blond in the straw hat blamed the racers straight out for the problem. Guess who signs her paycheck? A gubmint agency. This was a hit job disguised as serious journalism, and some of you fell for it. Go out on the salt and talk to the racers.... You'll get the bald faced truth, and not some poorly informed and very slanted chunk of crap.
As I see it it's just got to be the racers removing a hundred thousand tons of salt under our trucks and trailers along with those rat rodders one weekend a year on the out sides of their cars,.....YEAH RIGHT!!!!!! I started drilling holes for stakes for the SCTA to use a barriors in the 70's and back then and never hit dirt. I drilled many thousands of holes and can tell you over the years I started hitting dirt closer and closer to the surface. It's way less than the 1" they showed in the interview. where is it you say.......Just look to the south side of interstate 80.. Nuf' said.
Big business's like the mining company carries the Lions share of the demise of the salt, Land management talks to the news media and says it's the salt flats racers. The very popular term "Fake News" rears it's ugly head and want's to blame the people that are not paying the government huge profits for raping of the land, removing the salt to gain access to the potash & of course mining the salt. I don't deny the racers have cause slight damage, in the long history of racing on the salt didn't do anything significant. The lady that is the scientist suggested staying of the salt when it was wet obviously wasn't around the last few years when the races were cancelled. I fear the day is coming where the government will side with the mining company's and like the dinosaurs the salt flats will disappear.. HRP
The Bowen lady said “we should stay off of it for a few years” to allow it to get better. Of course she’s speaking of the racers. She certainly didn’t propose that they should stop mining for a few years. What a farce. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Its hard for me to describe the disgust I have for the Salt Lake District of the BLM as well as the CBS for the misleading information that tends to equate the mining operations with LSR. Honest reporting of the situation on the salt would focus on the efforts of Utah Salt Flat Racing Association as well as the Save the Salt organization. The SCTA and USFRA have been the only groups that actually try to save the salt and not destroy it. Instead of opening with pictures of ruts caused by some jerks running on the salt when its wet they should have started with a google earth view of what the mining operations have done. To allow some goofy woman to suggest that the salt could be saved by getting the racers off of it for a few years would be a solution is ludicrous. Hot Rodders everywhere need to support the Save the Salt organization as they are the true environmentalists when it comes to the Bonneville Salt Flats.
it always amazes me how two people can see exactly the same thing and have two completely different views. what i saw was the news reporter gave a little praise to the ingenuity of the racer as she kept calling it. but the final message was delivered by the government official in the straw hat THE RACERS NEED TO STAY OF THE SALT
If it wasn't for all the organizations connected to racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats, the lakebed would have long been reduced to a mostly mud surface! It's about time for the State and/or Federal Governments to step up and HELP SAVE this National historic treasure.
The Jalopy Journal
