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PROVO — Lake Restoration Solutions, the company proposing to spend billions to dredge Utah Lake and create some 18,000 acres of man-made islands, announced its dissolution Tuesday.
In a letter addressed to 3rd District Judge Laura Scott, company president Jon Benson said Lake Restoration Solutions no longer has the financial resources to continue operations or satisfy its debt obligations, and that the company could not "secure any new funding sources to remedy the financial shortfall."
In the letter, Benson says the company can no longer proceed with the case against Ben Abbott, an associate professor of aquatic ecology at Brigham Young University, who was sued by Lake Restoration Solutions in 2022 over allegations that he defamed the company on his Twitter and Facebook accounts, during public meetings and on his own personal blog.
Lake Restoration Solutions also sued the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands in January after it rejected a permit application for the project, citing "constitutional issues."
That case was also withdrawn Tuesday after Lake Restoration Solutions filed a notice for voluntary dismissal in Utah's 4th District Court.
In a statement, Benson told the Deseret News he still plans to "cheer from the sidelines for Utah Lake and hope that others will continue the important work of implementing the best restoration solutions."
"We are so grateful for the tremendous support for the Utah Lake Restoration Project from Utahns all over the state. Utah Lake continues to face significant challenges and is in dire need of restoration. Unfortunately, Lake Restoration Solutions no longer has the financial resources to continue its effort to restore and enhance Utah Lake," Benson said.
The proposal would have dredged Utah Lake, lowering on average by seven feet in an attempt to cool water temperatures. The dredged material would also sequester nutrients to curb algae growth, which have plagued the lake for years and made it unsafe to swim in.
The application detailed plans to build at least four roads, 34 human-made islands amounting to roughly 18,000 acres, 190 miles of new shoreline and LEED-certified communities.
But it garnered intense pushback from environmental groups who feared the plan would upend current conservation projects on the lake, potentially fail and leave a financial mess for taxpayers to clean up, or that the proposal was really a way for developers to make money under the guise of environmental remediation.
"Thank goodness this happened before they started destroying Utah Lake," Abbot said on Wednesday. "Imagine if they sent this document to the people of Utah after creating a 20,000-acre mess on the lake."
Abbot called the news a "huge victory" for the lake and Utah.
"But it's also a moment where we need to ask some questions — How did they get so close? Why was there so much support from the legislature and governor's office for a project that was unserious?" he said.
