Utah Inland Port Authority bill sent to Senate floor despite opposition

SALT LAKE CITY — A small cadre of Utah Inland Port Authority critics took to the state Capitol on Wednesday, arguing against a proposed bill that would expand the entity's abilities to make land purchases and influence development on parcels adjacent to current project areas boundaries, among other amendments.

SB239 was presented to the Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee by the bill's chief sponsor and longtime UIPA board member, Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton.

What's in the bill?

At the end of fiscal year 2024, the inland port reported over 97,000 acres within 12 different project areas across Utah. These boundaries contain zones that take advantage of tax increment financing, which works by freezing the tax values of an area at their current levels for some time and borrowing against any expected increase in property tax revenue.

For an in-depth look at how UIPA is funded, read this article.

Proposed amendments to the entity's guiding statute would expand the powers of UIPA to allow land purchases of plots within the project area boundaries or adjacent to them. The port authority would also be able to conduct its typical business, facilitating development and establishing infrastructure districts, in areas adjacent to demarcated project areas.

"We have an interlocal agreement with Salt Lake City," executive director Ben Hart said. "This new legislation will allow us, in conjunction and collaboration with Salt Lake City, to make purchases of potential sensitive land area."

Hart told KSL.com that the amendment only relates to the group's Northwest Quadrant project area. "I don't know that this will have any immediate or long-term impacts in any of the other project areas, quite frankly. This is something that is pretty unique to just Salt Lake City."

Income from various sources could be spent on "environmental sustainability projects," in addition to infrastructure and improvements "on or related to land in a project area."

The move follows UIPA's purchase of the former North Temple Landfill from the Utah Trust Lands Administration on Monday. Remediation of contaminated groundwater will take six to seven years, Hart told KSL.com, making way for "really good businesses. Not distribution centers, but manufacturers and those who really add value to the economy."

Another amendment would allow UIPA to give other governmental entities funding to "fulfill the authority's duties and responsibilities." That change was spurred by a past $2.5 million grant UIPA gave the Department of Natural Resources in November 2024, according to Hart. The money funded a land purchase near the southeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake, to create a buffer zone from industrial development.

"We found there were a few things in our statute that just complicated that," Hart said. "This just helps to clear that up so we have an easier time with wetland purchases and sensitive land area protections."

SB239 would also allow the governor to appoint three out of five voting board members, instead of the current two. Hart says the change "brings us into conformity with other similar entities."

Longtime critics protest UIPA

Members of the public spoke against the amendments during the committee hearing, citing general concerns that encouraging industrial development will impact air quality in areas already struggling with pollution. The precarious levels of the Great Salt Lake were on the minds of a number of commenters.

"You may have heard the Great Salt Lake is already shriveling up," said Dr. Brian Moench, head of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, a group currently suing UIPA over claims of an unconstitutional board. "Where will the water come from for all this development, especially data centers? Where will we go for air that is not dangerous to breathe?" he said.

Sen. John Johnson, R-Ogden, said, "It seems like a lot of this is, are the original complaints about (UIPA). And it seems like yet another attempt to kill something that's already ongoing."

"It seems to me in this bill you're actually improving a lot of these things," Johnson said. "It's not that the bill is making this worse, so I don't really understand."

Katie Pappas, a consistent opponent of UIPA, told committee members the bill "is vague and doesn't set guidelines to prevent unintended consequences."

Ahead of the committee hearing, the local coalition Stop the Polluting Ports released a report claiming UIPA is projected to give out over $1.3 billion in "taxpayer funded subsidies to developers" over the life of the current project areas.

Hart told KSL.com that the report's claims are "100% false. Our statute says we cannot provide subsidies to developers. We do not provide subsidies for developers."

Deeda Seed, a campaigner for the group, spoke at a small press conference in the Capitol, saying the development impacts will have the impact of "impairing or destroying up to 77,000 acres of Great Salt Lake basin wetlands."

Seed told KSL.com the group calculated that figure by measuring "wetlands acres within project areas and adjacent."

The report claims development will add "over half a million new vehicle trips to roads throughout the Wasatch Front." The group calculated the figure using an estimate of 1.7 trips per 1,000 square feet of warehouse floor area, but according to the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the standard rate is around 0.19, almost 10 times less.

"Our major message here," Seed said, "is that we're calling for a halt to inland port funding, and we're calling for a full performance audit of the port authority."

"I've told the group this: What they're saying is borderline, if not clear defamation," Hart said. "They are 100% false. They know they are wrong, and they're choosing to spread misinformation anyways."

The bill unanimously passed through the committee to the Senate with a positive recommendation.

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