Utah | Despite the drying up of the Great Salt Lake, Trump’s climate skepticism is forgiven

(Salt Lake City) From his ranch on the north shore of the Great Salt Lake, Joel Ferry has a front-row seat to climate change: a native of Utah, the Republican farmer has seen this immense body of water shrink by two-thirds in 40 years old.

As director of the department of natural resources in this western American state, he knows that the drying up of the lake is an “environmental nuclear bomb”, which threatens the existence of the capital Salt Lake City and two million people living on its banks.

But he will vote without hesitation for Donald Trump in November, despite his climate skeptic outbursts.

The Republican billionaire had “good economic results” and was “very firm on family values”, appreciates this Mormon, grateful to the ex-president for having given a conservative majority to the Supreme Court which made it possible to desecrate the right to abortion.

A record that relegates to the background the fact that Mr. Trump makes fun of climate change. Just this summer, the septuagenarian estimated that the rise in oceans he is causing will simply result in “more seaside properties”.

“It’s just a joke, I don’t think he really means that,” Mr. Ferry apologizes.

A common reaction in Utah, where Mormons – who represent half the population – remain largely loyal to the Republican Party, despite reservations about Mr. Trump’s personality. Here, every Democratic presidential candidate has failed since 1964.

“Mad Max”-style scenario

The region became aware of its fragility in 2022.

The Great Salt Lake then reached its lowest historical level, caught between overconsumption of water by the agricultural sector and the mining industry on one side, and on the other a historic drought spanning two decades .

“This really alerted scientists, but also everyone, to the risk of the lake completely drying up,” David Parrott, deputy director of the Great Salt Lake Institute at the University of Westminster, told AFP.

In this scenario Mad MaxSalt Lake City would become unlivable and “we would have to flee the city,” summarizes this biologist.

Because the lake bed, increasingly exposed to the open air, contains arsenic and toxic heavy metals, which contaminate the atmosphere during dust storms.

To avoid this catastrophe, “there was a general mobilization” of local republicans, praises Mr. Ferry.

Financial incentives for farmers to reduce their water consumption, technologies to optimize irrigation or seed the clouds so that it rains more, work to cut the lake in two and limit its salinity: the conservative majority launched “more ‘a billion dollars’ of investments in three years.

Even the Mormon Church has set an example, renouncing the use of millions of cubic meters of water.

Utah “is an excellent example of a very conservative state that makes ecological decisions,” continues Mr. Ferry.

At the national level, “the environment should also be a priority for Republicans,” believes this former local elected official.

“Local problem”

However, Donald Trump’s program is a thousand miles from this ambition. His victory in November would put an end to the hope of limiting global warming to +1.5°C, according to a recent study by the organization Carbon Brief.

The billionaire promises a new withdrawal of the United States from the Paris agreement, signed to limit greenhouse gas emissions. He also insists on his desire to “drill” for oil “like crazy”.

“A Trump presidency would be disastrous for the environment in general and for the Great Salt Lake,” alarms Mr. Parrott.

The scientist applauds the “herculean efforts” launched by local republicans.

But he also reminds us that every additional tenth of a degree reinforces the need to adopt unpopular measures, such as increasing the price of water and banning watering lawns.

In Salt Lake City, most conservative voters met by AFP are concerned about the health of the lake.

But many like Bill Clements believe that the White House has no influence on this “local problem”.

At 75 years old, this Mormon clings to the respite offered by two abnormally rainy winters, which allowed the lake to rise a little – without reaching the minimum level necessary for its preservation.

“A lot of these things are natural. It goes down, it goes up, it goes down,” this retiree wants to believe. “I have not yet joined the religion of climate change. »