“The Mormon pioneers saw themselves as being latter-day Israelites who were in exile,” Blackhelm says. “Can you imagine crossing the Plains with that mentality that this is your Exodus? And then you get to a place that is just like the Dead Sea. The Great Salt Lake has a profound place in Mormon heritage for that reason.”
So it’s understandable that Blackhelm and other Box Elder County residents are concerned that the Great Salt Lake could become home to one of the country’s biggest industrial landfills, a planned repository for coal ash and other out-of-state waste streams hauled by train.