Legal Bid to Save Great Salt Lake Tests Public Trust Doctrine

Environmental groups fighting to save the Great Salt Lake from drying up and exposing millions to toxic dust have turned to the courts, but their attempt to invoke a legal concept that protects natural resources is being met with skepticism.

“Using the public trust doctrine to modify water rights in the West is a big step for a court to take,” Robin Craig, a environmental law professor at the University of Southern California, said.

State leaders say that they have made unprecedented efforts to save the Great Salt Lake. But the groups suing say that it’s not enough: Utah’s inaction ...