Don't drive on it when it's wet, give it a minute, and let's see where it gets to.' Bowen examines the condition of the salt flats 'I would say leave it alone for a few years,' she said. The racing association said it's not enough – and that they believe that any effect the racers are having on the salt is negligible in comparison. The company declined to be interviewed but said it is returning hundreds of thousands of tons of salt each year. That includes the mining – but it also includes changes in environmental conditions and land use, including the racing.ĬBS News reached out to the mining company Intrepid Potash. 'These are ordinary people doin' extraordinary things.'īowen, the scientist, said it's a combination of factors that has led to less salt on the track. 'America was built on hopes and dreams, and they're killing the dreams,' Noeth said through tears. She is also a former racer, which makes her mission personal. Noeth is a long-time automotive journalist who's now the spokesperson for Save the Salt, a nonprofit that wants the speedway replenished. It was flat as a billiard table,' said Louise Noeth. 'When I first came out here, you never saw any bumps. The racing community said much of that lost salt sits just a thousand feet from the track, remnants of the mining – and they want $50 million to put it back. The Bureau of Land Management acknowledges a 7% decrease of the 'crust package' over the last decade and a half – but Kevin Oliver, the Utah West manager for the BLM, said that Sullivan is exaggerating the damage done to the flats.īrenda Bowen, a scientist who's been studying the salt flats, said that the amount of salt in the landscape has decreased over the past 30 years. The racing association said the top layer of salt was once four feet thick, and is now in most places down to 1 inch.

But the racing association said the leases don't require companies to put the leftover salt back.

The process requires separating out the salt from the potash. More than 50 years ago, the BLM made deals with mining companies that use the land to get potash, a fertilizer. Specifically, Sullivan blames the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the salt flats for the federal government.

Bonneville salt flats speedway