What's next for Green River?
Several industries express interest in GR's open land, rail access, and unused water rights after Inland Port project area approved
by Kenny Fallon Jr.
At the last City Council meeting, Ryan Englund of Better Cities LLC gave an update on how the Inland Port’s project area had already changed things: ordinarily about two companies a year might show interest in locating in Green River through Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Utah, but just in the past month there were seven companies knocking at the door. According to Englund, the main reason is that “Green River is one of the few places with water, land, and rail”. He explained that back in 1958 when dams were to be constructed further north, Green River City was granted 2,000 acre feet in water rights (1,000,000 gpd). The City currently uses about 600 acre feet.
The unused 1,400 acre feet expired in 1998 but because there was a “pretty serious proposal” that eventually Green River City would grow to 10,000 people, the water rights were extended to October of 2025. Englund said that “No one else in Utah has that kind of [unused, yet allocated] water at all”.
To extend these water rights further, Green River City would need to update their 40 year plan for water and prove to the state of Utah and the Bureau of Reclamation that they would realistically need the 1,400 acre feet. A new water-intensive industry in the City would help them do just that. Englund did acknowledge that there is concern the extra water rights “may not be able to be sustained” with a shrinking water supply over the last couple decades conflicting with downstream states’ allocations set out in the Colorado River Compact. Englund explained that any companies moving to the west or east industrial parks will have to build their own wastewater systems to avoid a dramatic demand increase on the city system. He then went through the kinds of companies that have already shown interest in coming here:
Project BYHO: Biomass to hydrogen operation (like converting methane to energy), 15 jobs - minimal utility needs
Project Hedron: chip module for computers manufacturing, 37 jobs - minimal utility needs
Project Carta II: Paper tissue production, 90 jobs - 240,000 gpd water needed, 180,000 gpd waste wastewater produced. Englund clarified that a new technology would make sure this isn’t the kind of smelly paper mill most people imagine.
Project Neighborhood: Battery recycling facility, 388 jobs - lots of electricity and natural gas needs, 90,000 gpd water needed, 80,000 gpd wastewater produced. They would bring in about 5,500 tons of hazardous waste per month, which they’ll have to figure out what to do with (if fully permitted by the DEQ).
Project Podium: Warehouse, 1,132 jobs - minimal utility needs. Englund mentioned that “we’re a little bit leery of bringing [this here], because warehousing jobs aren’t that well-paying”. Councilor Guy Webster said this project would be “too much growth too quick to be…planned, well thought out, [or] organized”. It also wouldn’t require much water and Webster added that “anything that can help Green River sustain water rights is a good thing”.
Project Firepower: Synthetic material producer, 46 jobs -100,000 gpd needed, 43,000 gpd wastewater produced.
Project Vulcan: Smelting operation, 1000 jobs - 800,000 gpd water needed long-term, 3 bcf/year antural gas needed long-term. Someone in the audience asked what kind of metals would be smelted, but Mayor Ren Hatt said that the company was “pretty cagey” about revealing that just yet.
Anyone is welcome to give feedback on potential projects at City Council meetings.