§ 65A-17-203 — Force majeure.

(1) For purposes of managing the Great Salt Lake, the division may treat the fact that the Great Salt Lake has reached the emergency trigger as a triggering event for the purposes of invoking a force majeure provision in a contract, mineral lease, or royalty agreement.
(2) In addition to the standard mechanisms whereby performance is excused by invocation of a force majeure provision, the division shall include language in a contract, mineral lease, or royalty agreement whereby the division may curtail or prohibit mineral or element production that results in a net depletion of water.
(3) The division shall allow an operator to continue processing brines that have already been extracted from the Great Salt Lake that are residing in the operator's process, and selling products derived from brines that have already been extracted at the time the force majeure is invoked.
(4) The division shall include standard mechanisms to promptly waive force majeure once salinity conditions improve by declining below the emergency trigger threshold.
(5) If the division invokes a force majeure provision in a contract, mineral lease, or royalty agreement, the effected operator is relieved from performance of any contractual provision requiring production to hold the contract, mineral lease, or royalty agreement for a maximum of two years. If the conditions creating the emergency trigger persist beyond a two-year period, the division shall terminate the contract, mineral lease, or royalty agreement and require the operator to engage in new contractual agreements whereby the operator represents and warrants that future operations will not amount to a net depletion of water.

Legislative History

Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 25, 2024 General Session