Utah Code 65A-17-203. Force majeure
Current as of: 2024 | Check for updates
|
Other versions
(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.
Terms Used In Utah Code 65A-17-203
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Division: means the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands. See Utah Code 65A-1-1
- Emergency trigger: means the salinity levels of the Gilbert Bay of the Great Salt Lake do not satisfy the ecological conditions required for healthy brine shrimp and brine fly reproduction. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Mineral or element: means :(10)(a) a rare earth element;(10)(b) a trace element or mineral;(10)(c) a chemical compound that includes a rare earth element or trace element or mineral; or(10)(d) a mineral or element that is attached, embedded to, or is a by-product of another mineral or element. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
- Operator: means a person qualified to do business in the state pursuing the extraction of minerals or elements from the Great Salt Lake. See Utah Code 65A-17-101
- Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
(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.