Salt Lake City's New Environmentally Sensitive Megasuburb

Kennecott Utah Copper Corp., a multinational mining company, plans a new megasuburb twice the size of San Francisco, for a half-million residents. The development is planned on the largest piece of private-owned land in the U.S.

1 minute read

April 10, 2006, 11:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"The Utah company is a subsidiary of London-based Rio Tinto, a mining multinational and avowed convert to environmentalism, which decided to make a showcase out of its surplus Utah lands instead of just selling them off for cookie-cutter subdivisions.

...Kennecott is helping build a pair of reverse-osmosis filter plants to clean tainted groundwater over the next 40 years, while providing fresh tap water for the southwest part of the Salt Lake valley. It dug other wells 300 feet deep to provide ground-source heating and cooling for a new elementary school and community center and contributed $400,000 to kick-start an environmental study of extending a light-rail line from downtown Salt Lake City to Daybreak.

...At Daybreak, every house will be within a five minute's walk of a park on 37 miles of interconnecting trails, some lined with channel streams. It will be just as easy to walk or bicycle to grocery and other shops and restaurants in the village core. "

Thanks to Ashwani Vasishth

Friday, April 7, 2006 in Environmental News Network

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