My question was rhetorical, but thanks for trying to answer it.
One source for the Salt Lake stuff is the New York Times:
Climate change and rapid population growth are shrinking the lake, creating a bowl of toxic dust that could poison the air around Salt Lake City.
www.nytimes.com
But of course it is not hard to find counterarguments in the media. There are plenty of debaters who always like to downplay environmental issues; why should this issue be any different? If we can just solve that traffic problem, the lake will take care of itself I guess.
As for who brings more value to the BigXII:
UConn does. End of story. Utah's football history carries little weight, as does Urban Meyer. Jeez, Urban Meyer? Really?
BigXII's leadership seems to be forward-thinking, at least from everything we are reading. I guess if they choose Utah over UConn then I have misjudged them. But until that happens, I will be optimistic.