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The Executive Secretary of the Utah Water Quality Board and the Natural Resources Trustee for Utah have reached final agreement on two settlements with The Ensign-Bickford Company (EBCo) regarding cleanup of groundwater contamination in the Mapleton, Utah area. The settlement was finalized January 30, 2007.
Two agreements, totaling just under $12 million, were presented for public comment in August/September 2004. Negotiated by the State of Utah and The Ensign-Bickford Company (EBCo), the proposals addressed clean up and settlement of the State’s claim for damages to groundwater resulting from activities at the Trojan facility in Spanish Fork. After public comments were considered, formal responses were prepared.
The Executive Secretary and the Trustee chose to delay signing final agreements in 2004 and attempt to facilitate further resolution of concerns. While the agreements remained in draft, EBCo continued the groundwater aquifer treatment program and site cleanup at the Trojan Facility. Based on this work and discussions with EBCo and the City of Mapleton, and in consideration of the earlier public comments, the Addendum 
and Consent Agreement have been modified. The orginal Consent Order with the Divison of Water Quality was signed on August 02, 1991.
The agreements include $9.375 million in financial assurance for pumping and treating the groundwater and a $2.58 million trust fund for natural resource damage. The trust fund will be used to “restore, replace, or acquire the equivalent” of the lost water for the benefit of the in the impacted area .
Two modifications have been made to the agreements as originally proposed. First, the financial assurance provision for the $9.375 million has been changed from a corporate guarantee to an irrevocable letter of credit for the entire amount. Second, the provision requiring a three-year period for use of the $2.58 million trust fund only for projects jointly proposed by a purveyor of municipal water and EBCo has been eliminated.
Federal and state laws give the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Executive Director, as Trustee, the authority to file a claim when a natural resource of the State is damaged. In this case, the injury to groundwater occurred as a result of release of contaminants to groundwater from years of waste disposal practices and from pond seepage and failures in the late 1980s at the site. State law also gives authority to the Utah Water Quality Board to require corrective action for contamination of waters of the State, to include groundwater.
A fact sheet summarizing provisions of the agreement has been mailed to all known, interested parties. The agreements and Corrective Action Plan can be viewed online:
Corrective Action Plan (Narrative and Selected Maps)
Hard copies of these documents can also be reviewed, Monday through Friday during business hours, at the following locations:
Mapleton City Offices
125 West 400 North, Mapleton
Contact: Camille Brown, (801) 806-9106
Utah Division of Water Quality
288 N. 1460 West, Salt Lake City
Contact: Jeff Studenka, (801) 538-6779
For more information on this, e-mail the Trustee or the Project Contact.
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