FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 10, 2004
Contact:
Dianne Nielson, Natural Resource Damage Trustee, (801) 536-4402
(Salt Lake City, Utah) – Two proposed agreements, totaling approximately $12 million, have been negotiated by the State of Utah and The Ensign-Bickford Company to conduct clean up and to settle the State’s claim for damages to groundwater resulting from activities at the Trojan facility in Spanish Fork, Utah.
The agreements include a $9.375 million fund for pumping and treating the groundwater and a $2.58 million Trust Fund for natural resource damage. The purpose is to “restore, replace, or acquire the equivalent” of the injured groundwater for the benefit of the public in the impacted area. In this case, the injury occurred as a result of release of contaminants to the groundwater from historic waste disposal practices and past operations.
Explosives were manufactured at the site, and some of the contaminants seen in the groundwater are unique to this type of operation. It is not certain when the groundwater contamination began, but it most likely occurred over the operational history of the Trojan plant.
A major change occurred when the State approved a plan to pre-treat wastewater discharged from the plant, reducing the release of contaminants. The Ensign-Bickford Company now pre-treats its wastewater prior to its discharge to the Spanish Fork Publicly Owned Treatment Works (wastewater treatment plant).
Ongoing studies indicate that The Ensign-Bickford Company facility’s current impact to the groundwater is minimal in comparison to historical discharges. No wastewater is currently being disposed of on the plant property.
The impact to the groundwater exists within an area that begins at the northern end of the Trojan site and extends to Mapleton City Well No. 1, west to State Route 147, and east to the Wasatch Fault. The contaminants have entered the regional unconsolidated aquifer. The damage to the natural resource is largely in the deep regional aquifer, the primary source of public drinking water.
Federal and state laws give the Utah Department of Environmental Quality Executive Director, as Trustee, the authority to file a claim when a natural resource of the State is damaged.
The public is invited to review and make comments on the proposed agreements and other related documents during a 45-day public comment period from Aug. 11 through Sept. 24, 2004.
Copies of the proposed agreements and other related documents are available online at http://www.deq.utah.gov/issues/EBCo. Hard copies are available for review during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, at the Mapleton City Offices, 35 E. Maple St., and the Utah Division of Water Quality, 288 N. 1460 West, Salt Lake City.
Public comments can be provided to the Trustee via email at nrdtrustee@utah.gov, by fax at 801-536-0061 or by mail to Utah Department of Environmental Quality, NRD Trustee, PO Box 144810, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4810. Comments must be transmitted or postmarked on or before Sept. 24, 2004.
Public comment will also be taken during an Open House from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004, at the Memorial Building, 80 E. Maple St., Mapleton.
For more information, contact the NRD Trustee at 801-536-4402 or at nrdtrustee@utah.gov.