Another city torn by controversy in recent months is East Carbon, in Carbon County. More than a year ago, town officials embraced a plan to build a waste dump on the edge of town. A private company planned to store low-level hazardous wastes at the site.
But opposition to the waste site split the town, with Mayor L. Paul Clark, a supporter of the dump, running against Ben McMahon, a leader of the opposition to the dump site. Clark won 299 to 204."Basically, the landfill was the only issue in the campaign," Clark said. "I have announced publicly that the landfill is properly permitted and those leading the company, from all I can tell, are honorable people who will live by the permit and we won't have any trouble."
Groundbreaking for the plant, which has contracts to store wastes from northern Utah, is imminent.