Federal and state environmental officials have decided that contaminated soil and bricks from the Lonestar site in Salt Lake City should be treated on-site to make the materials non-hazardous, then disposed of in an off-site landfill.
Design work will begin this spring on a $6.4 million project to clean up one of the two Superfund sites for which decisions were made on March 31, according to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.DEQ spokeswoman Renette Anderson said the department and the Environmental Protection Agency signed the decision on Sites 2 and 3 at the property, formerly called Portland Cement, which is near 1000 South and Redwood Road.
Originally, the state and EPA proposed a cleanup plan that would have on-site disposal. But after public comments, they changed their minds and decided to dispose of the materials away from the site.
This is one of three adjacent problem areas at the site. Within the 71 acres of the old Portland Cement site, hazardous waste cement kiln dust is in pockets at times up to seven feet thick.
The plan for Operable Unit 2 would have contaminated soil and chrome-contaminated bricks excavated and treated on-site with a process that is supposed to render them non-hazardous.
"The treated materials will then be disposed at an approved landfill. A clean backfill soil cover will be installed over the site," Anderson said.