A federal bankruptcy court in New York has approved a settlement that will help pay for the cleanup of cement kiln dust and contaminated soils at a Superfund site in Salt Lake City.
The settlement assures that New York-based Lone Star Industries Inc. will give cash and securities worth $18.5 million to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Utah.The money will be used to remove 500,000 tons of cement kiln dust and contaminated soils at the old Portland Cement Co. manufacturing site near 1000 South and Redwood Road.
The old cement plant site, which is on the EPA's Superfund list of national cleanup priorities, contains cement kiln dust, which is highly alkaline and contains elevated levels of arsenic and lead. Also present at the site, which was a cement-manufacturing dumping ground from 1965 to 1983, are contaminated soils and chromium-bearing kiln bricks.
Though Lone Star, which owns the site and three other Portland Cement sites in Salt Lake and Davis counties, has been in bankruptcy since December 1990, the EPA and the state Department of Environmental Quality have proceeded with the investigation and design for the cleanup, McCeney said.