LAYTON — Utah Sen. Bob Bennett may intervene in the long-standing feud between Davis County's municipal garbage incinerator and the Environmental Protection Agency.
"We have met with Senator Bennett's office to see if he can assist with scheduling a meeting with you to talk about the issues involved," reads a letter the EPA received Monday from an attorney for Wasatch Energy Systems, the special service district that operates the Layton incinerator. "His staff indicated that you will be contacted soon to arrange a meeting and that I should tell you Senator Bennett would like to be in attendance."
Bennett's press secretary, Mary Jane Collipriest, said the senator often feels a need to serve as liaison between state and federal agencies.
"If a request from him will help these Utahns meet with the EPA and solve this issue, then he will do it," she said.
With Bennett on board, burn-plant officials may gain an upper hand in the continuing battle with the EPA over garbage incineration and its environmental effects.
Burning garbage creates certain pollutants — most notably dioxin, which has been known to cause cancer in animals. The EPA has taken umbrage with the plant's dioxin emissions, which have gone largely uncontrolled.
"As you know, (Wasatch Energy Systems) has had numerous exceedances of the dioxin/furan limit in its approval order," EPA assistant regional administrator Carol Rushin stated in a letter to the burn plant dated Nov. 15. "EPA is concerned with these past exceedances as they indicate that (Wasatch Energy Systems) has not been and may continue not to be in continuous compliance with its current dioxin/furan emission limit."
In the letter, Rushin reiterated an earlier request that the incinerator conduct dioxin-emissions tests every five weeks. Currently, the state Division of Air Quality mandates the plant conduct a single annual test.
Additionally, the EPA wants incinerator employees to monitor what type of garbage is burned during the tests. The federal agency hopes to compare the type of garbage to the amount of emitted dioxin to determine what waste produces the most pollutant.
While it seems logical, burn plant attorney Larry Jenkins says the EPA's testing request is functionally impossible since it is difficult to know what trash is being burned when, and what emissions are coming from what garbage. Additionally, each test could cost upwards of $50,000 for the plant, which handles solid waste disposal for 15 cities in Davis and Morgan counties.
"(The request) appears to us to be nothing more than a research project that is based on outdated theories and that will cost hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars with little hope of obtaining any information different than what already exists," Jenkins wrote the EPA.
Still, Jenkins said the incinerator is prepared to meet an EPA order if one is issued and incinerator officials have tentatively scheduled a testing team for the weeks of Jan. 15, March 5 and April 23.
"Our position has been, 'Let's sit down and talk about it,' " Jenkins said. "So far they've rejected any idea of talking."
Wendy Silver, EPA enforcement attorney, said her agency will quickly respond to Jenkins' letter.
"We were encouraged by their letter," Silver said. "We probably have several options, but we are hoping to work this out together."
E-MAIL: bsnyder@desnews.com