MURRAY -- Three members of the City Council want Sen. Orrin Hatch to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to come up with a safer demolition plan for Murray's landmark smokestacks.
Councilmen John Christensen, John Rush and Ren Sousa recently wrote a letter to Hatch, expressing their concerns about the asbestos coating the 455-foot north stack. They want the asbestos removed before the stacks are toppled; EPA says it's too dangerous.The Murray smokestacks, located at about 5300 S. State, are being demolished to make way for the proposed $100 million Chimney Ridge commercial development. The developers -- the Boyer Co. and Johansen-Thackeray & Co. and former owner Hi-Ute Buehner -- want to implode the north stack and 300-foot south stack. The EPA is reviewing that plan. If approved, demolition could be done by mid-May.
EPA officials, however, say the tall stack is so unstable any attempt to remove asbestos would crumble it under its own dead weight and present an unacceptable life safety risk.
But Christensen doesn't buy that.
He and others point to another engineering report conducted by Kenneth Kendall of Pullman Power Products, who has physically been up and down the stacks. In his report to Murray officials in May 1998, he said the north stack was secure enough to remove the asbestos.
"EPA overlooked the Pullman report altogether," Christensen said.
Christensen and other council members say a safer demolition plan would be dismantling the stacks brick by brick. Demolition by hand, however, would take days. Demolition by implosion would take seconds.
"It is our feeling that the chimneys should first be cleaned of asbestos on the outside of the north stack and the inner dust layer be removed before the stacks are imploded," the council's letter states. "The other option would be to mechanically disassemble the chimneys (for example, using hand methods), which could be done without removing the asbestos or the liner dust. This option is much safer for the community and the environment and minimizes the questionable and unpredictable events that could take place with the explosion/implosion method."
Council members asked that EPA re-evaluate the demolition plan, taking into account Pullman Power Products' report.
You can reach Donna M. Kemp by e-mail at donna@desnews.com