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Show Superfund chief Iheairs concerns about Prospector So y aire listing v ;;7 to? a X 'i Vvp' - '! " , 1 ' ' 'l J " ' '";V I ( ' y vilVv I ' j . Amid a blaze of television lights, Park City officials held what city manager Arlene Lbble called an -"unprecedented" meeting with the " national director of the Superfund program in Washington D.C. Mon-.. Mon-.. day. In a telephone interview from the . nation's capitol Tuesday, Loble said it is "unprecedented" that national Superfund Director Henry Longest personally would listen to Park City's comments concerning the naming of Prospector to the updated list. However, - Loble said she was disappointed that Longest would not say when a decision would be made, one way or the other, on Prospector. Thirty-eight sites now are being considered con-sidered on the update to the Super-fund Super-fund National Priorities List. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to make a decision on all 38 before it will release the findings on Prospector. The National Priorities List ranks 860 sites nationally for Superfund money. Monday was the final day of a 60-day comment period required before the proposed listings can be made official. ' Park City's attempts to be removed remov-ed from the funding list seemed confusing con-fusing to Longest, Loble said, , "It never occurred to them that so- meone would want ta Jake care of it "themselves ,' ; , It boggled their minds." The meeting in Rep. Howard Nielson's office was held before cameras from all three Utah net-, work television stations as well as radio and print journalists publicity publici-ty coordinated by Nielson. "It never occurred to them that someone v would want to , take care of it themselves..." I Loble said Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch was instrumental in getting Longest to meet With Park City officials. Loble Lo-ble was accompanied to the nation's capital by city attorney Tom Clyde, . assistant city attorney Craig Smith and chief building official Ron Ivie. Pressured by Loble, Nielson, and Utah Department of Health Director . Dr. Suzanne Dandoy, Longest pledged pledg-ed to let state and city officials know when the decision would be made, Loble said. Prospector Square and its residential residen-tial neighbor, Prospector Park, ; were named to the proposed Super-fund Super-fund list last January following preliminary testing by state health department officials. Those tests were made following an analysis of area soils by the Utah Geological and Mineral Survey, which showed high levels of arsenic, cadmium and lead in Prospector. The area was built upon a tailings pond from mining activities here dating back to the late 1800s. But Park City officials have fought th0 Superfund listing, saying the data used to qualify the area for federal money was in error. Loble ' said the listing casts a stigma on the community and that the EPA has demonstrated that it has no solutions for-cleaning up mine tailings like Prospector. In a 60-page document that Loble presented to Longest, the city cites new test data and accompanying analysis using federal criteria that show Prospector should not be made eligible for Superfund money to study potential environmental hazards. Further, Loble said she doesn't believe EPA has any answers or solutions for Prospector or similar mining waste sites. "The big point is that EPA has done nothing (to remove contaminants con-taminants from Superfund sites) ." ; l "hat the city does , want from EPA, said Loble, is the technical ex-: ex-: pertise it can lend to help alleviate any identified hazard. But, she said that to her knowledge the agency has developed no standards that indicate in-dicate when a hazard has been removed or otherwise neutralized. "We want to know, what does 'right' look like? But the federal experts ex-perts don't know what right looks like," Loble said, referring to the EPA's standards for levels of hazardous hazar-dous materials. . To date, Prospector businesses and residents have spent more than $1.3 million to cover the tailings. That action is intended to eliminate a potential hazard from windblown dust, which could contain heavy metals. In addition, the municipality has recently completed streambed work on Silver Creek, which runs through the area, to ensure that tailings tail-ings are not making their way into the water. . While the EPA considers the Prospector Pro-spector decision, Park City is left in limbo, said Loble. The lack of a decision deci-sion from EPA will continue to affect af-fect real estate prices in the area and tarnish Park City's image as a resort, she argued. The city also continues to be concerned con-cerned about the search for what EPA calls "potential responsible parties," Loble told Longest. Agencies, Agen-cies, businesses or individual pro- Park City Manager Arlene Loble submitted a 60-page brief protesting Superfund listing. perty owners who are found accountable accoun-table by EPA could have to pay for any environmental study and subsequent subse-quent cleanup of identified hazards. Loble said that as "operator of the facility," the municipality could end up paying for the EPA program in this area. She said she has learned that the agency has set aside about $800,000 for the study of Prospector. I"" '."' '""' 1 |