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Show Federal Superfund to finance study of Prospector tailings by Christopher Smart Prospector Square's tailings definitely defin-itely will be included on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund list, according to Utah's director of environmental health, Ken Alkema Alkema said EPA officials notified him as early as December 1984 that the tailings in Prospector Square would make the National Priorities List. That list ranks, by priority, sites which qualify for Superfund money that has been set aside by the federal government fur the study and removal of environmental hazards. Alkema said he was surprised the Prospector tailings did not appear on the EPA's February listing. He added that he believes the tailings would be on the June listing. The EPA has indicated that the tailings "absolutely will" be on the Superfund list. However, according to EPA guidelines. guide-lines. Prospector's tailings will appear on the Superfund list as Silver Creek tailings. Alkema noted. He said it is the agency's practice to name environmental hazards by geography rather than by township or development names. The news of the Superfund listing comes as Prospector Square residents resi-dents and businessmen, in conjunction conjunc-tion with the Park City Municipal Corporation, are making plans to landscape the area. The landscaping is aimed at covering Prospector's soils, which contain high levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium and zinc. Dust from area soils have been blamed for relatively high blood-lead levels in four Prospector children. Officials had hoped landscaping would keep Prospector off the Superfund list. But while the landscaping will reduce tailings dust, it will do nothing to prevent the tailings from contaminating underground aquifers, aqui-fers, Alkema said. Some preliminary indications; are that heavy metals are making t.'fieir way into Silver Creek, Alkema :sa.id. He added, however, the exten t of the contamination and whether M is significant is not known. "U'hat we need to do is characterize the geology to see if they (heavy metals) are migrating." Studies; "must be conducted to determinii if any significant contamination contam-ination of g;roundwater is occurring. The only ,a vailable resource to fund such an examination is the Super- fund. Alkema explained that ground water studies of this nature would cost at least $200,000. Superfund was designed to be a "positive" step toward isolating environmental hazards and subsequent subse-quent cleanups, Alkema noted. However, the list now carries a negative connotation and most communities abhor the honor of being named to it. But, Alkema explained, "the only thing that will keep it (Prospector's tailingsl off ttie list is the study that Superfund dollars will fund." When Prospector's tailings are added to Superfund, the site will be among 700 nationwide to be listed on a priority basis for funding. But the fact that Silver Creek is listed is no guarantee that funding will be set aside to remove the tailings. Alkema explained that where on the list Silver Creek appears will determine the amount of funding forthcoming. The EPA categorizes potential environmental hazards by two sets of criteria. The first is the concentration of toxins and their ability to enter air or water. The second is the potential impact of those toxins on a given population once they find their way into the water or air. Alkema noted that an environmental environ-mental hazard could have a low priority if it was not located near a population center. Conversely, he said, a low-level hazard could get a relatively high rating on the National Priority List if it occurred in a highly populated area. The special improvement district to fund Prospector landscaping could be formed by mid-April, according to Assistant Park City Attorney Craig Smith. A public hearing on the formation of the district will be held April 4 at 5 p.m. in the Marsac Municipal Building. The special improvement district would issue about $1.3 million in bonds, Smith said. Of that sum, $800,000 would be set aside to cover Prospector's residential area with six inches of topsoil. The area would then be seeded. The formation of the district would cost residents 27 cents for each square foot of unlandscaped property. That would be equivalent to $2,700 for the owner of an empty 10,000 square foot lot, Smith said. The remaining $500,000 will go to improvements in Prospector's commercial district. Landowners there will be required to pay $2.14 for each square foot unless a majority of landowners object to the formation of the special improvement improve-ment district. |