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Show Private tests show Prospector Square should not be on the Superfund list by CHRISTOPHER SMART Record staff writer A private environmental con--. suiting firm, using federal criteria and updated figures to rescore the Prospector Square area, says the development should not be included on the federal Superfund list, sources say. The Denver laboratories of Dames and Moore did the analysis, using results of recent city-state surface water studies and correcting what the city maintained were errors in the Environmental Protection Agency's groundwater analysis. Dames and Moore, hired by the city, ci-ty, recently made the preliminary findings known to the municipality, saying that under a worst-case scenario, Prospector Square scored well under the threshold for federal Superfund qualification, according to a source close to the study who requested re-quested anonymity. That report is being reviewed by the Utah Department of Health before the results are made public. Park City is challenging the information infor-mation gathered by the state health department and the EPA's analysis of data gathered by the Utah Geological and Mineral Survey, which resulted in Prospector's inclusion inclu-sion on the proposed updated Super-fund Super-fund list. That listing could become pfficial pending a 60-day comment period ending Nov. 18. The new Dames and Moore scoring scor-ing will become part of the city's comments o EPA. City officials hope to have Prospector removed from the Superfund list. Prospector Square and its residential residen-tial development, Prospector Park, were built upon a tailings site dating back to the late 1800s. The tailings contain high levels of lead, cadmium and other metals, including silver. Health officials were concerned about possible hazards from air borne dust and whether the heavy metals could migrate into the area's culinary water supply. The Record has learned Dames and Moore analyst John Hopkins determined the potential danger in the Prospector development was not high enough for the area to be listed on the EPA's Superfund list for environmental en-vironmental hazard study and possible possi-ble cleanup. Using the EPA's Hazard Ranking System, Hopkins found the area fell short of the minimum score required to be included on the National Priorities List, which makes some 860 sites nationally eligible for Superfund money for study of potential poten-tial environmental hazard and subsequent cleanup. The Hazard Ranking System used to qualify potential environmental hazards for Superfund uses three sets of criteria for scoring: air pollution; pollu-tion; surface water contamination; and potential groundwater con tamination. The state health department did not conduct a high-volume air study to measure airborne dust and Prospector Pro-spector received a score of zero in that column. A site needs a score of 28.5 on the complex ranking system to become eligible for Superund money. Prospector scored 38.4 based on a surface water sample taken from Silver Creek in December and a mathematical Hazard Ranking Model that determines potential groundwater pollution based on a number of factors, including how close contaminants are to water sources and how many people could be affected by a contamination. The new score, as evaluated by Dames and Moore, was based on a best-case and worst-case scenario. It shows Prospector falls short of the Prospector to A16 (Continued from Smith said he believes the information informa-tion the EPA used in building the Hazard Ranking Model to determine potential groundwater contamination contamina-tion also is in error. Smith explained that, in building the ranking model, EPA used the Pacific Bridge Well as a water source that fed 10,000 people. He said the well has not been used as a city water source for three years. Park City's full-time population is about 3,500. The full-time Prospector population is fewer than 1,000, according accor-ding to estimates. According to Park City's chief building official, Ron Ivie, at least 100 groundwater samples from 13 area wells have shown no contamination con-tamination by heavy metals. Prospector from A1 28.5 cuiotf point in either case. In the best case, the anonymous source said the score is fewer than 10 points. Using a worst-case analysis, the Hazard Ranking Score was in the low 20s, the source said. A new surface water study of Silver Creek above and below Prospector Pro-spector Square indicates earlier test results were in error, according to city officials. Dames and Moore used us-ed the updated data in determining the new score. The new surface water tests indicated tailings were not discharging into Silver Creek. The initial sampling was taken when the creek was frozen. Analysis of that sample indicated tailings were discharging into Silver Creek. Assistant city attorney Craig |