The Salt Lake County Council is looking to hire an independent consultant

Tag : copper sludge
The Salt Lake County Council created the tailings committee inspring after news stories revealed Kennecott, in the late 1980s,concealed warnings that the company's waste impoundment could failin a major temblor and send a muddy slurry into Magna's GreenMeadows Estates subdivision.
With a $250,000 Kennecott donation, the committee is looking tohire an independent consultant to study the pile's stability.
But can the Magna-dominated committee hold true to its safety roleif it is concerned about the community's image as well? What if theprobe turns up hazards that could, say, lower property values anddamage the township's reputation?
"This is one of the reasons why I was pushing for a committee thatwas broader in reach than just the people of Magna," said Salt LakeCounty Councilman Joe Hatch. Even so, Hatch doubts the committeewill stray from its original objective.
It won't, committee member Laura Jo McDermaid said Friday. Thecommittee's intention is "just to get the facts."
But she, too, pointed to the importance of improving perceptionsabout Magna.
"Our image is very, very, very important because of what we aretrying to do economically out here and build this, not only MainStreet, but the whole community," McDermaid told colleagues at lastmonth's meeting. ". . . I certainly don't want to see anything comealong that would take away from that."
County Councilman Michael Jensen, a committee co-chairman and Magnaresident, said the tailings panel will not be "sugarcoating" or"downplaying" the investigation of Kennecott's tailings.
The panel simply provides a platform - separate from its tailingsinvestigation - to dispel misconceptions about Magna.
"Our purpose is to make sure the residents of Magna are safe,period," he said. "That is the core reason the committee is inplace. . . . If there is anything in conflict with that, theconflict piece goes away."
That message was echoed by Horiuchi, who said Friday that safetyremains the committee's foremost objective. But once theinvestigation is complete, he said the panel must restore the imageof Magna by either broadcasting the news that the tailings pile isstable or by holding Kennecott's "feet to the fire" if it is not.
As for Uzelac, she would like to see the P.R. element go away - now- and focus only on safety. "I don't think we're a beautifyingcommittee."
jstettler@sltrib.com


Mission statement:

To assure safety and protection of the Magna community, the SaltLake County Council has formed the Kennecott Tailings ImpoundmentCommittee to develop, commission and report an analysis of theseismic stability of the south and east sides (from 1700 South to9400 West) of the Kennecott Utah Copper Cos.' south tailingsimpoundment.
The committee will exercise general control and supervision overthe project and consultants hired to perform the analysis.
The committee and consultants are independent and will demonstrateimpartiality in reaching the committee's final investigativeconclusions.
The committee is further charged with creating the scope of workand criteria for a request for proposal from qualified firms toperform the study of the impoundment, selecting a firm to performthe study, and to inform the community of the findings.
Source: Kennecott Tailings Committee
The Kennecott Tailings Committee is expected to launch a Web sitesometime next week to
track the group's progress and provide information about thestability of the mine-tailings
impoundment. The Web site will be available at:magnatailingsstudy@slco.org

* Engineers warn then-Kennecott President Frank Joklik in 1988 thatthe corner of a huge mine-tailings pond could fail in a majorearthquake, sending soupy sludge into Magna. *Joklik orders acover-up to avert ''panic and [law]suits;" the company startsbuying homes in the subdivision, leaving them empty. Stateregulators agree to keep reports under wraps. *In 1989, Kennecottstarts a 30-year, $550 million project to stabilize the old pondand build a new one.
*Ray D. Gardner, Kennecott's chief legal officer in 1997, says thefirm had a "legal and moral" duty to inform the public.
*This spring, Kennecott President Andrew Harding, new to the job,doesn't try to explain past actions but apologizes ''for thehistory.''
*Kennecott delivers a $250,000 check in April to fund anengineering review of the tailings pile, and S.L. County names apanel in May to oversee the inquiry.
Source: Tribune archives