US Magnesium and federal environmental officials have rolled up their sleeves to begin planning a toxic waste cleanup at the company's Tooele County plant.

Thanks to an agreement signed last month between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the magnesium-processing plant, officials have begun to organize a group of community advisers and to zero in on how to tackle the cleanup.

"This is important," said the EPA's Jennifer Chergo, "because we have enough information to indicate there is significant environmental contamination at this location."

For about two years, the agency and the company have been wrangling over the EPA's decision that the 4,525-acre plant site needs to be cleaned up to protect the environment and workers. The site was added to the EPA's National Priority list of toxic sites in 2009 over the company's objections.

The contaminants that concern environmental regulators include dioxins, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), polychlorinated biphenyls and metals that have been linked to cancer or other dangerous health effects. Workers tested in 2002 and 2004 had elevated levels of HCB and dioxin, according to the EPA.

The plant has been harvesting magnesium chloride from the Great Salt Lake since 1972, and environmental officials have been concerned about toxic releases at the site for at least 15 years. Located on the lake's southwestern edge, the plant is 40 miles from Salt Lake City and 33 miles from Grantsville, so the main concern is not the general public but workers at the site and the soil and water surrounding the plant itself.

Both EPA and the company have a vested interest in keeping the magnesium company online during the cleanup: money. US Magnesium is obligated to pay for the work, while EPA oversees what is expected to be a multi-million-dollar effort.

Tom Tripp, the company's technical services manager, said continuing operations at the plant is important not only because of the more than 480 people who work there but also because the plant remains the nation's only domestic source of magnesium metal and alloy, a metal strengthener important to national security.

"Obviously, one of our jobs during the cleanup is to keep our business going," he said, "to keep our people employed."

The company, which used to top the nation's list of worst air polluters, has invested tens of millions of dollars over the past decade to update the plant and reduce pollution. Now US Magnesium cannot be found on the top-100 list of polluters.

The EPA's Chergo said there are three basic steps to the cleanup: deciding what's important to clean up, figuring out how to get the work done and actually doing the cleanup.

Meetings are planned in the next few months, she said, to develop "a comprehensive environmental investigation of the site to determine the nature and extent of the contamination." In addition, meetings began last week to identify community leaders — including workers, elected officials, health officials and environmental advocates — who will help shape the cleanup.

"We never assume the issue or [the public's] concerns before we talk to the people most impacted by the cleanup," said Dave Allison, who's working on the project with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.

Meanwhile, US Magnesium, the EPA, DEQ and contractors are expected to begin meeting this fall to inventory the testing that already has been done and what additional tests are needed to understand the extent of the contamination.

Chergo noted that it is too soon to predict when the cleanup might be done. "We can't say until we conduct this remedial investigation and we know what to do."

fahys@sltrib.com —

How to get involved

P To learn about the community advisory group and the future of the US Magnesium cleanup, contact the EPA's Jennifer Chergo. Her phone number is 303-312-6601, or you can call toll-free 1-800-227-8917. Her email address is Chergo.Jennifer@epamail.epa.gov.

An online fact sheet is available at › www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/ut/usmagnesium/ —

From the U.S. EPA's Superfund listing

Environmental investigations indicate high levels of environmental contamination at this site. Contaminants consist of: metals, including arsenic, chromium, mercury, copper and zinc; acidic waste water; chlorinated organics; polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); dioxins/furans, hexachlorobenzene (HCB); and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These wastes are being released into the environment and are largely uncontrolled.