More than 1,000 truckloads of dirt polluted with arsenic, lead, chromium, cadmium and molybdenum were recently hauled away from two 15-acre sites near the Great Salt Lake. Both locations - at 9300 W. 600 North and 2500 W. Center in North Salt Lake - had become contaminated with waste from the Portland Cement kiln in downtown Salt Lake City that had been used as fill material.
Now clean, graded and seeded, the sites were "orphaned" and dealt with years after the cleanup of a much bigger, dirtier Portland Cement waste site at 1000 Redwood Road. That 71-acre site, an area that contained 724,000 tons of contaminated dirt and was located much closer to homes and industry, was the subject of a $32 million, five-year federal Superfund cleanup that ended in 1998.
"It was very satisfying work for me," said Bob O'Brien, the state's project manager on both cleanups, who said the project had many ups and downs over the years.
The state Division of Environmental Response and Remediation plans to monitor groundwater at the two sites over about six months. But O'Brien does not expect to find groundwater contamination at the smaller sites, as the state did at the large one on Redwood Road.
The heavy metals addressed by the cleanup are all considered harmful to human health and the environment.
Arsenic and lead top the federal list of hazard priorities. Exposure to too much arsenic increases a risk of lung cancer and may cause skin, circulatory and nervous system disorders, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an arm of the federal Centers for Disease Control. Lead in excessive amounts attacks the nervous system and may cause brain and kidney damage and even death.
The cement kilns relied on all kinds of fuel, including waste solvents, shredded tires and other materials that may have contained worrisome chemicals. The contaminated dust was left over after the fuel was burned.
"They [federal environmental authorities] were not regulating it at that time," said O'Brien.
He said property owners evidently welcomed the kiln dust as fill, and it wasn't until federal law recognized the hazards posed by heavy metals that the acreage was targeted for cleanup.
The state had wanted to tackle the two smaller sites while undertaking the Redwood Road cleanup, but there was no money for it. A 1995 bankruptcy settlement with Lone Star Industries made money available to address the orphans.
The recent cleanups cost about $3.3 million - just over one-third the expense originally projected for the cleanup. The work took nine months.
fahys@sltrib.com
