photography / Troy Boman Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation’s Smelter and Refinery, just miles from Tooele County, ranks as the second-largest polluter according to EPA data from 2006, with toxic releases of more than 17 million pounds. That number, however, is down almost half from the more than 30 million pounds reported in 2005.

by Sarah Miley

STAFF WRITER

Tooele County ranks as the second-highest county in Utah for toxic releases, with three of the top six polluters in the state calling the county home, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s annual Toxics Release Inventory report.

However, pollution from those three companies combined in 2006 was less than half of what it was in 2005.

EnergySolutions, US Magnesium and Clean Harbors Grassy Mountain facility — which respectively ranked fourth, fifth and sixth in the state for toxic releases — released a combined 12.4 million pounds of toxic substances into air, water and land. That total includes waste stored in landfills.

In contrast, in 2005 those same three companies generated nearly 30 million pounds of toxic releases.

Over the past eight years, combined toxic emissions released from Tooele County companies have generally followed a downward trend. EPA data shows those companies, and the two Kennecott facilities near the county line, comprised 86 percent of Utah’s toxic releases in 2006.

The No. 1 polluter in the state in 2006 — the most recent year for which data is available — was Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation’s mine concentrators and power plant at the south end of the Salt Lake Valley. That facility just over the Oquirrh Mountains had toxic releases totaling more than 102 million pounds.

Kennecott has held the top spot on the statewide toxic release list since 1998.

Kennecott’s Smelter and Refinery, just around the corner from Tooele County, was ranked No. 2 in Utah for toxic releases. However, the amount of toxins released in 2006 — more than 17 million pounds — was much less than the more than 30 million pounds released by the operation in 2005.

Kyle Bennett, communications and media relations specialist with Rio Tinto, Kennecott’s parent company, said the reduction from 2005 to 2006 is primarily due to the concentration of the material placed in the tailings impoundment that comes from the smelter refinery.

“A difference in concentration of a few parts per million [of trace metals found in dirt and rock] with large amounts of mass moved to the impoundment results in changes of millions of pounds,” he said.

The Kennecott Smelter is one of the cleanest in the world, Bennett said, and captures 99.9 percent of the natural sulfur contained in copper concentrates.

“People see we’re large contributors in terms of the Toxic Releases Inventory, but they don’t understand that many of these releases are naturally occurring and it’s just the sheer amount of rock that we’re moving.”

Seventy-seven percent of the state’s total toxic releases are comprised by Kennecott, including its smelter and refinery, and mine concentrators and power plants.

The more than 5 million pounds of toxic releases reported by EnergySolutions in 2006 are drastically less than the more than 23 million pounds reported in 2005.

None of EnergySolutions’ toxic releases went into the air, water or land. Instead, pollution ascribed to the company comes in the form of nuclear waste accepted for storage at the company’s Clive facility.

US Magnesium’s toxic releases went up slightly from 4.1 million pounds in 2005 to 4.4 million pounds in 2006. Nearly all of the toxic emissions released went into the air.

Tom Tripp, technical services manager at US Magnesium, said he believes the increase from 2005 to 2006 is proportional to increased production.

“2005 was a little overproduction year,” he said. “We may have had a little bit of chlorine plant down time.”

The company continues to capture about 99 percent of chlorine admissions, according to Tripp. This is mostly due to improved technology installed in 2001 and from additional chlorine scrubbers that were installed in 2003. Prior to these improvements, from 1996 to 2000, the company emitted toxic releases ranging from 43 million pounds to 65 million pounds.

Clean Harbors Grassy Mountain facility took the sixth spot in terms of releases in 2006 with 2.9 million pounds, up from 2.2 million pounds in 2005. Although the company emits a relatively small amount of air pollution, most of its releases — like EnergySolutions — come in the form of hazardous waste accepted for storage and disposal.

Clean Harbors Aragonite facility released 1.5 million pounds of toxins in 2006, up from 1.2 million pounds in 2005.

Mark Clemens, manager of the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the substantial decrease in releases from 2005 to 2006 in Tooele County companies is welcome news.

“Going from 30 million pounds to 12 million pounds is certainly going in the right direction,” he said. “We also need to look at trends, and with some facilities in Tooele County, such as US Magnesium, the long-term trend has been downward. That’s an excellent thing.”

Despite the downward trend, Tooele County ranks as the No. 2 county in Utah — Salt Lake County is No. 1 — for total on- and off-site disposal or releases for all chemicals. And the county ranks No. 1 for total on-and off-site disposal or releases of “persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals” (PBTs). Tooele County had 3.5 million pounds of PBTs, followed by Salt Lake County at 3.4 million pounds.

PBTs are especially concerning not only because of their toxicity, but because they remain in the environment for long periods of time, are not easily destroyed, and build up or accumulate in body tissue, according to the EPA. Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds — byproducts of industrial processes — are included in PBTs.

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