DON'T SELL • Paula
Schmittdiel, EPA project manager and Steven Moores,
Attorney for EPA region 8 talk with commissioners
on Eureka properties that may be sold for taxes.
By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
The EPA Eureka Mill project is not yet finished and if
Juab County were to offer certain properties on an up-coming
tax sale, the clean-up might be jeopardized.
Paula Schmittdiel, Remedial Project Manager with U.S. EPA
Region 8 (EPR-SR), told commissioner that the primary owner
of Chief Consolidated property had worked out an agreement
with the EPA to allow use of property for the Superfund
project and to sell some holdings to pay into an EPA
clean-up fund.
That money would also go to pay back taxes on properties
which would go for taxes if not paid.
"Chief may be able to satisfy tax and other liens if
properties sold for fair market value or closer to fair
market value," she said.
Chief also has properties in Utah County which may also
be up for sale soon. However, Juab County Commissioners were
told, those properties are much less critical to the cleanup
than the ones in Juab County.
On-going exposures to lead contaminated soils will
continue until the cleanup is completed, she said, and EPA
hopes to minimize the duration of this exposure as much as
possible.
"Today we have identified 50 kids with elevated levels of
lead and arsenic," said Schmittdiel. "It does represent a
significant health risk."
Shirl Nichols, county assessor, said that the state does
have the county in a difficult spot. If the property, by
state law, is not collected within the five-year period, the
county is not allowed to collect any over that time
period.
Laura Lockhart, Attorney with the Office of the Utah
Attorney General, said she would look into the law for the
county and would report back to them.
Her understanding of the law was that there was some sort
of tolling agreement possible in cases such as this one.
"What you need to hear from us is that we want to work
with you and we want you to complete your work," said Neil
Cook, commission chairman.
The Eureka Mills site is located about 70 miles south of
Salt Lake City in Juab County, Utah. The Eureka Valley was
known as the Main Tintic District and was heavily mined from
the 1880's to the 1950's.
Schmittdiel said that man, using the contaminated soil
for fill through generations, had been a large contributing
factor to the problem.
It was due to the high levels of lead and arsenic found
through soil and indoor sampling, the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the Eureka Mills site for
its National Priorities List (NPL) in June 2001.
Preliminary sampling conducted in July 2000 by the Utah
Department of Environmental Quality (UDEQ) and EPA found
high levels of lead and arsenic in area soils. The State and
EPA did more sampling on over 500 residential lots, as well
as indoor sampling at over 50 homes.
"One thing Chief has is a lot of land," said Steve
Moores, a Denver Office Attorney with EPA.
Attending the meeting with Schmittdiel, Lockhart and
Moores were , Jude Hobza, U.S. Navy Corps of Engineers, and
others.
Moore said that Chief was not paying for the clean-up but
was allowing the use of the land. The EPA is now using land
belonging to Chief Consolidated Mining as a dump site for
the contaminated soil and will allow that use at a
specially-constructed depository in the future.
They are also allowing the use of uncontaminated
materials from the property to be used and have agreed to
sell certain other pieces of property to earn funds to help
with the clean-up of Superfund sites as that money goes into
a special fund.
"If you sold the property now, it would take a long time
for us to gain the needed access," said Schmittdiel. "That
may slow the process. We would like you to defer the sale of
the properties that we are actually using."
She said that, if the properties being used were sold,
all cleanup would stop until the EPA negotiates access
agreements with the new owners.
"A Superfund site is like an ocean liner, it can take
forever to start up, but unlike an ocean liner, it can come
to a stop very quickly," said Schmittdiel.
The costs of the cleanup, including states costs, will
increase with those delays.
"The EPA requires a 10 percent match from the state,"
said Schmittdiel.
"Eureka will remain on the Superfund NPL until all
cleanup is completed," she said."Eureka could have more
economic draw since they have plenty of water."
The Eureka Mills site is located in the Tintic mining
district where silver mills processed silver-bearing ore
from the Eureka Hill Mine, Bullion Beck Mine, Gemini Mine,
and the Centennial Eureka Mine. The area on and near to the
mill sites includes the residential area of Eureka.
"The tax considerations need to be part of any plan
involving Consolidated," said Nichols.
"We need some agreement with Chief Consolidated that they
will hold the county harmless and will allow those back
taxes to be paid," said Robert Steele, commissioner.
It was agreed that a list of the properties actually
coming up for sale would be given the EPA
representatives
In addition, the owner of the mining property will be
contacted and a meeting arranged with all those present to
be at that future meeting.
"We need Mr. Shriver to come to a meeting with us and sit
down and talk about the issues and possible solutions," said
Jared Eldridge, county attorney.
By state statute, the property must be advertised for
sale in May or June, said Pat Ingram, county
clerk/auditor.
That gives some time for a solution to be worked out but
not a great deal of time.
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