Basic questions hover over toxic tanker leak

"That's one of the things we're looking into," Smith said. "We made the broker and Kennecott aware of what we intended to load into that tank."

Loading was done over three days, with samples taken during the process, she said.

"It was watched very carefully. . . . The tank was loaded three times with mixed acid wastes, and it was fine," she said.

Smith said PSC wants to find out if the tank failure was because of mechanical or waste reasons. Other tankers are shipped with similar waste streams, she said. "Why did this tank fail when similar tanks which have carried other mixed acid wastes did not fail?" she asked.

PSC investigators are looking at the situation in Nevada, where the tank was filled, and in Utah, she said.

The company is pleased no one was injured and that the waste was secured and will be properly disposed of, she said.

PSC also is trying to find out how the tanker ended up in a rail yard in Utah instead of its intended destination in Ohio.

Officials from South Salt Lake, the Utah Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency met for more than an hour Tuesday in South Salt Lake to develop a blueprint of how to handle the investigation. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Transportation were not able to attend Tuesday's meeting, but Foote said he planned to contact them soon.

He wants to talk with PSC about the manifest and the lab results.

"We want to say, 'Here's what our test results reveal, help us understand why it doesn't match the manifest,' " he said.

Foote said officials have spoken with Kennecott and Union Pacific Railroad and both have been cooperative and specific in explaining their procedures.

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Contributing: Lee Davidson

E-mail: bau@desnews.com; preavy@desnews.com