After 23 years, Midvale Slag site is clean

Money for clean-up came from a settlement between the former land owners, and Midvale is using money from its Redevelopment Agency to build much-needed infrastructure, like electricity and sewer lines, on the property. Within the year, construction will start on a major road that will cut through the middle of the site.

Brad Johnson, director for the UDEQ Environmental Response and Remediation division, said Utah has had a lot of environmental cleanup projects over the years, but the vision for the project started with the local leaders.

"This is the wave of the future, I think, in the environmental cleanup program, where we'll be looking at properties that have an economic future," he said.

Midvale and property owners Littleson Inc. are hoping developers will scramble to build homes, retail and office space at the 220-acre transit-oriented development. Jordan Bluffs, the other 130-acres south of Bingham Junction on the Sharon Steel grounds, accounts for the rest of the acreage, and that development has already been sold to the Gardner Company.

"Midvale Slag is a model for the future," said Judith Wong, regional administrator for EPA Region 8. "And it's a living example that revitalization is good for the environment, and it's good for the economy."

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E-mail: astowell@desnews.com