Funded by a tax on petrochemicals, Superfund — more accurately the National Priority List — has been the primary weapon in the battle to clean up an industrial legacy that, prior to the passage of environmental laws in the early 1970s, resulted in dangerously polluted air, water and land.

But state officials say Superfund is a dinosaur whose time has passed. The tax that funded the Superfund program was repealed three years ago, and now the EPA-administered fund is gradually running out of money, said Brad Johnson, a manager of DEQ's division of environmental response and remediation.

With the fund running dry, "EPA has been more willing to work with the state and communities in finding the best way to reach the (cleanup) objective rather than moving immediately toward putting sites on the National Priority List," Johnson said. "We are seeing a lot more voluntary agreements," he added. "All of them costing less than fighting a National Priority List designation in the courtroom."

"Once a Superfund site, always a Superfund site," Johnson said, noting that businesses and their host cities will do anything to stay off the Superfund list.

That was certainly the case at the 700-acre Richardson tailings site in Summit County that was contaminated with lead and arsenic. The site was proposed for Superfund listing in 1988, but image-conscious Park City officials worried about the effects of a Superfund designation on their lucrative ski industry and negotiated a mitigation agreement that has kept the site off the list.

Murray officials likewise negotiated a deal with the state and EPA over the 170-acre Murray Smelter site, home of the two infamous smokestacks toppled last year. The site was proposed for Superfund listing in 1994, but the entire project is being done through a cooperative agreement that city officials hope will transform the parcel into prime commercial property.

The biggest "keep me off Superfund" cleanup of all involves two separate projects being funded entirely by Kennecott. The copper giant is expected to spend $310 million by the time the projects are completed. One project was completed late last year and the other should be finished later this year.

Johnson said state and federal regulators have expended a lot of effort over the past 15 years identifying potential Superfund sites, and Johnson insists there aren't that many more that would qualify. The big sites have already been or are on schedule to be cleaned up, and the many other smaller sites can be addressed through other less costly programs.

"The program is winding down and it's time to wrap it up," Johnson said.

However, Johnson admits that most Superfund efforts have focused on the populous Wasatch Front, and there are potential sites in rural Utah. In Eureka, lead contamination has shown up in children, prompting a joint DEQ and Department of Health study. Remnants of mining around Marysvale are also a concern, and in the Silver Reef area near St. George, subdivisions are creeping toward toxic tailings piles left over from generations of mining.

Under Superfund, the owner of the property must pay for the costs of cleanup under tough federal guidelines that often force the companies into bankruptcy. If that happens and there is not enough money to pay for the cleanup, federal Superfund monies are used, along with a 10 percent match from the state.

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E-mail: donna@desnews.com; spang@desnews.com