Tooele may reduce its hazardous waste site

Tooele County is considering an 88 percent reduction in its Hazardous Waste Corridor, which has been welcoming companies like Envirocare since 1988.

New boundaries under study by the County Commission would chop the specialized zone from 78,720 acres to 9,440 acres. Rather than a single L-shaped swath, the corridor would be reduced to three separate regions, surrounding three existing operations.

Instead of the present layout, where I-80 actually crosses the Hazardous Waste Corridor, if the changes are made, the nearest such zone would be about 1.25 miles from the freeway.

Companies in the zone are the Envirocare of Utah low-level radioactive waste disposal operation; the Clean Harbors Environmental Services incinerator at Aragonite, formerly called Aptus; and the Grassy Mountain landfill, also operated by Clean Harbors.

"What we're looking at doing is just shrinking it (the corridor) down to necessary proportions," said County Commissioner Matthew Lawrence.

The commission will take up the subject in its meeting next week, he said. The object is to restrict the special zone to businesses that are already there.

"We are feeling like the corridor was unnecessarily large," he said.

No particular actions prompted the potential change, he added. The county is satisfied with the businesses that are already there and may not be interested in encouraging more hazardous waste companies to settle there.

"By now, industry would have come here and located here," Lawrence added. "We feel like everybody's had a fair shot, and now it's time to shrink down that corridor."

The proposals should not impact the industries presently in the corridor, he said.

"We would never do anything to diminish their ability to operate," he said. "I think it would only (affect) companies moving in because there just won't be a lot of area to locate now."

Still, Lawrence added, the matter is open for discussion.

"It's far from a done deal, but I think it's important that we look at it," he said.

Envirocare of Utah officials confirmed the corridor reduction would not impact the company's operation. Nicole Cline, planning and economic development director for Tooele County, noted the corridor was established Jan. 12, 1988. Although the Bureau of Land Management has a lot of land in the area, the facilities are on private land, she said.

If the reduction happens, she said, there would be enough room for existing companies to expand. But the change would "really prohibit any new company from coming in."

New siting is unlikely, anyhow, she said, and the policy behind the change may be that Tooele County has done its part to provide locations for hazardous waste facilities, and now someone else can deal with it.

Jason Groenewold, director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, said "It's welcome news and a step in the right direction. It's nice to see that the welcome mat of new nuclear and toxic waste facilities is being removed."

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