U.P. agrees to pay EPA for site cleanup

The Environmental Protection Agency has reached an agreement with Union Pacific Railroad Co. over a contamination at a Utah site.

Union Pacific will pay $270,690 to reimburse the EPA for incurred costs of removing and investigating substances from the Union Pacific Eureka Mills NPL Site located in Eureka, Juab County.

Court documents state that between 2001 and 2002, the EPA cleaned up 71 residential properties in Eureka. Federal officials also set up a program to voluntarily test the blood of children at risk each year. The EPA also established educational outreach programs for nearby residents and a voluntary program for "in-home soil and dust sampling."

Union Pacific Co. will also spend about $4.6 million in work and response costs. The EPA filed suit last week against the Union Pacific Co. for the removal costs. The agency also filed a consent decree that resolved the liability of Union Pacific.