Interviews open to public in Kennecott tailings case

A committee formed to pick a firm that will do a seismic study of Kennecott Utah Copper's old south tailings impoundment learned Wednesday that a meeting next week will, by law, have to be open to the public as committee members interview two companies.

The Kennecott Tailings Impoundment Study Committee will select one company to study what might happen to Kennecott's old south tailings pond in a large earthquake.

"Is Magna safe?" is one question Salt Lake County Councilman and committee co-chair Michael Jensen wants answered by the study.

The 19-member committee, established last spring, sent out a nationwide request for proposals to do the study. Four companies responded, and the committee narrowed the choices to two firms from Utah and California. The committee is made up of volunteers who are residents, business owners and elected officials in Magna.

At Wednesday's meeting in Magna, a committee member asked if Kennecott should be involved in the selection process. That idea, said Ryan Perry, was shot down.

"Kennecott said from the start, 'This is an independent study,"' said Perry, Jensen's assistant and the county staffer assigned to help the committee.

Last April, Kennecott president Andrew Harding put up $250,000 for the study to put residents' minds at ease. He said then that Kennecott should not be part of the study.

The reason for the checkup on the inactive impoundment is because people who live nearby learned earlier this year about 20-year-old reports that suggested a part of the impoundment might rupture in a large earthquake. News of those reports cast doubts on whether the impoundment is safe, despite Kennecott's efforts over the past two decades to shore up the impoundment, which no longer holds water on its surface.

Jensen said that based on legal opinions expressed Wednesday, the meeting next week has to be open. Legally, the committee would be able to close the meeting only if it involved issues related to pending litigation, the purchase price of a property, or the character and competence of an individual in a personnel matter.

Last August, committee members said they'd like to see the study start in November. Perry said the committee may make its choice after the interviews next Wednesday.

"I think the appetite is to get this going as soon as possible," Perry said.

The study will take about a year to complete, and the committee will expect progress reports about every 90 days.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com