California firm to do Magna tailings study

California-based Tetra Tech Inc. was picked by a citizen-led committee Wednesday to do a seismic study of an old Kennecott Utah Copper tailings pile in Magna.

"We want them to start as soon as possible," said Ryan Perry, Salt Lake County staffer assigned to help the Kennecott Tailings Impoundment Study Committee.

Perry said he doesn't anticipate that Tetra will require any funds beyond the $250,000 that Kennecott president Andrew Harding gave Salt Lake County last spring. County officials will negotiate a contract with the engineering and consulting firm before work begins.

Tetra beat out another California company, Vector Engineering Inc., to get the job of determining what the fallout in a large earthquake might be at Kennecott's dormant south tailings impoundment. Some nearby residents fear that moisture trapped beneath the otherwise dry pile would cause tailings to liquefy and flow toward homes during a significant temblor.

The call for the study came after Magna residents learned earlier this year that 20-year-old documents suggested that the impoundment may be seismically unstable. Over the years, Kennecott has taken steps to solve that problem.

Perry said Tetra Tech does not appear to have any previous ties to Kennecott or parent company Rio Tinto Group, which was not the case with Vector Engineering.

— Stephen Speckman