Reader comments
Kennecott gets OK for search on public land

Shame on the County for allowing this to happen. If you want to know what will happen because of this decision, look at the Kennecott Mine. What a mess! Kennecott will never be able to clean up that aweful eyesore it has already created in the Salt Lake Valley. Not only an eyesore, the Kennecott mine has polluted the ground water and slowly stolen water rights in that entire southwest corner of the valley. They are not a community partner, they are a community parasite. The Salt Lake Valley will pay dearly in the future when the monerals are all gone and it is forced to clean up this environmental disaster.

I grew up in Herriman and have seen the mess that Kennecott has made to the Oquirrh mountains. Many people say that Kennecott is a valued partner providing jobs for the community, but they do not realize the future costs that will be incurred to clean up the mine. The also do not realize how the activities of the mine has polluted land, water, and the air of the county, leading to lower land prices, costly clean up measures and increased healthcare costs and rates cancer tied to heavy metal pollution in the Salt Lake County. This is again the case of big money trampling the rights and health of the citizens on Utah. I sure hope we voted out those county officials in the last election who voted for this. Maybe the new county council can overturn this measure.

Did anyone see how Rio Tino took a big hit today in its stocks? As the recession continues, the price of gold, copper, and moly all will drop. Who knows if Kennecott will even be open in the near future? Do we really want to allow a company that is the largest polluter in Utah and may never be able to clean up the pollution it has already created to make more of a mess? I say no way! Don't let them into Rose Canyon when they have already created a mess in Butterfield Canyon, Copperton, and Magna with that disaster of a tailings pond.

As long as Kennecott is mining somewhere in the oquirrh Mnts they never have to reclaim the big pit.
This is the exact reasom why they start the Barneys Canyon goldmine. AS long as there digging they never have to reclaim the pit.