Connection to our Soil
Our conversation on soil is much larger than whether or not we should move the dirt from the A/C area to Gordo or Tooele. We need to stop piecemealing our soil issues. This entire town was a silver mining town, and we still have thousands of miles of mines running under our city. Four areas need to be addressed before we can even think about moving soils to Gordo vs. elsewhere. The plan will take longer than 60 days (the deadline the city set for public comment). I will start by stating this is complex and multifaceted, so I have tried to simplify this with a bit of history of where the mine tailings came from and how we ended up with 4 Operable Units in Richardsons Flats.
Simplified History on MineTailings and Operable Units in Richardson Flats:
a. There are 4 OUs: Operable Units that the EPA reviews (see map below)
OU1: 258 acres of land that contains 160-acre impoundment of mine tailings
OU2- 1200 acres in Silver Creek north and east of HWY40 ( behind Home Depot)
OU 3- 856 acres east of PC in Silver Creek
OU 4 is the Prospector Drain that removes cadmium and zinc- the remainder flows to Silver Creek and bypasses this bio cell
b. Silver Creek (Poison Creek)-originates in Deer Valley and is perennial as it flows through PC. Drainages that contribute include Ontario Canyon, Empire Canyon, Walker and Webster Gulch, and Woodside Gulch. Metals mined from this area were lead, zinc, silver, and gold.
The mine tailings were generated at various mills located around Park City when ore was finely ground to recover valuable metals such as lead, silver, and zinc. The tailings also contained unwanted metals such as arsenic and cadmium. These metals are designated hazardous substances and are present in tailings and mining-impacted soils throughout Park City.
c. A tailings impoundment at OU1 began in 1911. This area was a mine tailing reservoir created before 1950 and contained 7 million tons of sand-sized carbonaceous particles and minerals, including zinc, silver, lead, and other metals.
d. UPCM is the current owner of OU1 and has owned it since its inception in 1953.
e. There are estimated 1.5 to 2.6 million cubic yards in OU 2 and 3 within the flood plains of Silver Creek (behind Home Depot).
f. The EPA has not selected a final cleanup option for OU 2, and 3 and the cost is unknown at this time
g. OU2: From 1915-1918, a mill existed called The Big 4 Mill, 5K people lived in this area (Lower Silver Creek east of 40 to the entrance to Promontory behind Home Depot), and they milled the mine tailings that had come out of the mines. The mill only ran for several years and shut down in 1918 due to stock market fraud and left its tailings as well as what flows from Silver Creek (Poison Creek)
h. A Massive Mill called King Con sat where Prospector District is now. This mill was used to reprocess the tailings from the mines. These tailings contained enough metal to merit reprocessing at various times between 1900 and 1950.
OU2 and OU3
https://www.summitcounty.org/177/Atkinson-School
Prospector Square District:
Here’s the King Con Mill that sat right in the middle of the Prospector area,
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=318090
Here’s what it looked like from the air,
https://geodata.geology.utah.gov/imagery/index.php/image/download/19156~tiff
Here’s a closeup of the Prospector Area,
Lead values were measured by a United States Bureau of Mines 1947 report to be between 0.9 and 1.15 percent. That correlates to roughly 9,000 – 11,500 parts per million (ppm).
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=yBO8CkiFAbwC&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PP2
For comparison, EPA's screening level for the Treasure Mountain Junior High School project across Kearns Blvd. was 400 ppm. EPA's field sampling recorded hits as high as 19,000 ppm at the junior high school. People are eager to tear down Treasure for a total rebuild. Do they want to add an extra $10 million (or more) to move all that dirt to Tooele? Or should we be realistic about what we're all living on and have been living on since about 1880? How do we solve a widespread massive soil issue? It's time to Stop the one-off projects that do nothing to address our overall severe soil issues.
https://response.epa.gov/sites/9291/files/EPA%20to%20School%20Community%2003262015.pdf
https://response.epa.gov/sites/9291/files/Action%20Memo%2009092015.pdf
https://response.epa.gov/sites/9291/files/Action%20Memo%20Amendment%2007122016.pdf
Four areas to address before we move any dirt to Gordo:
Richardson Flat Lawsuit with EPA: In 2019, the United States Environmental Protection Agency sued United Park City Mines Company (UPCM) to enforce a 2014 agreement by UPCM to clean up OU2 and OU3 in coordination with UPCM's earlier agreement to clean up OU1. The upcoming trial of this case, either later in 2021 or in 2022, will affect cleanup planning for the entire area. We need to understand the implications of this trial before we completely dismiss the idea of moving the soils to Richardson Flats.
Working in unison with the county and referring to the EPAs 5 year Richardson Flats Reviews. The county has continuously expressed its wanting to work together and find solutions to PC's mine tailing problems. In 2010 the county asked the EPA to remove soils safely- 11 years later, we are still waiting on a plan. The EPA does a 5-year report, and in the 2018 report, it was stated that "The county is interested in expanding the overall average of UPCM property. We all want an easy way for Park city to not have to take soils to Tooele. Summit county has capacity for OU2/3. As long as we all have the capacity, then it is ok. All needs to be considered since they are related." Park City needs to be in cohesion and collaboration with the county and EPA to come to a solution that addresses the massive soil issues that we are facing as a city.
What do we do with the Other Massive Soil Issues in the county - We need to answer the bigger question of what we will do with all of THE OTHER mine tailings in our neighborhoods. These will continue to impact our future generations? Why would we want to continue to build more islands of mine tailings for our future to clean up when we can create a better plan that incorporates our county, Wasatch Back, State, and Federal Government. EPA, UTDEP ( Utah Department of Environmental Quality).
Our Values and Our Responsibilities: What are the priorities and values of the community. The fact is we don't want to live directly on or recreate on the land, but we must also make sure we prevent and mitigate accidents that can potentially happen with one of tens of thousands of trucks moving soil halfway across the state. When we think of our commitment to the public, it doesn't end at 84060; if our trucks cause harm to others, we are just as responsible as if the soils stayed and "potentially" caused harm. We need to be looking at the bigger picture of the millions of yards of potentially toxic soil throughout 84060, not just at the potential Arts and Culture district. This material has some fate and needs to be addressed regarding our drinking water and our air quality. Shipping this dirt across the state contradicts our "Greenest City" initiatives.