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EPA withdraws proposal to list Kennecott South Zone as Superfund site

Release Date: 09/03/2008
Contact Information: Peggy Linn, 303-312-6622, linn.peggy@epa.gov Rebecca Thomas, 303-312-6552, thomas.rebecca@epa.gov

Kennecott honors commitment to complete cleanup projects

(Denver, Colo. – September 3, 2008) The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (UDEQ) today announced that the proposal to list the Kennecott South Zone Site on the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites has been withdrawn. The site was originally proposed for the NPL on January 18, 1994.

In September 1995, Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation, UDEQ and EPA entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in which Kennecott agreed to complete numerous cleanup projects on the site. Under this agreement, EPA agreed to take no further action towards listing the site and to withdraw the proposal to list the site upon completion of the specified cleanup actions.

All appropriate response actions for the South Zone Site have been implemented. Kennecott has completed several projects at the site, including addressing and controlling sources of groundwater contamination, cleaning up the South Jordan evaporation ponds and assessing and cleaning up a number of historic mining facilities.

After completion of the numerous cleanup projects EPA and UDEQ issued a request to withdraw the proposed listing of the South Zone Site. U.S. EPA has published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the South Zone’s withdrawal along with other actions. Ongoing remedial activities will continue until final cleanup goals are attained.

The Kennecott South site includes the Bingham Mining District in the Oquirrh Mountains, about 25 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Mining activities at the site began in the 1860s and continue to the present at the large Bingham Canyon open-pit mine. Historic mining operations produced lead, zinc, silver, copper, molybdenum and gold ores.

To view the Federal Register notice enter the following URL into an internet search engine, www.gpoaccess.gov/fr and look for federal register number: EPA-HQ-SFUND-2008-0586.