Wellington discusses moving contaminated soil to city project site

By Sun Advocate

A project to evaporate fuel from contaminated soil to be dumped behind the Gas ‘N Go service station in Wellington was approached at the city council meeting on April 13.
The contaminated soil is to be moved from the old Gas ‘N Go located in Price city. The project has already been approved by Carbon County officials.
Bruce Hagans from the Utah Division of Environmental Response and Remediation explained to the Wellington City Council that the soil would not be hazardous to the health of surrounding neighbors.
Since the gasoline is biodegradable, the state department of environmental quality representative said the fuel will break down rather quickly with the help of insects in the soil.
Hagans noted that the dumping of the contaminated soil is a common United States Environmental Protection Agency practice and the local project would be beneficial to the cities of Price and Wellington.
The entire project will take approximately four to five months, according to Hagans.Completing the transport phase would mean eight to 10 covered truckloads traveling from Price into Wellington every day.
Other than Benzene, Hagans indicated that there would be nothing harmful in the soil when it is dumped in Wellington.
Benzene, an active ingredient in gasoline that may cause cancer, will be in the soil. But Hagans told the council that the Benzene would evaporate rather quickly. Most of it dissipating while being loaded onto the trucks that will be moving the soil to Wellington city.
The state officials also indicated that the soil would be sifted occasionally to help the contamination dissipate as soon as possible. And to protect the health of surrounding neighbors and children, a safety fence will be added to keep local youth out of the site.
The council decided unanimously that moving the contaminate soil to the Wellington city site would be acceptable, as long as Hagans made sure that it was fine with the surrounding neighbors.
Hagans will have to cover the soil immediately if the gasoline is smelled by the neighbors, and will have to either have a signed petition from neighbors, or receipts from registered letters informing the neighbors of the plans. It was decided that a minimum of two houses on every side of the dump area would have to be notified.
Also discussed at the meeting was the architect proposal from James Dresslar to design restrooms at Wellington City Park. The proposal was approved by the council.
A $35,000 loan for the construction of the tourist information kiosk as a part of a new concession and restroom building project at the city park in Wellington, for which Utah Community Impact Board funds were approved in December 2004.