Two companies have paid the state of Utah $150,000 to help pay for the costs of cleaning up the Bountiful/Woods Cross 500 South Superfund site.

The state Attorney Generalís Office announced last week that the W.S. Hatch Co. paid $135,000 and the Jack B. Kelley Co. paid $15,000 to the Utah Department of Environmental Qualityís Mitigation Fund for remedial action costs incurred by the state through the Superfund Site Contract.##M:MORE##

The Bountiful/Woods Cross 500 South plume is an area of about 245 acres in Bountiful, Woods Cross and West Bountiful where the groundwater is contaminated.

The two companies operated on an approximately 50-acre site in Woods Cross and West Bountiful at 800 West and between 500 South and 750 South, servicing and cleaning tractor-trailers and tank trucks between 1936 and 1986. They also were carriers of asphalt, bulk petroleum, petroleum products and solvents, which were spilled or leaked into the ground. There was also a French drain used to release contaminated materials, ac-cording to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The area was declared a Superfund site in the fall of 2001 and the Environmental Protection Agency presented a cleanup plan to the state.

Under federal law, the EPA will pay 90 percent of the cost of cleanup, with the state paying the remaining 10 percent. The $150,000 collected from the two companies will go towards that 10 percent.

ìWe believe the payment of $150,000 is a fair settlement with these companies to pay their share of the stateís costs,î said Sandra Allen, the assistant attorney general who negotiated the agreement.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said his office has a duty to ensure the stateís air, land and water are clean. ìThis payment is proof that we also take seriously our duty to make sure taxpayers are not left holding the bag when it comes time to clean up any pollutants.î



mwilliams@davisclipper.com