UDOT Agrees to Monitor Cement Plant

Aug 19, 2008 by Eric Ray

(KCPW News) The voices of residents in East Millcreek and Mount Olympus, upset about possible air pollution from a temporary cement mixing plant the Utah Department of Transportation is operating near their neighborhoods, have been heard loud and clear by the Salt Lake County Council.

“Absolutely, the residents have done a great job of voicing their concerns. I’ve been walking the neighborhood there and people are understandably nervous. I think this will resolve virtually all of the concerns other than it will still be a nuisance for about 18 months," says County Councilman Mark Crockett, speaking about an interlocal agreement struck between the county and UDOT to monitor the temporary cement plant.

Crockett says the agreement includes monitoring of the site for safe levels of dust and other pollutants, a more stringent set of environmental restrictions than the department is currently under, and a promise that the site won’t be permanently used as a cement plant.

UDOT operated a similar plant in South Jordan last year. That city had a legal agreement allowing it to shut the plant down if the safety concerns of citizens weren’t being met. UDOT spokesman Adan Carillo says a similar agreement isn’t needed in this situation because the department owns the property the plant is on. However, he says the interlocal agreement should ease the concerns of residents in the area.

“I think it shows that we’re willing to work with them and that we’re pretty confident the batch plant is safe. We’ll do anything that we need to do to reassure everybody that that plant is safe,” says Carillo.

Last week, residents in the east side neighborhoods held a public hearing to formally object to the plant’s location. This came after a letter of opposition signed by area residents was hand delivered to UDOT. Crockett is scheduled to present the interlocal agreement to the rest of the county council today.

UDOT Agrees to Monitor Cement Plant

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