05-26-2004, 05:43 AM
O.K. heres the low down I just read in the paper a coupla days ago. The water is polluted by latern fuel from union pacific ages ago. Well the city or epa or something like that said that it has to be cleaned up now.
union pacific wants to fill it in with dirt cause there tight wads, while the city wants it strained somehow or the other, but anyway either way U.P. has to foot the bill.
Anyway there gonna have a meeting on it in the near future and if theres enough support they will strain it, if not it might be filled in
Heres the article:
Wed, May 19, 2004
By CATHY McKITRICK
Standard-Examiner staff
[url "mailto:cmckitrick@standard.net"][#0000ff]cmckitrick@standard.net[/#0000ff][/url]
OGDEN -- The 21st Street pond, closed in April 2000 due to contamination, could be restored to its former status as a popular fishing hole if enough local people speak up on its behalf.
Next Wednesday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., representatives from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and Region 8 of the United States Environmental Protection Agency will host a public hearing to get input on various options for cleanup of the pond.
"The EPA prefers to remove the contaminated sediments while the railroad would rather cap them, which would make part of the pond disappear," said Eva Hoffman, remedial project manager for Region 8 of the EPA. "We'll both present our ideas at the hearing, then public input will be the deciding factor."
The alternatives suggested by EPA and UDEQ range from taking no action, which would cost nothing, to extensive excavation and steam injection to thoroughly scour the site, at a cost of $50.4 million.
Their favored alternative, which has a more moderate price tag of $2.3 million, involves excavation of contaminated sediment and withdrawing mobile wastes stemming from the old Pintsch Gas plant, which supplied fuel for gas lamps on old-time passenger rail cars.
The UDEQ/EPA option would allow for full public use of the pond again, while the railroad's "burial" technique would not.
Because much of the contamination is due to more than a century of railroad operations, Union Pacific Railroad has agreed to pay the cleanup costs.
"There's a difference of $700,000 between our proposal and theirs," Hoffman said. "Is the extra protection worth $700,000 or is it simply gold-plating a sewer lid? You want to do a remedy as needed without getting stupid about it."
Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey remembers water-skiing on the 21st Street pond as a teenager. The Ogden River Parkway will extend to the pond as it connects to the rest of the Centennial Trail system.
"We think the pond is an important feature along the Parkway, and we'd like to see it as a habitable fishery," Godfrey said. "When it gets cleaned up, it can be a tremendous asset to the community."
The public hearing will be held in commission chambers at the Weber Center, 2380 Washington Blvd.
meetings tomorrow wends. the 26 5:30 - 8:30 I'm gonna try to make it if I can.
[signature]
union pacific wants to fill it in with dirt cause there tight wads, while the city wants it strained somehow or the other, but anyway either way U.P. has to foot the bill.
Anyway there gonna have a meeting on it in the near future and if theres enough support they will strain it, if not it might be filled in
Heres the article:
Wed, May 19, 2004
By CATHY McKITRICK
Standard-Examiner staff
[url "mailto:cmckitrick@standard.net"][#0000ff]cmckitrick@standard.net[/#0000ff][/url]
OGDEN -- The 21st Street pond, closed in April 2000 due to contamination, could be restored to its former status as a popular fishing hole if enough local people speak up on its behalf.
Next Wednesday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., representatives from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and Region 8 of the United States Environmental Protection Agency will host a public hearing to get input on various options for cleanup of the pond.
"The EPA prefers to remove the contaminated sediments while the railroad would rather cap them, which would make part of the pond disappear," said Eva Hoffman, remedial project manager for Region 8 of the EPA. "We'll both present our ideas at the hearing, then public input will be the deciding factor."
The alternatives suggested by EPA and UDEQ range from taking no action, which would cost nothing, to extensive excavation and steam injection to thoroughly scour the site, at a cost of $50.4 million.
Their favored alternative, which has a more moderate price tag of $2.3 million, involves excavation of contaminated sediment and withdrawing mobile wastes stemming from the old Pintsch Gas plant, which supplied fuel for gas lamps on old-time passenger rail cars.
The UDEQ/EPA option would allow for full public use of the pond again, while the railroad's "burial" technique would not.
Because much of the contamination is due to more than a century of railroad operations, Union Pacific Railroad has agreed to pay the cleanup costs.
"There's a difference of $700,000 between our proposal and theirs," Hoffman said. "Is the extra protection worth $700,000 or is it simply gold-plating a sewer lid? You want to do a remedy as needed without getting stupid about it."
Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey remembers water-skiing on the 21st Street pond as a teenager. The Ogden River Parkway will extend to the pond as it connects to the rest of the Centennial Trail system.
"We think the pond is an important feature along the Parkway, and we'd like to see it as a habitable fishery," Godfrey said. "When it gets cleaned up, it can be a tremendous asset to the community."
The public hearing will be held in commission chambers at the Weber Center, 2380 Washington Blvd.
meetings tomorrow wends. the 26 5:30 - 8:30 I'm gonna try to make it if I can.
[signature]