Piles of debris like this one west of Ephraim typify the problem of excavators dumping construction waste on private land rather than in landfill. Illegal dumping rampant, landfill chair says Waste from Zions Bank, LDS Church demolitions left on private land By Ben Fox Staff writer 7-30-08 MANTI—Sterling Mayor and Sanpete County Landfill Chairman Garry Bringhurst is concerned about illegal dumping. So concerned, in fact, that he brought the topic up in a meeting of Sanpete’s mayors and county commissioners earlier this month. “Let’s clean up Sanpete County,” he told them. The problem, Bringhurst says, is that contractors have been illegally dumping demolition and construction material on private lands for years. “The dumping,” Bringhurst says, is “rampant and county wide.” Bringhurst says that two recent outstanding violations, an anonymous tip and the involvement of the Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste (UDSHW) spurred him to make an issue of the messy dumping. The first violation took place in April, when Jensen Excavating undertook a job to demolish the old History House, owned by the LDS Church, in Manti. The contractor, Bringhurst said, dumped the demolished building on a piece of property west of Manti, which the company leases from John Keeler. Jensen Excavating dumped the building on the private land rather than pay the $18 a ton (in addition to the cost of hauling the building) to dump the demolished building legally in the Chester Landfill. Bringhurst says the matter came to his attention when an anonymous person called and filed a complaint with the UDSHW. Rob Foisy, a UDSHW representative from Richfield, visited Jensen’s job site and informed him of the landfill laws. In a letter from Foisy to Keeler, and copied to Jensen, Foisy stated that he informed Jensen, who then agreed, to: 1) remove the demolition material and take it to an approved landfill within 90 days; 2) supply receipts to evidence that the material was received at the landfill; and 3) remove any material which may have sloughed off of nearby river banks and is close to the water. The letter further stated that its orders applied to the entire Keeler property and not just the piece being leased by Jensen’s Excavating. The letter stated the property would be inspected at the end of the 90-day period to ensure that all rules and regulations were followed. LDS Church representative for this particular demolition, Matt Christensen, said the church has not been contacted by UDSHW or any other agency, and has received no warnings or citations over this matter. He also said it was the contractor’s responsibility to pay for the disposal of wastes from the demolition as part of the original bid. The second dumping case took place in Ephraim with the demolition and, Bringhurst said, the illegal dumping of the red-brick LDS church that once stood on Main Street. The land was bought by Zions Bank, which then hired Barton Excavating to demolish and dispose of the old church. Barton Excavating, according to Bringhurst, took the demolished church and dumped it west of Ephraim on private land. Andrea Standing, a spokesperson for Zions bank said the bank paid Barton Excavating to dump the building, and that Barton Excavating received permission from the landowner to do so. Standing said bank officials did not know there would be any problems or violations if the building was dumped on private land rather than at the landfill. Barton excavating was not available for comment and didn’t return phone calls on this matter. Rusty Lundberg, from UDSHW, said no warnings or citations have been issued although his office is aware of the situation in Ephraim. “It’s in process. We have received a complaint and are looking into it,” said Lundberg. Bringhurst issued a challenge to all the mayors and commissioners in Sanpete County to adhere to the laws regulating demolition and dumping. “Cities should be issuing demolition permits. Contractors should be going through the proper steps to check for contamination and dispose of demolished buildings in the proper place,” Bringhurst said. According to Bringhurst, contractors should include disposal costs in their bids. The price to dump legally is reasonable, Bringhurst says. “We will help people out at the landfill. We will work with anyone; we don’t want the mess lying outside the boundaries (of the landfill). We just want people to obey the law; we are not making money on this,” Bringhurst said. He said that people continue to dump illegally, thinking they will not get caught. “We need to educate the people,” Bringhurst said. “We are just renters of this ground, we don’t own it, our name may be on it and we may pay taxes on it, but it will belong to someone else sometime in the future.” There are two landfills in Sanpete County. The Chester Landfill just outside of Chester is for construction and demolition wastes only. The White Hills Landfill is the county’s second landfill west of Mayfield, and is open to a variety of domestic wastes. Much of the money that the landfill receives is spent on testing to ensure environmental safety levels. Other money is used to simply maintain the landfill. “I am just looking down the road and wondering what our kids will end up with if we don’t fix this problem,” Bringhurst said.