PROMONTORY POINT - After weeks of debate, the controversy surrounding a Utah landfill comes to an end: for now.
“I grew up in Salt Lake,” points out Brett Snelgrove, spokesperson for Promontory Point Resources, the company that oversees the landfill. “We care about the residents here and want to do the right thing by the people.”
Snelgrove announced the company’s decision to withdraw its application for a Class 5 permit. The permit would allow the landfill to bring in waste from outside the area. As a result, residents feared Utah could become the dumping ground for other states, like California—which wanted to bring in coal ash.
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there that needs to be corrected,” Snelgrove pointed out.
During a public meeting on the Weber State campus earlier in the month, more than a hundred concerned residents spoke against the permit’s approval. Many believed it would have an impact on the environment for a number of reasons, one of which was contamination into the ground or the nearby Great Salt Lake.
“It ends up being four feet of layers,” Snelgrove said, while holding a handful of layer samples. "The combination of geo synthetics, felt, and clay go underground to prevent any leaking from happening."
Snelgrove invites anyone with any concerns about the procedures to come take a tour personally, or feel free to call.
He said they still don’t know if the permit would or wouldn’t have been approved, and insists this decision is entirely theirs. When asked if the landfill would consider applying for the same permit in the future, he said it was a possibility.
