Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Concerned property owners from neighborhoods near Red Butte Creek met Thursday to discuss lingering health effects and impending legal action as a result of a Chevron oil spill that occurred in June 2010.
Organizers spoke to a small group of residents about taking action, including petitions to local and state government to hold Chevron accountable for cleaning the affected areas and establishing funds to provide for extensive water quality studies and health testing.
Residents voice health concerns
Zach Frankel, a co-founder of the community response committee and
executive director of the Utah River's Council, said there has been an unsatisfactory level of examination performed to determine what state the creek is in.
Benzo (a) pyrene is actually cancerous topically. So, if you touch it, it can give you cancer. The levels of that in my creek were found at 400 times the acceptable levels by the EPA in one site.
–Peter Hayes, SLC resident
"We need to know how much oil remains in the system," Frankel said. "Until we have that answer no one can say what cleanup should be."
Frankel suggested that a fund be created by Chevron to provide financing for the examination of the creek, employment of personnel and to facilitate continued cleanup efforts.
"If we want the creek clean it's going to take a lot of money," Frankel said.
The committee's other founder, Peter Hayes, spoke to the group about testing the Division of Water Quality had performed on his property, which found high amounts of lingering carcinogens. Among other things, the testing showed high levels of benzo(a)pyrene and benza(a)nthracene which, he said, can be absorbed through the skin and cause some forms of cancer.
"They know that material of this nature is in the creek," Hayes said. "Certainly, it's going to be found elsewhere."
Hayes said that with the high water levels Utah is currently experiencing, he is able to smell oil from the creek, a scent that had never been present before last year's spill. He said the carcinogens are particularly troublesome given that the creek runs through a residential neighborhood that houses children and pregnant mothers.
"These two carcinogens are known to cause skin cancers," he said. "These are not good compounds for a developing child. It will effect the next generation, it will give them birth defects."
Hayes also said the spill has disrupted the normal use of his land in that he no longer allows his children to go near the water, a sentiment echoed by many in attendance. When asked for a show of hands, a dozen – roughly half of those in attendance – said they had personally experienced adverse health effects as a result of the spill.
Government responsibility & impending lawsuits
At one point, the conversation turned to frustration at local government.
"Where are the geniuses running the city?" one man asked from the crowd.
Both Hayes and Frankel acknowledged the situation is out of the jurisdiction of the Mayor's Office but both also said they had seen little response from the governor. One man in attendance, Dr. Brian Moench, recently sent a letter signed by more than 20 area medical doctors to Gov. Gary Herbert and Mayor Ralph Becker, alerting them to the potential health effect to exposed residents and petitioning for a $2 million fund for a longitudinal health study.
The idea is to punish Chevron enough that they are incentivized to be hyper-diligent.
–Bret Randall, environmental lawyer
"It is of the utmost importance to the public interest that patients exposed to these spills be adequately cared for in the coming years and we
believe Utah's elected officials have an important role to play in ensuring this occurs," the letter states.
The letter was addressed June 1 and Moench said he had yet to hear any response from the governor.
Herbert spokesperson Ally Isom told KSL: "Governor Herbert is sensitive to the impact to citizens who live along Red Butte Creek and knows there remain questions about long-term effects. Some individuals suffered immediate health effects and their concerns about long-term impacts are certainly understandable. Consequently, the Governor has asked the State's Department of Environmental Quality to fully analyze if it is appropriate and legal to use its authority to assess Chevron additional fines to assist in funding a longitudinal health study."
Moench also spoke to those present at Thursday's meeting about studies that have been done, showing how exposure to oil spills can lead to respiratory problems, pulmonary diseases and DNA damage. He said that given the unique nature of the neighborhoods effected, the data from those studies apply "all the more" to the Red Butte Creek spill.
That unique nature was explained more thoroughly by environmental lawyer Bret Randall, of the firm Durham Jones and Pinegar. He said typically oil spills occur in remote areas and predominantly from underground sources.
"It's very unusual to have crude oil in a single family residential setting," Randall said. "It doesn't take much of a contaminate to be above a level of concern."
He said that property owners had a strong case for claims of property damage, nuisance, punitive damages and personal injury. Randall has already been appointed as representation for a number of property owners and said he plans to file a complaint against Chevron in U.S. District Court this fall.
"The idea is to punish Chevron enough that they are incentivized to be hyper-diligent," he said. "They're going to make you eat the residual contamination."
He used an analogy of a car accident claim, where the offending party makes the minimum repair.
"You're getting the Bondo job, with mismatched paint and a lot of questions," he said.
Response from government leaders, Chevron
Friday morning, Mayor Becker told KSL News he's reluctant to give Chevron a letter grade on its response. "Ultimately, it's the end result of the cleanup and the restoration of that creek," he said, "and we're still a long ways away from that being done."
Part of the reason for that, Becker said, is the delicate balance the cleanup effort is taking: If you going in and sterilize the creek, you kill all the plants and animals you're trying to save.
People can fill in a form or call the phone number (801-313-6700). Those will then be forwarded to Chevron with a tracking system to make sure that Chevron's responding and addressing their concern.
–Jeff Neirmeyer, SLC public utilities
The mayor and other government officials say citizens while citizens can be assured Liberty Lake is clean, work still needs to be done on Red Butte Creek. Jeff Neirmeyer, with Salt Lake's department of public utilities, says that is made obvious by the lack of bugs.
"That's how you tell the health," he said. "Not only are there bugs, but there's a wide variety of bugs."
Neirmeyer said his department needs an assessment plan from Chevron to say what they are going to do to restore the original health of the stream. "What's it going to take to get the bottom of the food chain back in place," he explained.
He said any resident or homeowner concerned about oil should let the Department of Environmental Quality know, and they will be tracking those complaints with Chevron.
"People can fill in a form or call the phone number (801-313-6700)." Neirmeyer said. "Those will then be forwarded to Chevron with a tracking system to make sure that Chevron's responding and addressing their concern; and if they are not addressing it, why they aren't addressing it."
"They have taken some responsibility, where it just isn't as visible as it has been," he added. "We need to continue to take that responsibility because there is much more to do."
The spill occurred on June 11 when a pipeline fracture sent an estimated 20,000 gallons of crude oil into the creek, which flowed down into the pond at Liberty park.
-----
Written with contributions from Benjamin Wood, Paul Nelson and the ksl.com news team.
