Jan. 16, 2001-- The federal government landed with both feet on
Utah's worst toxic polluter. The Department of Justice, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, sued the Magcorp plant in Tooele County and the
reclusive New York billionaire who owns it.
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They, along with the Bureau of Land Management, are
seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties for
massive illegal pollution, and for a huge alleged ripoff of
federal minerals.
Environment Specialist John
Hollenhorst has the exclusive story.
Magcorp gained national notoriety for being the nation's
number one toxic air polluter year after year.
Now the
plant is in the federal bulls eye for dumping on the
ground. The company is accused of illegally dumping
extremely hazardous materials, thousands of gallons a
day, year in and year out.
A federal complaint says a company canal is so
polluted employees call it the Red River.
Sludge piles
contain arsenic, barium, chromium, dioxin. Canals are
extremely acidic, highly corrosive. Some pollutants are
in concentrations thousands of times higher than what's
considered hazardous.
Potential fines range into the
hundreds of millions.
Coincidentally, there was a hearing in federal court
Tuesday on a potentially expensive side issue.
BLM
officials say Magcorp illegally channeled federally
owned brine water to the plant for years, taking
valuable minerals without permission.
Magcorp officials claim the minerals belong to the state
and they properly paid royalties. But they wouldn't
speak to us about the mineral issue or the pollution
lawsuit.
TONY RUDMAN / MAGCORP ATTORNEY: "WE
JUST GOT SERVED WITH IT. WE'LL HAVE
A COMMENT AT A LATER DATE."
The feds worry Magcorp might never be able to pay
hundreds of millions in potential penalties. So they're
going after Magcorp's absentee owner, secretive
billionaire Ira Rennert.
Two years ago he infuriated his
wealthy neighbors on Long Island by proposing a $100-million mansion.
LINDA BIRD FRANCKE / LONG ISLAND,
N.Y.: "BIGGER THAN SADDAM HUSSEIN'S
PALACES! I MEAN IT'S SO
OUTRAGEOUS."
Federal court papers accuse Rennert of siphoning on
taxpayers. They've made Rennert a defendant
personally to put his own fortune on the line.
ANDREW WALCH / U.S. DEPT. OF
JUSTICE: "OUR INFORMATION INDICATES
THAT MR. RENNERT IS IN FULL CONTROL
OF THE DECISIONS BY MAGCORP."
JOHN HOLLENHORST, REPORTING:
"FEDERAL OFFICIALS WERE ONLY HALF
JOKING TODAY WHEN THEY SAID
RENNERT'S FABULOUS DREAM HOUSE ON
LONG ISLAND COULD WIND UP THE
PROPERTY OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT."
A federal judge scheduled a trial in early 2002 on the
mineral royalty dispute.
