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Whit Johnson reporting Some people are claiming that hazardous materials from construction projects are being dumped into the Ogden River. The Weber County Health Department is investigating.
Just off of Washington Blvd. there are several shops are being put in, and just below the buildings are some black tracks leading down to the river. That's the remnants of what some people believe is an example of gross negligence.
Picture after picture shows what appears to be a construction mess spilling into the Ogden River. Bill Critchlow calls it a clear cut environmental violation and says he began noticing the piling up debris more than a week ago.
"I was angry when I went to report it," Critchlow said, "It needs to be cleaned up and mitigated."
Critchlow reported the situation to state Rep. Neil Hansen. On Saturday, both men went and took pictures of the area. The photos show piles of dark snow, bricks, rocks and what looks like dye discoloring the water.
"There was stucco, there was nails, there were screws, there was plastic that was laying here in the snow of debris; and so to me, there was more than just biodegradable things they were dumping in the river," Hansen said.
Dan McEntee is the partial owner of the building under construction. He says most of the debris was biodegradable and got mixed in with large amounts of snow. "No, I don't think anything got down into the river," he said. "You guys understand the snow storms we've had, they were cleaning off an area and piled some snow here. No, I wish they hadn't done that, and we cleaned it right up and threw it away."
McEntee says the cleanliness of the river is an important part of his business and the allegations are being blown out of proportion. Still, some believe tough penalties need to be handed down to those responsible.
"I don't think that that merits a wrist slap. That's intentional," Critchlow said.
The Weber County Health Department says they have collected some samples from this area in an effort to see if any damaging materials made it into the water. Depending on results from those samples, it's possible that other agencies will get involved in the investigation.
