SALT LAKE CITY — A polluted tailings pond at the Kennecott Utah mine has sunk 20 feet or more, raising concerns that it has seeped contamination into the neighboring Great Salt Lake.
But the state regulator charged with protecting the lake’s water, the Division of Water Quality, allowed the mining company to edit this information out of a recent groundwater permit, documents show. The division also allowed Kennecott to quietly nix a study that would have investigated the tailing pond’s connectivity to and impact on the Great Salt Lake.
“Why? Because it would cost more to dig deeper?” said Lynn DeFreitas, executive director of FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake. “It undermines a level of confidence in the process and assurance that things are on the right track to keep the system healthy and keep industry accountable.”…