The Environmental Protection Agency is currently coordinating the cleanup of a massive stockpile of toxic and hazardous waste inside and around a deteriorating former Ogden meatpacking plant.
Ogden City purchased the property from the owner of Smith and Edwards, an iconic military surplus retailer, with plans to revitalize the site as a mixed-use manufacturing and outdoor recreation destination. But as the full scope of the chemical and material hazards on site becomes known, questions remain about the property’s potential environmental and financial impact on residents and taxpayers.
On this week’s episode of Trib Talk, Leia Larsen, a journalist with the Utah Investigative Journalism Project and Brandon Cooper, Ogden City’s deputy director of community and economic development, join Tribune reporter Benjamin Wood to discuss the ongoing cleanup of hazardous waste at the Swift Building and whether city officials were adequately and appropriately aware of the property’s contents at the time of its purchase.