S.B. 146 Industrial Byproduct Amendments: transcript

Thank you, Mr. Chair Committee. I, I, uh, live in Utah County, and I represent, um, what used to be the former site of Geneva Steel, which is now the City of Vineyard, and also become what's known as Utah City. And out there, the, there's still some remains of the old Geneva site, uh, much of which is a large slag pile, and that slag pile's been used for industrial purposes. And we just wanted to, with this bill, uh, broaden that just a little bit so, uh, other entities could use that. And I have with me, uh, Mr. Rob Jolly kinda explain a little bit more in detail.

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here with you today. Yeah. My name is Rob Jolly. Hold That microphone closer, sir. I'm lobbyist for Flagship Homes who now owns the Geneva Steel site. Um, Senator Harper may remember about 10 years ago, we passed legislation dealing with this, the same, uh, industrial BI-product material to allow it to be used, uh, by udot for road base. And, um, now we have a situation where, uh, Vineyard City, um, and also what's called Utah City, uh, would like to use the same material for road base and other areas that will be, that will have a hard cap. Um, and this is a material that the director has to approve of to be used. And so all this bill really does is expand its use to, um, to cities and counties if they so desire to use it. Um, you know, we've met with DDEQ. We're gonna continue to meet with DEQ. We didn't have time to get amendments ready for today, but, uh, I expect that on the floor of the Senate, we'll have some amendments that, that, uh, we've worked with DEQ on. But, uh, that's pretty much all the bill does.

Yes, it does. Thank you.

I'd make a recommendation that, or recommendation that we favorably, uh, recommend this to the Senate floor.

Uh, yeah, that is, the bill is pretty simple, and we will, uh, uh, for our Senator Vickers, wait for a substitute on the floor to address any issues of DEQ and we'll. So we'll be, we'll be substituted and we'll

Yes, thank you. Committee. Uh, this bill is pertains to the slag pile down in what used to be the old Geneva steel site. It's currently, well half of it's now, what is now Vineyard. Have, you've been down there lately. It's no longer a steel site. And so there's still, uh, extensive slag pile that for years has been used for road base. Udot has used that, and it's been great. And so this bill allows municipalities to also use that slag pile, and it's, we needed to actually pass legislation to make that happen. So that's what this bill does, and so they can use it in other for municipalities.

Thanks. Uh, so in, in the business I was involved in for years, we used that stack pile, uh, and we bought it from an engineering company that would, would, um, um, crush it and grade it and make it into road base or other products. So I'm just wondering why we need authorization for cities to use that. Uh, that was a private use, I assume, correct. Right.

Right. And so this, this was very regulated just to udot using it, and the, and the municipalities cannot access it, but private could. So

Is it still owned by a private company?

Uh, the slag, yeah. Whatever is remaining of the Geneva Seal site. Yes. I don't know if it's Anderson, Geneva, or Exactly. Who owns that? Yeah,

I, I guess I don't understand because they sold it to who, whoever they sold it to udot. We, we used it as a company and we did work on Udot roads, and we did work on city roads, and we did work on private stuff, and we used that forever. So I'm,

Yeah, it's my understanding without

This bill, I'm okay that they use it. I just don't understand why we have to Yeah,

My understand. Without the bill, they cannot use it like the way that they'd like to, so,

Okay. Go ahead, chair. Sorry.

So who's asking you to run the bill?

Uh, there's different, uh, different groups are asking it. Vineyard City wanting to use some of the flag pile and other municipalities wanting to use it. So,

So that they have to pay the private company for it?

I would assume so, correct? Yes.

So, uh, I really is struggling with this because why would they have to, why would we have to authorize a private company to sell to a city when they've been doing that for years and years?

That's, that's just my understanding. They can't do it.

I think it already got asked. Thank

Okay. Well, I would move that we approve or that we had, uh, pass out SP 1 46, uh, first sub as a, um, from the committee with a re a favorable recommendation.

Yeah, I think this is great. We ought to be doing this. We ought to be able to use that material wherever we want. And I would love to find out some more details why, but I think it's okay to go ahead with this.

Yeah, I, I don't have any answers, but I've got enough to know that I support this, so I I'm okay. Voting? Yes.

Yeah, I appreciate, appreciate the motion. I'll make sure that you all have the comfort you need when this comes to the house floor. There are some money, there's some small, little things right there involved that need to be addressed in this bill. And so I'll make sure that the people that really it's important to you will circle up and make sure you have the information need to, and that you can vote it up or down on the house floor. So I appreciate the motion. Great.

Thank you. Uh, I appreciate that commitment and it'll be interesting to find out. Thanks.

It's probably not as exciting as you think, but I'll make sure you have the information.

Sure. Uh, I'll pre kind of explain both at the same time. This is concerning the slag pile down at Geneva, the old Geneva steel mill site. And so, uh, we're, this bill is wanting to, uh, make that available for municipalities and the first sub is addressing some of the concerns from DEQ and the mining associations of minor changes.

Yes, I, the substitute. Pretty banks explained the bill, um, once upon a time that slag pile is one of the higher little mountains there in Utah Valley, but it's diminishing little by little as Utah City. That new city is coming into place just north of Vineyard. So, um, that's what this bill does is allows that slag to be used in other municipalities as well.

I'll waive and move that we, that SB 1 46 first sub be read for a third time. Thank

Aye.

This bill allows the slag pilot's down there currently what's left of it down in the old Geneva steel site, which is Vineyard and the new Utah city that allows the slag to be used for municipalities as well, rather than just simply road base. And, uh, probably in a few years that'll be gone. So that's the bill.

Make a motion to pass out favorably for substitute Senate Bill 1 46.

The House sponsors Representative Bolinder, Representative Dunnigan move to circle.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this bill provides that an industrial byproduct, for example, in the still making process, a slag product may be used in a project if it is approved by the director of the Division of Waste Management. So I'll give you an example. So we have some steel manufacturers in our state that produce a slag product through the, the manufacturing process. This is normally a waste product. And so this bill allows that material to be used in projects for cities if it is approved by the, the division to be used for that. So an example of projects would be sidewalk, curb and gutter parking lots, and it would act as like an aggregate base course in those instances. So with that, I'll take any questions.

Yield to a question.

Absolutely, Yes. Representative Voxer. Thank

You. I was just wondering if these byproducts haven't been able to use be used in the past? Why not? And then why now do we want them to be?

Yeah, good question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in the past we haven't been able to use them with some environmental concerns. Maybe these products have, uh, some leaching characteristics or anything like that. What the purpose is, is it should actually save money on city projects because aggregate can be expensive. Um, myself better than anyone knows that. And so I think this is a good way to recycle materials. We do this with asphalt wraps and other materials in construction projects.

Um, I'm just wondering about the leaching process and you know, if we're gonna be putting these in sidewalks and other things, will there be any sort of guidelines around what products or chemicals would be leaching into our grounds?

Yeah, that's, that is, thank you Mr. Speaker. So that is why the director of the Division of Waste Management has to approve this to make sure that this is safe to use in, in those projects. Okay.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you,

Yeah, thank you Mr. Speaker. Uh, I know that, uh, this product has been used for years and years and years, uh, probably over 50 years that I know of. And, uh, it's been used in, uh, soil stabilization, road base asphalt, uh, it's been used in all over Utah County and South Salt Lake County that I know of, uh, with no side effects, real effects. And I, I was kinda surprised that this bill had to come forward. But if there's any questions, uh, I think this is a good way to clarify that. So I support the bill.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, just to be clear, so this has to be approved by the director and these products to, to, to the point of the good representative from Utah County. They've been used in our state for, for a lot of years. And this will actually save a lot of, uh, costs for our cities on different projects if it, if it makes sense. So I appreciate your support.