In the event of Utah’s “Big One” Magna residents and businesses would be safe from a run off of silt from Kennecott.
By Kimberly Thomas
News Editor
The Salt Lake County Kennecott Tailings Impoundment Committee released their final report on the seismic stability and run out analysis of the South East corner of the Utah Kennecott Copper Tailings Impoundment. The final report brings good news to residents and property owners north of 2700 South and west of 8000 West. The report states that there will be no runoff onto businesses or residential property. However, run out from the impoundment would extend onto Highway 201 and slightly onto the golf course adjacent to Highway 201 (slightly being 300 feet).
The impoundment consists of silt and mining waste. What would happen to the impoundment’s stability in the event of major seismic activity raised concerns that lead to the formation of the Salt Lake County Kennecott Tailings Impoundment Committee and the release of this report.
The report reflects that the embankment could fail in the event of a 6.5 earthquake; however, the embankment would not start to run off for several minutes or hours. Seismic sensors have been placed in the impoundment. In the event that the seismic sensors go off signs off of Highway 201 will begin flashing, warning drivers not to enter Highway 201. The Impoundment Committee says these signs will “allow sufficient time for traffic to divert to alternate routes.”
The report also states that there will be no danger of a run off by the year 2018 because of dewatering efforts within the impoundment. These dewatering efforts will gradually improve stability in the impoundment.
Co-Chair for the Impoundment Committee Michael Jensen stated, “The study shows that no residential structures including those close to the embankment, are in danger of run out from the embankment. Previous analysis performed to predict the post-earthquake stability of the southeast corner of the facility was also found to be appropriate methodology.” The study was done by the independent geotechnical engineering firm: Tetra Tech, Inc.
Businesses and residential properties that were believed to be in danger will be receiving a letter outlining the committee’s findings. The Impoundment Committee would like to extend special thanks to their volunteer Geotechnical experts: John Wallace from GeoEnvironmental Services, Inc., and Jack Hamilton from the University of Utah. A copy of the final report can be found at www.magnatailingsstudy.slco.org.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Congratulations Utah on having the worst air quality in the nation!
By Kimberly Thomas
News Editor
During the month of December Utah received an all to familiar title, “The Worst Air Quality in the Nation.” Four Utah cities in particular proved invaluable in helping receive that title: Logan, Salt Lake, Ogden, and Provo.
During summer and winter months Utah residents experience the choking gloom of poor air quality, but we have a scientific name for it: the inversion. Every so often residents (particularly the elderly and asthmatics) cringe as they hear these words and wait for a storm or change in air patterns to clear away the gloom.
But why do we have inversion? Does Utah use more pollutants than others? No, believe it or not the inversion that brings poor air quality is a product of our bowl-like geography. Inversion refers to hot air trapping cold air, and vice versa. This is why inversion is commonly experienced in winter, the warmer air of the valley is trapped by colder air of the mountains.
Air quality is measured by the presence of five serious air pollutants: ground-level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. The problem is that bowl like feature of Salt Lake and Cache Counties combined with cold air trap these pollutants in the valley making air quality hazardous.
Air quality is measured by the Air Quality Index, or AQI. The AQI is a scale of 0 to 500 which is broken up into hazardous levels. It is at only 100 that members of sensitive groups will experience discomfort and only 50 points later pollutant levels become hazardous to the general population.
So what can the general population do to help? On dangerous air days it is important to keep your amount of driving down and limit or eliminate coal burning. For more information on what you can do go to Utah’s air quality website: cleanair.utah.gov. My personal recommendation? Go skiing.
News Editor
During the month of December Utah received an all to familiar title, “The Worst Air Quality in the Nation.” Four Utah cities in particular proved invaluable in helping receive that title: Logan, Salt Lake, Ogden, and Provo.
During summer and winter months Utah residents experience the choking gloom of poor air quality, but we have a scientific name for it: the inversion. Every so often residents (particularly the elderly and asthmatics) cringe as they hear these words and wait for a storm or change in air patterns to clear away the gloom.
But why do we have inversion? Does Utah use more pollutants than others? No, believe it or not the inversion that brings poor air quality is a product of our bowl-like geography. Inversion refers to hot air trapping cold air, and vice versa. This is why inversion is commonly experienced in winter, the warmer air of the valley is trapped by colder air of the mountains.
Air quality is measured by the presence of five serious air pollutants: ground-level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. The problem is that bowl like feature of Salt Lake and Cache Counties combined with cold air trap these pollutants in the valley making air quality hazardous.
Air quality is measured by the Air Quality Index, or AQI. The AQI is a scale of 0 to 500 which is broken up into hazardous levels. It is at only 100 that members of sensitive groups will experience discomfort and only 50 points later pollutant levels become hazardous to the general population.
So what can the general population do to help? On dangerous air days it is important to keep your amount of driving down and limit or eliminate coal burning. For more information on what you can do go to Utah’s air quality website: cleanair.utah.gov. My personal recommendation? Go skiing.
New Zelda game for DS a nice long play
By Nathan Unck
Since 1985, Nintendo has only had one franchised game with more releases than Zelda. That series is Super Mario Bros. This Christmas season, the "Big N" released a brand new 2-D side-scrolling Mario Adventure for the Nintendo Wii that was impossible to find in stores over the past couple of weeks.
However, Nintendo has another "must play" title on the DS. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. This is the 15th official entry in the popular series.
In Zelda games, you play a character named Link, or you can name your hero whatever you want in some games, but he is the main hero of the story. In every game Link sets out to save Princess Zelda and their home land of Hyrule from a mysterious evil that shrouds the land. Link must enter dungeons and rough terrain that help flex both your brain muscles, as well as you fingers on the controls.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the first entry of the series on the Nintendo DS, was one of the best Zelda games over the past couple of years, and having a sequel to that game for the fans of Zelda is pretty much Nirvana. Instead of a lot of sailing ships like the last game, players receive the Spirit Train to help get Link to his destinations.
This was a totally new concept for Zelda, since the games seem to take place in another world, and an ancient time, but it really works well with the game. Link finds out pretty quickly that a lot of the famous and sacred "Spirit Tracks", are the tracks used to transport people to the different temples of worship around the vast area of the Hyrule Kingdom.
It becomes Link's job to travel to the different sanctuaries in the land to find the missing tracks that will lead him to the temples, where he must defeat a huge monster to be able to restore the tracks to their former glory.
The game play is fairly long and the challenges and dungeons can be tricky, but that is what makes this game so much fun to play. The discovery of what you are supposed to do next is very self-rewarding.
The side quests in the game are entertaining as well. My favorite is when Link receives a Stamp Collectors Book, and as you travel the many different lands and environments, there are stamp stations that let you stamp your book. They are really fun to look for, and the art work on them is neat.
I whole-heartedly recommend this game to anyone who loves a good adventure game or a good puzzle game. If you have never played a Zelda game before, you are missing out, and it would be a real shame for DS owners to pass up this title.
You can purchase The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks anywhere video games are sold for $39.99 It is rated E for Everyone.
Since 1985, Nintendo has only had one franchised game with more releases than Zelda. That series is Super Mario Bros. This Christmas season, the "Big N" released a brand new 2-D side-scrolling Mario Adventure for the Nintendo Wii that was impossible to find in stores over the past couple of weeks.
However, Nintendo has another "must play" title on the DS. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. This is the 15th official entry in the popular series.
In Zelda games, you play a character named Link, or you can name your hero whatever you want in some games, but he is the main hero of the story. In every game Link sets out to save Princess Zelda and their home land of Hyrule from a mysterious evil that shrouds the land. Link must enter dungeons and rough terrain that help flex both your brain muscles, as well as you fingers on the controls.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the first entry of the series on the Nintendo DS, was one of the best Zelda games over the past couple of years, and having a sequel to that game for the fans of Zelda is pretty much Nirvana. Instead of a lot of sailing ships like the last game, players receive the Spirit Train to help get Link to his destinations.
This was a totally new concept for Zelda, since the games seem to take place in another world, and an ancient time, but it really works well with the game. Link finds out pretty quickly that a lot of the famous and sacred "Spirit Tracks", are the tracks used to transport people to the different temples of worship around the vast area of the Hyrule Kingdom.
It becomes Link's job to travel to the different sanctuaries in the land to find the missing tracks that will lead him to the temples, where he must defeat a huge monster to be able to restore the tracks to their former glory.
The game play is fairly long and the challenges and dungeons can be tricky, but that is what makes this game so much fun to play. The discovery of what you are supposed to do next is very self-rewarding.
The side quests in the game are entertaining as well. My favorite is when Link receives a Stamp Collectors Book, and as you travel the many different lands and environments, there are stamp stations that let you stamp your book. They are really fun to look for, and the art work on them is neat.
I whole-heartedly recommend this game to anyone who loves a good adventure game or a good puzzle game. If you have never played a Zelda game before, you are missing out, and it would be a real shame for DS owners to pass up this title.
You can purchase The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks anywhere video games are sold for $39.99 It is rated E for Everyone.
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