Intermountain Insulation Company, 733 West 800 South, Salt Lake City, Utah
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EPA
Region		 Location of facility Type of facility Amount
of ore
received
(in tons)		 Did
EPA
visit
the
site?		 Were
samples
taken?		 Results of
evaluation
8 733 West 800 South, Salt Lake City, Utah Former exfoliation facility 5,133 Yes-February 4, 2000 Yes According to an EPA database compiled from W.R. Grace shipping invoices, 5,133 tons of vermiculite ore from the Libby mine were shipped to this site from December 1984 to November 1986. The neighborhood surrounding the site was primarily industrial and commercial. This company previously operated at 333 W. 100 South under the name Vermiculite Intermountain, Inc. (Vermiculite Intermountain is listed separately in this database.) When EPA and an official from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality visited this site, an auto body shop was leasing the former vermiculite processing building. The building's owner had purchased the property in 1991. EPA contacted by telephone the person who had purchased the property in 1984 from Vermiculite Intermountain and found out that the facility operated as Intermountain Insulation from 1984 to 1987, when the business went bankrupt. The facility had had two storage silos, a furnace, and a baghouse (used to filter dust from the air). Vermiculite had been obtained primarily from the Libby mine, but also from sources in South Carolina and South Africa. The business primarily produced a spray-on fireproofing product, which contained vermiculite, cellulose, fiberglass, and other ingredients. At the time of EPA's site visit, the former processing building was the only structure remaining on the site. A railroad spur, which could be used to transport vermiculite, had been located on the west side of the building but had been removed. EPA did not see any piles of expanded vermiculite or vermiculite ore on the site or any evidence of furnaces, hoppers, or silos. When EPA returned to this site on September 27, 2000 for a closer inspection, five soil samples were collected from areas where vermiculite particles were observed on the ground. All of the samples contained less than 1-percent asbestos. The samples were analyzed using polarized light microscopy (PLM). EPA also conducted activity-based sampling at the site. During that sampling, a worker wore a sampling pump while simulating typical activities, such as raking and leaf blowing, to see if asbestos would be stirred up into the breathing zone. Even though all the soil samples contained only trace amounts (less than 1 percent) of asbestos, laboratory results from the activity-based sampling showed elevated levels of asbestos fibers in the air that exceeded the threshold of 0.1 asbestos fibers per cubic centimeter of air. On the basis of this information, EPA determined the site needed to be cleaned up. Contaminated dust was cleaned from the building and debris was removed. The removal action also involved excavating approximately 1,500 cubic yards of asbestos-contaminated soil. Nearly all of the asbestos was removed from the site except for a small amount inside some inaccessible walls in the processing building. The cleanup was completed in December 2004.

GAO-09-6R