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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Environmental Protection Agency plans to propose adding the site of a Utah magnesium plant to the Superfund list.
The EPA says hazardous materials at U.S. Magnesium's plant in Tooele County pose a threat to workers, wildlife and the environment.
Adding the 4,500-acre site to the Superfund list would allow the EPA to order U.S. Magnesium to pay millions of dollars for a cleanup.
The EPA plans to make the proposal next week.
Federal officials say the hazards at the site include dioxins, metals, acidic wastewater and others.
"We want to make sure (plant) wastes are disposed of in ways that will protect human health and the environment," said Gwen Christiansen, an environmental scientist who works on the agency's Superfund National Priorities List.
Company officials say the EPA isn't following procedures and isn't correctly reading science or the law.
"Protecting the environment and our people must be part of every business decision we make," said company President Mike Legge.
Utah already has 24 Superfund sites.
The public and the company will have two months to decide if the magnesium site should become the next one.
The EPA could also try to revive a $1 billion lawsuit against the company that began eight years ago. A federal judge threw out much of that suit about a year ago.
The company also was the target of a $1.5 billion bankruptcy-trustee suit brought on behalf of investors who said they weren't properly informed about the pollution lawsuit.
U.S. Magnesium was considered one of the country's worst polluters in the 1980s. Since then, about $50 million has been spent on improvements and hazardous emissions have been reduced.
Regulators, the company and its union also agreed in 2005 to do more to protect workers.
A National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health evaluation of worker health found that while workers had dioxins, PCBs and other contaminants in their blood "the blood levels were lower than those associated with observable health problems."
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