After being closed for months following a fuel spill, the north marina at Willard Bay State Park is reopening to the public.
In March, a Chevron diesel pipeline broke between Willard Bay and Interstate 15. More than 20,000 gallons of fuel spilled into the bay near the park’s north marina. Clean-up crews have been at the site ever since scrambling to mitigate the damage and make the park safe for the public. On Friday, officials with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality reviewed a risk assessment study and determined that the majority of the park is safe for public access. Jeff Rasmussen is the Deputy Director of the Utah State Parks Division. He says once the DEQ gave the go ahead, his team decided to reopen Willard Bay State Park.
"We’ve been waiting all along from the Department of Environmental Quality to confirm that yes it is safe for the public, but until we had confirmation from our specialists we were not able to make that decision," says Rasmussen.
But Rasmussen says some areas of the park are still off limits.
"There’s actually still some areas that were affected by the diesel fuel spill that are still being rehabilitated and those areas are fenced off and there all signed. And actually every visitor that comes into park’s going to get some information, just a piece of paper explaining how that works," says Rasmussen.
Rasmussen says extra staff will be available at the park over the weekend to address public’s questions and concerns.
