2002 Olympic site to pay ammonia fine

Park City, Utah — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has assessed a $7,000 fine for violations handling anhydrous ammonia against the Utah Olympic Park, one of the major venues for the 2002 Winter Olympics, which is presently used for recreation and training. According to Olympic Park CEO Colin Hilton, EPA inspectors were concerned about the ammonia being used as refrigerant for a bobsled track in the winter. “They were happy with staff and our process, but our documentation needed to be updated,” Hilton explained. “We’ve hired an outside company to help us update the risk management plan. We know we’ve got a hazardous material and got to handle it properly.” Actually, he added, this is the first EPA inspection in several years. “We had one visit right after the games in 2002 and haven’t had a full inspection and audit since 2003.”