BRIAN MAFFLY
The Salt Lake Tribune
Dec 24 2016
Just below the Huntington Power Plant, a coal-fired generating station at the mouth of the eponymous central Utah canyon, agricultural plots spread out along the right bank of Huntington Creek. For the past four decades, these bucolic 250 acres have been an integral part of plant operations, receiving wastewater to grow alfalfa, wheat and barley as part of scientific research aimed at developing low-cost ways of disposing of wastewater, according to published studies.
Scientists and regulators have concluded the practice recycles water without endangering the environment. The forage produced is safe, although one study found that the cattle eating it have “soft teeth and bone weaknesses,” according to Esmaiel Malek, a former Utah State University professor who oversaw research at the plant’s farm in the 2000s.
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