Principal Advisor - Remediation
Rio Tinto Kennecott
Bio:
Damon Sheumaker manages and leads soil, groundwater, and wetlands remediation programs across the South and North Zone CERCLA sites under EPA and Utah DEQ oversight. Damon’s work focuses on aligning technical solutions with regulatory requirements and long-term stewardship, including remedy optimization, groundwater management, and cross‑discipline stakeholder engagement. He has more than a decade of experience across EPA Regions 7, 8, 9, and 10 and holds an M.S. in Land Resources and Environmental Science from Montana State University.
Title: Why is Selenium in South Shore Bird Eggs on the Rise?
Abstract: Understanding selenium (Se) trends along the south shore of Great Salt Lake (GSL) requires integrating multiple lines of evidence across a complex, multi‑jurisdictional landscape shaped by more than a century of industrial activity, habitat modification, and evolving lake chemistry. As part of ongoing CERCLA and state regulatory commitments, Rio Tinto Kennecott maintains extensive long‑term monitoring programs that encompass groundwater, wetlands and avian ecology in the North Zone, and operational structures such as tailings impoundments and associated permit compliance systems that support continued environmental stability and regulatory compliance.
This presentation will provide an overview of Kennecott’s work to date, including groundwater characterization, ecological and avian monitoring, and operational programs that support continued environmental stability and regulatory compliance. It will also outline current collaborative efforts with USGS, UDWQ, and federal partners to refine the conceptual site model, evaluate groundwater fate and transport, and assess the statistical representativeness and trends in avian selenium data.
A central theme is the importance of scientific rigor: in a system as dynamic and historically complex as the North Zone, early signals must be verified, contextualized, and investigated before conclusions are drawn. Through shared data, coordinated study design, and a commitment to transparent, science‑based evaluation, partners are working to ensure that emerging questions about selenium are approached carefully and collaboratively, and that management decisions remain grounded in a sound understanding of this uniquely challenging environment.
