SALT LAKE CITY — Environmental managers are investigating potential illegal dumping after more than a dozen leaking oil drums were found near the Great Salt Lake.

Dave Noriega, communications manager with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality , said the drums were discovered around Thanksgiving by a hiker just off Stansbury Island Road, off of Interstate 80 in Tooele County.

“They see these barrels that are leaking this yellow-orange sludge material — it had leaked out onto the ground. More than a dozen 55-gallon drums,” Noriega said.

According to the hiker, the drums had been there before, but they weren’t leaking, and there was yellow caution tape that had been torn down.

Noriega said they’re still working to determine what was actually in these drums and what part, if any, of

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