Anoka County landfill clean-up requires additional funding

If cleanup of Minnesota’s worst landfill is to get underway later this year, the state needs to provide $10.3 million by March.

That was the message to the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division Tuesday.

“Every year we rank our landfills in terms of the hazard and this is the top of the list,” said Pollution Control Agency Assistant Commissioner Greta Gauthier. “… I would be remiss if I didn’t say there were three ways for us to manage the waste everyone produces. We can either prevent it, manage it, or clean it up. And today, we are going to talk about cleaning it up, which is by far the most expensive way of dealing with it.”

The closed Andover facility cleanup effort was initially funded with $12 million in 2016. So far, around $1 million has been spent for testing and the installation of four mitigation systems and a barrier wall to prevent additional leaching of contaminants into the environment, Gauthier said.

The remainder is being held until they have full funding and can accept a bid to move forward with the entire project.

An additional $6 million was approved last year, to be provided through appropriation bonds. But a lawsuit challenging the funding mechanism has kept those dollars from coming to fruition.

That was not the final financial hiccup, as boring tests and other assessments revealed the extent of contamination from a one-third-acre hazardous materials pit located within the 122-acre landfill that is far worse than initial assessments indicated. Soil from below the pit and an aquifer situated about 30 feet below are contaminated with a variety of chemicals, paint wastes, heavy metals, solvents and hazardous organic compounds.

“If we don’t act, if we don’t resolve this issue soon, how many people in this general area and maybe further can be impacted?” asked Rep. Josh Heintzeman (R-Nisswa).

Hans Neve, the PCA’s closed landfill project manager, said the site is currently stable and protecting the 20,000 people who live within one mile of the facility. But the current mitigation systems don’t address long-term resolution.

“This is a high-cost landfill right now because all of those four mitigation systems are running all the time, so that again, is about $600,000 a year, and that is also a factor in cleaning this up, this long-term cost savings to the state,” Gauthier added.

“It seems like whenever we open one up we have surprises. … Are your cost estimates realistic?” asked Division Chair Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul).

Neve said the PCA is confident there is no additional uncertainty about the extent of contamination.

Rep. Peggy Scott (R-Andover) sponsors HF240 to provide the full funding request. Introduced Tuesday, it was referred to the division. The Senate companion, SF362, is sponsored by Sen. Jim Abeler (R-Anoka) and awaits action by the Senate Capital Investment Committee.

The Hansen-sponsored HF233, which would provide the $6 million in a larger DNR appropriations bill, is scheduled to be heard Thursday by the division. It has no Senate companion.

The state created the Closed Landfill Investment Fund in 1999. But those monies are not available to address the state’s legacy landfill pollution problems until Fiscal Year 2021, requiring additional appropriations for efforts undertaken beforehand.