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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Closed landfills across the state posing potential health risks could ultimately cost taxpayers to clean up.
Nearly 60 closed landfills have groundwater contamination above state health standards.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is calling on the legislature to help.
“Today the MPCA is announcing that it has found PFAS contamination at 98 out of 101 closed landfill sites that we’ve tested in Minnesota here,” MPCA Commissioner Laura Bishop said.
It’s the results from 59 of those old landfills found to have exceeded groundwater health standards that have the MPCA most concerned.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS are found in everything from clothing to carpets and cosmetics. Growing studies show exposure can lead to cancer, liver damage and decreased fertility.
“The MPCA has found PFAS contamination in almost every closed landfill it oversees,” MPCA Commissioner Laura Bishop said. “Once again, our assessments tell us that PFAS is everywhere in our environment. That’s why the agency needs the ability to use dedicated funds more flexibly to rapidly respond to these urgent contamination incidents.”
Created in 1994, the state’s closed landfill program aims to keep a close eye on these sites to monitor and manage fluids and gases that could pollute groundwater.
Taxpayers foot the bill. But, as it stands, the legislature has to be in session to ask for that money.
The MPCA wants flexibility and more resources when issues surface.
“Minnesota families and communities should not have to wait until the legislature acts to release the funds,” Bishop said.
“Over a generation ago the Minnesota Legislature recognized that closed landfill problems were a sleeping giant. Here we are in 2021 and the giant is waking up,” Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL) said.
A well near the Northwoods Landfill in Ely had unsafe levels of PFAS. But three other wells nearby still need to be tested.
Late last year, an underground fire started at the old Louisville Landfill in Shakopee where long-term damage is still unknown.
And, in 2015, a WCCO investigation found the former Freeway Landfill in Burnsville contained 20 truckloads of lead battery casings and 448 tons of cancer-causing scrap metal material buried in the ground.
The MPCA now says groundwater levels are 714 times over health-based value there.
The state says it’s time we have a better idea of what damage may have been done and what they need to do to clean it up.
The MPCA has not yet been able to test drinking water near the sites to see what the impact is.
They told WCCO they would need more funds from the state before they could do that.
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