Officials fear costs could balloon for Freeway Landfill cleanup in Burnsville
"We are not violating applicable state standards," McGowan said, adding that the
The initial cost of cleanup is not looking cheap. The MPCA, which wants to finish the job through its Closed Landfill Program, will hold a public meeting Thursday to discuss its own
But if negotiations between the two sides fail, cleanup of the landfill potentially would cost many millions more.
The landfill, adjacent to a municipal drinking water supply and the
Then those parties likely would sue other entities whose waste ended up at the landfill over the years, such as cities, school districts and small businesses, to help cover the cost.
"All it does is become the lawyers' best friend,"
"By the time you're done you're talking about multiples of whatever the initial cleanup cost is."
If it comes to that, Freeway would be the first landfill in the state to be cleaned up under the Superfund program, MPCA Assistant Commissioner
MPCA's proposal
The MPCA's Closed Landfill Program, which was created to avoid the expensive Superfund process, uses tax dollars, bonds and past insurance settlements to pay for landfill cleanup and maintenance.
Officials with the Closed Landfill Program want to move
The landfill does not pose an immediate threat to the safety of nearby drinking water, officials said, because a quarry next door is constantly pumping out water, keeping the water table low and preventing trash from contaminating the groundwater.
But officials are concerned about what could happen in a decade or two, when the quarry stops operating. Studies conducted this summer show the water table would rise up and touch the trash, Koudelka said. While officials don't know when the quarry will stop operating, they do know it will take five years to install all the protective measures.
"We have to act before that happens, before contamination starts to spread," Koudelka said. "The more time that goes by, the higher the cost is going to be."
McGowan's concerns
Negotiations between the McGowan family and the state have failed before, prompting the federal government to step in.
The
A letter from the MPCA requesting the latest extension said that the "framework for an agreement is gaining traction," and asked for more time to hold the public meeting.
McGowan said he wants a resolution but added, "It's public waste and there should be a public remedy."
But the McGowans own another business at
While the state would need some control of the land for the Closed Landfill Program, Koudelka said, McGowan "doesn't have to give it all over to the state if he doesn't want to."
McGowan also is concerned about how the MPCA measured contaminants on his property. He said the agency has done it differently at other landfills, and that other landfills near watersheds have not had to install liners under the trash.
Koudelka said the agency has used the same contaminant measurement methods elsewhere, but usually does some of that sampling after the landfill is already in the Closed Landfill Program. The research happened earlier at Freeway, he said, because McGowan wanted more certainty about what would happen at the site. As for the plan to put down a protective liner, he said that is a case-by-case decision depending on the waste's consistency and where it is located.
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