At the Woodbury Bulletin, Scott Wente reports Denny McNamara jumps into Senate race; Bigham also running for the open seat created by the resignation Cottage Grove DFLer Danny Schoen.
Reports of accusations of sexual harassment by Minnesota lawmakers have dominated the state's political news for the last few weeks, but they're not the only important stories in the North Star State.
The Star Tribune's Josephine Marcotty has been covering another story in the east metro: State alleges 3M chemicals caused cancer and infertility, alleges $5 billion in damage. Marcotty reports:
. . .for many years, the company dumped waste containing PFCs at four sites in the southeast metro, contributing to one of the most severe and pervasive groundwater contamination problems in the state, which affected the drinking water for Lake Elmo, Cottage Grove, Oakdale, Woodbury, and St. Paul Park. 3M says all the waste disposal was legal and permitted by the state at the time.
Swanson’s estimated $5 billion in total damages includes the costs of treating and replacing drinking water, the effects on fish and wildlife, and the impacts on the health of residents in the affected communities.
That's scary stuff.
And Denny McNamara praised the company's cheerful attitude in acknowledging the pollution back 2008. Session Weekly's Nick Busse reported in 3M cleanup pledge questioned:
Several members of a House subcommittee expressed frustration that the 3M Corporation will not be paying a larger share of the cost of cleaning up a landfill that has been leeching chemical pollutants into the east metro drinking water supply.
The House Drinking Water Source Protection Subcommittee met Feb. 19 to discuss bonding recommendations for the Pollution Control Agency. Among the topics of discussion was a $15 million request for remediation work at the Washington County Landfill, which is contaminated by perfluorochemicals (PFCs) that are presumed to have been manufactured by 3M.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty has asked the Legislature to approve the request, which would be supplemented by an additional $8 million pledged by 3M, to help clean up the Lake Elmo site. Several legislators expressed concern that the state’s taxpayers are being asked to pay for more than their fair share.
“I don’t know why they (taxpayers) should be paying when they were not responsible and they didn’t know about it,” said Rep. Jean Wagenius (DFL-Mpls).
Rep. Karen Clark (DFL-Mpls) said that 3M, as the primary — possibly the sole — source of the contamination, should contribute more to the cost of the remediation.
Rep. Denny McNamara (R-Hastings) agreed that 3M should be pressured to put up additional money for the project, but also praised the company’s willingness to negotiate, as well as their overall contribution to the state’s economy over the years.
“They’ve been admitting that we’ve got to deal with this problem and I think they’re doing it in a positive way,” McNamara said.
That's nice, but probably cold comfort for district residents facing the long term consequences of the company's actions.
The audio of the committee hearing is available here.
McNamara later signed on to DFL state rep Julie Bunn's bill, explained in the article:
Rep. Julie Bunn (DFL-Lake Elmo) has introduced a bill that would appropriate an as-yet-undetermined amount of bond money to fund alternative cleanup methods; however, Bunn said that whatever solution is ultimately chosen, action needs to be taken as soon as possible. . . .
Bunn’s bill, HF3232, awaits action by the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division. There is no Senate companion.
Not that it pressured 3M to pay more.
Image: Map of Senate District 54.
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