Soil contamination delays BP’s 218 project

If ever there was a time to have a state legislator sit in on a discussion, it was last week’s Blooming Prairie City Council meeting.

That’s when city officials learned the reason the reconstruction of U.S. Highway 218 through town was pushed back to 2025: soil and groundwater contamination.

An environmental review adds about a year to the schedule as the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) investigates the contaminated soil, groundwater, and/or solid waste on the property – and how to manage and contain it during the construction process.

“MPCA is working with a local business, because contamination of soils and groundwater has migrated into the Trunk Highway 218 corridor,” said Brett Grabau, an engineer with Stantec who has worked on Blooming Prairie projects for nearly 20 years.

Though he did not name the business, reports from both MnDOT and MPCA indicate Arkema (now Cargill) as the source.

The history

In preparation for the road project, MnDOT did a risk assessment in 2019 of potential contamination sites at all locations through the 1½-mile corridor scheduled to be repaired.

After reviewing old maps, city records, and aerial photos, multiple businesses – including the Steele County Times, because of its “current and historical use of a printing press” – were assessed as a high risk.

Like the Times, which hasn’t run a printing press since the 1970s, many of the other locations that were ranked high were a direct result of long-ago – and often, long-gone – businesses.

But it wasn’t until this spring, when MnDOT determined it needed to purchase right-of-way access to a property to complete the roadwork, that the contamination was confirmed by a series of 59 borings and soil tests.

The contamination was found from Third Street Northeast to Third Street Southeast, documents say.

In the conclusion of the Phase 2 Investigation Report (Mobilization 3) released in May, “the most significant finding … is the presence of a (chemical) plume in groundwater that encompasses a large portion of eastern Blooming Prairie … (and) the Arkema Plant is inferred to be the source of the cVOC impacts … through the past discharge of chlorinated solvents into local storm sewer and sanitary sewer infrastructure and the in-flow/out-flow of chemicals from pipe cracks and unsealed joints.”

The report goes on to say that “all groundwater encountered during future construction in this area should be considered contaminated and appropriate response action taken if dewatering becomes necessary. It should be noted that soil throughout the water-bearing lower outwash zone within the cVOC plume footprint would also be considered contaminated and would need to be managed accordingly during construction.”

Petroleum contamination may exist in other areas, thanks to former filling stations, bulk tank storage, a lumber yard, and power and electrical stations that once did business where U.S. 218 now flows.

The current route opened in 1955.

Failing lines

In addition to the contamination along the construction area, the sanitary sewer lines that run under the highway are starting to fail, Grabau told council members.

The lines could easily be 75 years old, he said, and carry an estimated replacement cost of about $632,000.

BP Public Utilities will replace the water mains in that stretch during the road project, Grabau said, also at a cost of about $650,000.

Neither of those estimates include clean-up costs.

“It’s the responsibility of MnDOT, the city, and the utilities to remove and dispose of any contaminated soils and groundwater they encounter as part of the project,” Grabau said.

Though MPCA has been documenting local contaminant spills and leaks for decades, “we still at this stage don’t feel comfortable predicting capital outlay,” he said, “and prescribing the steps necessary to treat the damage.”

Four reports requested by the Times totaled nearly 15,000 pages of records and findings.

The options

The city must prove to MnDOT that it can cover its share of the project cost before any work will begin, said Terri Zwiener, interim city administrator.

While the city was prepared to pay for the road construction piece, the additional expenses of replacing lines and mitigating contamination are a different story.

Enter Minnesota Rep. Patricia Mueller (R-Austin), who happened to choose that meeting to attend.

“I’m new to you,” she said, “but a commitment that I have to all of my city councils and all of my school boards is that you see me twice a calendar year. So you’ll see me again in the fall.”

Blooming Prairie became part of House District 23B as part of last year’s redistricting.

After listening to the potential hit to the city budget, Mueller offered some options, including the slight bump in Local Government Aid and some dedicated funding for roads and bridges for small cities.

“If you need me to write a letter to (MnDOT) District 6, I’ll write a letter,” she said. “If you need me to write a letter to MPCA and start poking people with hot pokers, I can do that. I have no problem doing that.

“The type of money that was spent this (legislative) year was obscene … and I am concerned about what’s going to happen in the future,” Mueller said. “I’m very sorry – and I’ll do the best I can.”