CC PACKET 02061996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEMORANDUM • DATE: August 9, 1995 TO: Michael Morrison, City Manager FROM: Kim Moore-Sykes, Management Assistant ITEM: This morning's meeting with MPCA re: Schnitzer MN Superfund clean-up site MPCA called this meeting to inform and discuss with all named responsible parties, (RP's), regarding the Schnitzer site. There are apparently 100 parties that might be involved, but MPCA has not been able to ascertain level of responsibility for all but 15 (and St. Anthony is one of the 15 based on weight tickets found among Schnitzer's papers). A complete and verified list of all RP's will be available in about 3 - 4 months. The Responsible Parties (RP) will be responsible for financially assisting in the clean-up of lead and PCB contamination. MPCA indicated that even though an RP, like St. Anthony, did not contribute to the PCB contamination of the soil, we could be liable for that clean- • up as well. Their justifications were that 1.) they have not been able to specifically determine the RP for that contamination and 2.) the clean-up process for lead will also clean-up PCB's. This site is ranked 10 on a scale of 1 -100 as far as the relative hazardous nature of the site and will only remain a Minnesota Superfund site. Any site rank 27 or above has to be reported to the federal government, thereby becorrung a national Superfund site. The representative for Ford Motor Co. indicated that it is serious but working with the State is more preferable to working with the feds on something like this. As a group of responsible persons, we need to develop into a committee structure to determine level of responsibilities, what to pay, how much and work with the MPCA to determine other possible RP's, i.e. Schnitzer heirs, insurance providers for Schnitzers, other business interests developed by the Schnitzers, etc. Attached is a copy of the attendees to today's meeting. What's interesting is that the University of Minnesota now owns the property. They bought it from the Schnitzers knowing that the soil needed to be cleaned. The U's representatives maintained that at the time of the purchase, they had a consent decree from MPCA signed by the Schnitzers agreeing to pay for the clean-up. $750,000 was set aside in addition to what the Schnitzers agreed to pay for the clean-up. To date, MPCA and the Uof M have not been able to enforce the consent decree and there is only $50,000 left of the original $750,000 for the clean-up. They reported that they have extensive studies, maps and very little clean-up to