CC PACKET 04021996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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DORSEY & WHITNEY LLP Mr, Dale Trippler • March 21, 1996 Page 2 For the reasons set forth herein, the Village of Saint Anthony requests thie MPCA to redesignate the Village as a de minimis party. 1. The Village-did generate 5 11 E, pour ds of batteries, The Village of Saint Anthony is a city with few vehicles, machinery or equipment which would require lead battery replacement. Based on discussions with city officials, the city's vehicle usage in the late 1970s and early 1980s was limited to 3 staff cars, 3 police vehicles and 3 fire trucks. The city also had public works equipment including 4 single axle trucks, 4 pickup trucks, 2 vans, several lawn mowers, tractors and loading equipment. While there are no specific city vehicle usage records for the noted years, the described vehicles provide a good indication of the number of vehicles owned and operated by the city. Even assuming that all of the vehicles (estimated at 20) had battery replacement each and every year, which according to city public works officials would not be the case, and assuming that a battery weighs 25 pounds, in the worst case the city would generate less than 500 pounds of batteries per year. The worst case, however, is not representative of city activities since most vehicle batteries would require replacement only on a 2-3 year rotation. Therefore, during the 4 year period for which records exist at the Schnitzer site, the city would have generated relatively to few batteries from its own operations and not the 5,116 pounds allocated under the MPCA's PRP list. 2. The batteries allocated to the Villagesprobably came from household recycling. The city believes that most, if not all, of the batteries allocated to Saint Anthony at the Schnitzer site may have been accumulated from community/county recycling programs. The city was one of the first municipalities to encourage recycling beginning in the 1970s. The city also organized spring cleanup events and worked cooperatively with local civic groups such as the Girl Scouts, Lions, League of Women Voters, Jaycees and others. While the city did not maintain a record of the quantities or materials recycled, the city believes that batteries and metal products from recycling would account for the bulk of material identified in the Schnitzer records. We note that over 2,000 pounds of batteries attributed on weigh tickets to the city cover the period 1979-1980. This was the exact time frame when Dick's Sanitary Service, Inc./Brooklyn Recycling operated a drop-off recycling center for city residents. Historically, it has been the position of the MPCA that MERLA liability does not attach to the disposal of household materials. This would include batteries and • other similar materials generated from households that were accepted by the city for