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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes MINUTES COTTAGE GROVE CITY COUNCIL July 20, 2016 COUNCIL CHAMBER 12800 RAVINE PARKWAY SOUTH SPECIAL MEETING – 6:00 P.M. – ST. CROIX CONFERENCE ROOM 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Bailey called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL The following were present: Mayor Myron Bailey, Council Member Steve Dennis, Council Member Justin Olsen, Council Member Jen Peterson, Council Member Dave Thiede. Also present were: Charlene Stevens, City Administrator; Korine Land, City Attorney- LeVander, Gillen & Miller, PA; Joe Fischbach, HR Manager/City Clerk; Jennifer Levitt, Community Development Director/City Engineer; 3. AGENDA ITEM A. Workshop – Open to Public: Proposed Pumping Reduction Plan at 3M Woodbury Landfill City Engineer Jennifer Levitt stated that members of the Pollution Control Agency (PCA), the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), and a representative of Stantec, Inc., the City’s technical expert, were present and had reviewed many of the prepared documents and reports and tests. A member of the PCA would be speaking about the proposed pumping reduction. Members of the Minnesota PCA who were present included Gary Krueger, Supervisor in the Remediation Program, Tim Lockrem, Project Manager, and Fred Campbell, Hydrogeologist; they’ve all been involved with the 3M sites. Jim Kelly,Manager of the Environmental Surveillance and Assessment Section of the Minnesota MDH, introduced himself; he’s been involved with the chemical issues since this started 10-to-12 years ago. Mr.Krueger explained the 3M site is along the Woodbury-Cottage Grove border, and that’s where 3M disposes of waste from their Cottage Grove plant. There are two primary areas of the site, an industrial area and a disposal area in the northeast. He explained where barrier wells and a monitoring network were located on the site. 3M is proposing to reduce the pumping rates on Well B1; currently the four wells pump 4,000,000 gallons per day, which is piped down to the Cottage Grove plant. It is then CITY OF COTTAGE GROVE 12800 Ravine Parkway Cottage Grove, Minnesota 55016  www.cottage-grove.org 651-458-2800 Fax 651-458-2897 Equal Opportunity Employer  City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 2016 Page 2 treated and used at the plant for various purposes. 3M’s proposal is to reduce the pumping rates at Well B1 down to 400 gallons per minute, which is approximately a 10%-15% reduction in total pumping rates at the site. Mr. Krueger stated 3M had also installed two extraction wells, which helps control PFC-contaminated groundwater from reaching the Mississippi River. 3M has proposed to add another extraction well to help control PFC-contaminated groundwater from reaching the river. All extractions wells get treated prior to use at the plant. 3M planned to reduce the pumping rate over a 12- month timeframe to monitor and evaluate the control and look at a possible additional reduction at some point in time, approximately a year out. However, that would not be done without approval of the Minnesota PCA. Part of the issue with the Cottage Grove plant and adding new wells there is they really have to balance all of the water that they’re pumping and treating and discharging through their treatment system. They wanted to look at an overall groundwater management plan for both Woodbury and Cottage Grove containment wells. The Minnesota PCA met with representatives of both cities; they felt it is a very reasonable reduction rate. They thought there should be an increase in sampling frequency than what 3M had proposed (every 6 weeks) and it should take place sooner than that (approximately every 4 weeks) for PFC concentrations, along with water level measurements to make sure they’re still contained. The Minnesota PCA already monitors residential well contaminant levels around the site; there are approximately 24 residential wells that are monitored on an annual basis. The monitoring frequency of those will be increased with 3M monitoring to ensure that there are no impacts or chemical increases in the residential wells. The PCA has asked 3M to develop a detailed contingency communication plan, as far as when they reduce the pumping rates, during their monitoring activities, during their sampling activities, and the sampling results, and they should have ongoing communication with 3M as far as how things look regarding pumping rates and contaminant levels. That information will also be communicated to the MDH and the City. The last time 3M proposed a reduction, in 2011, the PCA also monitored residential wells at that time, but they did not see any type of increase in PFC levels in the wells. There were also no well advisories issued by the MDH. He stated 3M will sample their on-site wells, the PCA will sample the residential wells, plus they’ll split samples when they do some of their on-site work. The PCA samples will go to the MDH for analysis, so they’ll be able to verify and see what 3M’s results are, and there will be ongoing communication regarding the results. Mr. Krueger stated in a study that was done 3M is currently pumping more than what is necessary, as far as containment of the PFC, but they want to ensure there is not a large reduction at one time. Mayor Bailey asked if 3M had figured out had caused a spike in the PFCs to happen in 2015 in Well NW2. Mr. Krueger was told that there was a large excavation done in that area, which would possibly account for some fluctuations. Mayor Bailey stated in the City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 2016 Page 3 past, when there had been a spike, 3M had immediately increased the pumping. Council Member Olsen asked about 3M’s ability to quantify how capture was being maintained; he stated he didn’t like the idea of lesser margin for error to guarantee that more of the PFCs were being pumped out. Mr. Krueger stated that 3M had tried to verify that; when they reduce at one well, the other two barrier wells would be pumping so they could show that there was still containment at the site. Council Member Olsen felt they needed to keep a very close eye on that. Mayor Bailey asked about the additional wells 3M is proposing. Mr. Krueger stated they wanted to add one or two and put them in the right location so they’d get capture, so then there’d be three extraction wells. Originally, they had proposed up to five wells; they had put in two, and it looks like they’re going to need to add another. All of the water goes through 3M’s carbon treatment center before it’s used. Mayor Bailey asked if the ultimate concern was drawing down on the groundwater, if there’s an opportunity to look at options for treatment facilities where water could be reutilized and purposed versus just dumping it into the Mississippi River. He thought that would make sense. Mr. Krueger stated they’d talked to the Met Council, and they know what’s being proposed. 3M doesn’t want to pump and overtreat more water than they need. 3M needs the water at the plant; they just don’t want to handle more water than they really need to. Council Member Olsen stated when the City initially went through this process there were concerns that there were municipal wells that had some PFCs. Additional testing led the City to be concerned that perhaps there was an underground path for some of this material to find its way toward a municipal well or two. He asked Engineer Levitt where things were today regarding that. Engineer Levitt stated at this time the MDH continues to regularly monitor all of the municipal wells. There’s been a very slow decrease in the concentration of PFCs in the wells. There’s a natural gradient that flows from north to south, which is directly in the City’s well field. As the well head protection plan has been updated, the 3M Woodbury disposal site is now within our drinking water capture area, which has created some additional challenges because we’re very aware that this site has direct and immediate impacts to Cottage Grove’s drinking water. One reason they had engaged all of the experts (present tonight) to gather data was because we don’t want the municipal water supply system compromised in any way. Engineer Levitt stated she felt the last time 3M had attempted this reduction they really didn’t have a good understanding of the uniqueness and geology of the site. After hundreds of pages of research, they now have a better understanding of what’s happening there. With the additional monitoring wells and the very minimal reduction that’s proposed as Phase 1, in conjunction with the increased testing and the collaboration and communication, which was not in place last time, she felt this time there is a plan that’s more secure and complete than what they had the last time. They’re not seeing that there’d be any negative impact on the water well field. The hurdle they need to overcome is if this will create challenges with the City’s next well. Council Member Olsen asked Engineer Levitt if she felt confident that all of the proper City Council Meeting Minutes July 20, 2016 Page 4 safeguards are in place to ensure that if there was any sort of spike that it would be caught early and there was remediation in place to address it swiftly, and she confirmed that. Engineer Levitt asked Mr. Krueger about the proposed schedule for the reduction to take place. He stated that 3M was proposing to start the reduction in early August, 2016. Once that begins, there’s a schedule for sampling the barrier wells, the monitoring wells, monitoring water levels, and they will begin communication of results as soon as they are known. The more frequent monitoring will at least go through the next five-to-six months and they can reevaluate at that time to see if they can cut back on the frequency, etc. 4. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Bailey thanked all of the experts for attending and adjourned the Special Meeting at 6:35. Minutes prepared by Judy Graf and reviewed by Joe Fischbach, HR Manager/City Clerk.