The Environmental Protection Agency is taking over the cleanup of a Burnsville, Minnesota landfill — which could mean big bills for businesses, school districts and cities around the metro that sent trash there.
The state has spent months negotiating with the landfill owner in hopes of avoiding the EPA’s Superfund cleanup process. That process would likely involve protracted lawsuits as the EPA tries to recover costs from companies and municipalities that used the landfill, local government officials said. Officials expect that those legal expenses will make the EPA’s cleanup far more expensive than the state’s $64.4 million plan to fix the site.
Freeway Landfill, located south of the Minnesota River along Interstate 35W, will be the first landfill in Minnesota to go through the federal Superfund program — unless a last-minute agreement is reached, MPCA Assistant Commissioner Kirk Koudelka said. But such a deal between the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the McGowan family, which owns the landfill, appears unlikely.
State officials said if the landfill is left as-is it could eventually contaminate the environment and drinking water in the area.