by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
The landfill at the former Verso paper-mill property in Sartell will probably have to be closed and maintained because the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency filed notice that it intends to not renew an operational permit for the landfill.
According to a document released by the MPCA, the main reason for not reissuing a landfill permit is because the current owner of the property, AIM Development, has not been given permission by the City of Sartell to continue operation of the landfill in the form of a rezoning amendment or a conditional-use permit.
AIM can contest the MPCA decision, which would involve a public hearing and other processes.
The MPCA first issued a landfill permit in 1984 to Champion International Corp., the then-owner of the paper mill. The landfill was a repository for industrial solid waste from the paper-mill operation to contain wood debris, boiler ash, scrubber cake and other approved wastes generated by the paper plant. Since that time, Verso purchased the plant and the permit was renewed. But in 2012, the entire paper-plant operation closed permanently following an explosion, fire and one fatality. The MPCA landfill permit expired in March 2014.
AIM applied for a permit renewal to expand the landfill and to allow permitted process to accept other kinds of waste. But the City of Sartell notified the MPCA the place where the landfill stands is zoned now for only light-industrial usage, not suitable for landfill operations.
Other problems remain, according to the MPCA document. The landfill covers 13 acres at the former paper-mill site. Two acres of it now have a permanent cover over them, but the rest of the landfill is covered only by a foot or so of dirt. The MPCA document states the landfill is still causing millions of gallons of leachate that go into the wastewater system and gets treated at the St. Cloud Water Treatment Plant.
MPCA said it is willing to work with AIM to close the landfill and to install a permanent cover of the landfill to make it environmentally safe and secure.
The decision not to reissue the landfill permit by the MPCA won’t become final until after Oct. 27 in order to allow for a public comment period that began Sept. 28.
Comments can be sent to Julie Henderson, Industrial Division, MPCA, 520 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, Minn. 55155. Henderson’s email is julie.henderson@state.mn.us.
