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Drycleaner Fund: Environmental Response and Reimbursement Account

While drycleaning shops have kept people in clean clothing over the years, some shops used to also release a not-so-clean byproduct -- chemicals. Some drycleaning chemicals were not handled properly in the past, before their risks were known. Past spills, leaks or careless disposal of these chemicals have resulted in soil, ground-water and surface-water contamination at various sites throughout Minnesota. Now drycleaning shops face the cost of cleaning up problems from their past.

The Minnesota Legislature, working with drycleaners' trade associations and the MPCA, established the Drycleaner Environmental Response and Reimbursement Account (Drycleaner Fund) in 1995. The law provides a means to pay for the cleanup of soil, ground-water or surface-water contamination at drycleaning facilities. Under the Drycleaner Fund, most drycleaning facilities that provided services to the general public may apply for reimbursement for their investigation and cleanup work. Annual registration fees paid by drycleaning facilities, as well as solvent fees collected by retailers of particular drycleaning chemicals, will be used to finance the Drycleaner Fund.

Fact Sheet and Forms

Listed below is a detailed fact sheet about the Drycleaner Fund, and an application for reimbursement form:

• Drycleaner Fund: Help for Environmental Cleanup Costs
• Application for Reimbursement Form
• Drycleaner Fund Assignment Certification Form

More Information

For more information about the Drycleaner Fund, contact Patrice Jensen, MPCA Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup (VIC) Program, 651-757-2465, or Allen Dotson, MPCA Municipal Division, 651-757-2315.

Links to Related Sites

State Coalition for Remediation of Drycleaners - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency