Contact: Sam Brungardt, 651-757-2249
St. Paul, Minn. — The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) expects that next week a licensed contractor will begin to remove and properly dispose of hazardous materials from the Capri Beauty Salon building in Byron. This will prepare the building for demolition later this month.
The Capri Beauty Salon is located at the intersection of Fourth Street and Byron Avenue in Byron, a city west of Rochester in Olmsted County. The building occupies a site that is polluted with tetrachloroethene. This chemical, also known as PCE, is a solvent that has been used in the dry-cleaning industry.
MPCA Site Manager Nile Fellows said the contamination at the site is believed to have occurred more than 40 years ago, before the building was occupied by the beauty salon. The contaminant was released at ground level on the north side of the building, and from there it migrated through the soils to a depth of about 15 feet. PCE has been detected in groundwater at the site at levels that exceed Minnesota Department of Health standards. Vapors from the contaminated soil also affected indoor air quality in the Capri Beauty Salon building.
The MPCA finished its investigation of soil and groundwater contamination at the property earlier this year, and agency representatives explained their plan to clean up the polluted site at a Feb. 27 meeting of the Byron City Council.
Fellows said the agency decided to buy the building and demolish it. This, he explained, would allow impacted soils in the source area to be excavated and disposed of at an approved landfill. Restrictions will then be placed on the property, limiting the way it may be used, because of potential soil and groundwater contamination remaining outside the source area. After that, more soil vapor testing will be conducted to ensure that PCE vapors are not entering neighboring buildings.
For more information, read the fact sheet titled, 
Proposed cleanup plan for Capri Beauty Salon Site (g-55-04) , on the MPCA website.
For additional details about the cleanup, contact Nile Fellows (651-757-2352, nile.fellows@state.mn.us).
