Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Project manager: Denise Leezer, (651) 297-8236 Information officer: Nancy Miller, (507) 280-3590 ROCHESTER, Minn. -- The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) will draft an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposed expansion of the Olmsted County Waste to Energy Facility. The facility is located along the west side of Silver Creek Road, 0.4 mile north of College View Road East in Rochester. The MPCA published a Scoping Environmental Assessment Worksheet for the project and held a public information meeting about the project last July. In September 2005, the MPCA Citizens' Board adopted a Final Scoping Decision Document for an EIS on the proposal by Olmsted County Public Works. Olmsted County Public Works proposes the addition of a third municipal waste combustor at its waste-to-energy facility. The third combustor, with a planned capacity of 200 tons per day (TPD), would operate in conjunction with the two existing 100-TPD combustors. The EIS will include an in-depth examination of several issues, including a focused human health risk analysis of toxic air emissions, an analysis of mercury emissions and local deposition, and a discussion of alternatives as well as economic and social impacts. A more detailed description of each of these major areas can be found in the Final EIS Scoping Decision Document on the MPCA Web site at/news/eaw/index.html.