Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contact: Stephen Mikkelson, (218) 855-5001 Brainerd, Minn. -- The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is starting its five-year review of the Brainerd/Baxter, Minn., Burlington Northern Railroad Tie Plant Superfund site cleanup. Community input in this review is particularly helpful in two areas: observations of the site over time and ways the cleanup may have helped the area. Superfund law requires that sites that have been cleaned up but still have allowable levels of contamination be reviewed at least every five years. This, the fourth such review of the Burlington Northern site, will be completed by Sept. 30, 2008. The review is to ensure that the cleanup remedies were effective and protected human health and the environment. The review process includes site inspections, monitoring and investigation data review, local government and citizen interviews, and public comment collection. It also summarizes site information, cleanup techniques and possible future actions. The approximately-70-acre site lies within the city limits of Baxter and Brainerd. State Highways 210 and 48 border the property to the north and south, respectively, and the Mississippi River flows about 3,000 feet east of the site. Burlington Northern operated a railroad-tie-treating plant on the site from 1907 to 1985. Ties were pressure-treated at the plant with heated creosote-coal tar or creosote-fuel oil mixtures. The primary groundwater contaminant sources were shallow lagoons, which were used to hold process wastewater from the time the plant opened until October 1982. In the cleanup, contaminated soil and sludges were consolidated into a permanent, on-site underground storage containment vault. Groundwater and soil contamination is still an issue that the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad is working to clean up, with oversight from the MCPA. More information about the site and the Superfund program can be found on the MPCA Web site at/programs/superf_p.html#site. Public comment should be submitted to Susan Johnson, MPCA, 525 S. Lake Ave., Ste. 400, Duluth, MN 55802 or e-mailed to susan.johnson@pca.state.mn.us. Comments must be received by July 25, 2008.