Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contact:  Ralph Pribble, 651-757-2657

Saint Paul, Minn. --  The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has placed on public notice revised state and federal permits under which the 3M Company is authorized to treat and discharge wastewater at its Cottage Grove manufacturing facility.  The 30-day public notice period began January 3, 2011. 

The permits are authorized under the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System and the Minnesota State Disposal System.  For practicality, they are combined into one permit referred to as an NPDES/SDS permit, which is reissued (and revised as needed) approximately every five years. 

A public information meeting has been scheduled to discuss the draft permit on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011.  The meeting is at the Washington County South Service Center, 13000 Ravine Parkway, in Cottage Grove.  The meeting will begin with an informal open house at 6:00 p.m., followed by a short presentation at 6:30 and time for questions until 9:00. 

The revised permit contains mostly minor changes or additions to discharge parameters which have been regulated and monitored under previous permits at the facility.  One significant new addition to the permit is effluent discharge limits for one perfluorochemical (PFC).  PFCs are a group of 3M proprietary chemicals, some of which are manufactured at the facility.  They have not been regulated in wastewater discharge permits in Minnesota until very recently. 

The stretch of the Mississippi River below the 3M Cottage Grove facility is listed as "impaired" under the federal Clean Water Act due to the presence of one PFC, perfluorooctanoic sulfonate (known as PFOS), in the tissues of fish taken from that part of the river.  The new effluent limits for the Cottage Grove facility are designed to keep the facility’s wastewater discharge from contributing further to the PFOS impairment in that reach of the Mississippi.
 
The revised permit will allow the discharge of groundwater from capture wells that will be installed to intercept PFC-contaminated groundwater and reduce PFC impacts to the river.  Because treatment and removal of PFCs in wastewater is an emerging technology, the permit includes a schedule of activities to identify and optimize treatment capabilities to achieve compliance with the final discharge limits, which are in the very low parts per trillion.  More information on the permit is available on the MPCA website at www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/about-mpca/mpca-news/public-notices/public-notices.html.

Revised permits for air emissions and hazardous-waste handling at the facility will be issued separately, and are expected to be placed on public notice later in the winter.  Separate public notice periods and information meetings will be scheduled for those permits as well.