Today, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency added sites in St. Paul, New Hope and Rochester to the state’s permanent priority list of contaminated sites that need further investigation and cleanup under Minnesota’s Environmental Response and Liability Act.
The three former industrial sites contain pollutants that pose risks to human health and the environment. Two are former dry cleaners that may affect indoor air and groundwater because of solvents, including tetrachloroethylene (PCE, Perc) and trichloroethylene (TCE). The third site is a former manufacturing and metal plating facility with TCE contamination linked to a chemical release from an underground storage tank.
“Adding these sites to the Minnesota Permanent List of Priorities lets us leverage our resources to address contamination,” said MPCA Assistant Commissioner Kirk Koudelka. “Cleaning up contaminated sites to reduce exposure to pollutants is one of MPCA’s top strategic goals,” he added.
The agency has worked on the sites for several years. Each site lacks a responsible party that is willing or able to complete the required investigation and cleanup.
On Dec. 15, 2025, the agency announced plans to add the sites and opened a public comment period.
- Selby Avenue and Grotto Street in St. Paul – site of a former dry cleaner
- Dison’s Cleaners and Launderers in Rochester – site of a former dry cleaner
- Electronic Industries in New Hope – site of a former circuit board manufacturer and metal plating operation
With these additions, the state’s priority list now includes 98 sites. The PLP is a subset of the Superfund program and is used to identify locations in need of cleanup to protect human health and the environment. MPCA adds and removes sites as merited. For more information about cleanup programs, please visit Minnesota’s Superfund webpage.
