More time and money needed for former U.S. Steel site
Millions of dollars of remediation work spanning over decades hasn't eliminated contamination around the U.S. Steel Superfund site Southwest of Duluth in Morgan Park. A public meeting is planned for this evening to determine a way forward after new surveys discovered pollution on the nearby land and in a creek next to the St. Louis River. The Duluth News Tribune reports:
Coal tar, remnants of steel mill operations decades ago, is seeping to the surface of the property, said Susan Johnson, project manager for the [Minnesota Pollution Control Agency], and the extent of coal tar and heavy oil pollution in the creek and river is greater than earlier believed. The site could take years longer and millions of dollars more to fix.
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The Tribune reports that $12 million has been spent on remediation at the site so far.
Major industrial operations ceased at the site in 1979 and a wire mill continued until 1987. A remediation plan was enacted two years later that involved U.S. Steel, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and a community working group.
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