Star Tribune
Shuttered Stillwater well tests positive for unsafe levels of PFAS, will remain closed
On Wednesday, the Stillwater City Council will talk about a city well — now closed — that when tested late last year had unsafe levels for PFAS, earning a health risk advisory from the Minnesota Department of Health.
The advisory is a first for Stillwater, but a common story in Washington County as a plume of contamination tied to 3M Co. dumping areas in Oakdale, Woodbury, Cottage Grove and the Washington County Landfill fouls drinking water across the region.
“We’ve shut down the well,” said Stillwater City Engineer Shawn Sanders, who added that none of the city’s drinking water currently comes from the contaminated well. “It’s not in operation.”
The state issued the health risk advisory to the Stillwater City Council on Oct. 31., in a memo that advised city officials to notify local consumers about the presence of PFAS in their drinking water supply.
PFAS contamination has been found worldwide, a result of widespread use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in manufacturing for a wide array of products from nonstick pans to stain resistant fabric and carpets, firefighting foam and some products that resist grease, water and oil.
PFAS, in general, are referred to as a forever chemical because they don’t easily break down. PFAS substances have been found in water supplies globally, in food packaging, biosolids, food, and solid waste disposal sites. They have been detected in human blood. The chemicals are considered a health threat known to cause higher cholesterol, change liver function and reduce immune response. They have been linked to thyroid disease and kidney and testicular cancer.
Samples from the now-closed well contained levels of the contaminant that were “well above” the federal “maximum contaminant level” standard, Minnesota Department of Health spokeswoman Amy Barrett said in an email Monday. She said one other Stillwater well was close to that level of concern, while others had trace levels of PFAS.
On Wednesday the City Council will discuss a PFAS communications plan prepared by their consultant, TDKA. The plan calls for sharing PFAS sampling results and steps the city is taking to mitigate PFAS exposure. The city may also consider replacing well #6, according to the plan.
It’s unknown if the plume will spread to contaminate any of the city’s seven other wells, but that’s been the experience in recent years in Lake Elmo and Woodbury, where PFAS contamination has been a problem for years. Some contamination has also been found in neighboring Oak Park Heights, according to the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy activist group that focuses, in part, on drinking water pollutants.
Those cities are among a group of 14 municipalities receiving funds from the $850 million 3M grant created in 2018 to clean up local drinking water systems. It’s not known yet if Stillwater will join that group or be eligible for any cleanup money.
“Mourning Passage” – a list of the names of people killed by police that is repainted on the street annually – would remain, though slightly north of its current location.
While calling the square “a sacred place,” the city would restore vehicular access to the neighborhood’s numerous driveways, garages and alleys, with full access for transit, emergency vehicles and deliveries. But traffic would be calmed with curb extensions, raised trail crossings, a raised intersection and wider sidewalks.
The report acknowledges “emotion” over the city leading the work at the square, with some saying there weren’t enough Black voices involved. Some critics want to see more progress toward protesters’ original 24 “demands for justice,” which include requiring police officers to maintain private liability insurance and firing some leaders of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, before development proceeds, particularly at the People’s Way.
A community-led town hall meeting will be held to discuss an alternative plan on Nov. 6 at Calvary Lutheran Church. Residents say they will urge the city to halt its plan and instead focus on a proposal on health care and housing, saying they want the city to ensure any development honors the legacy of Black lives taken by police violence and the trauma the neighborhood has endured.
Alexander Kado, senior project manager in charge of George Floyd Square, said the city is still taking feedback on the report. There was a public open house dinner dialogue Tuesday night.
Details of the plans include:
Hennepin County has fast-tracked the creation of a youth behavioral health crisis stabilization center in Minneapolis as pressure mounts to help kids with complex mental health needs who are stuck in emergency rooms and detention centers.
County commissioners unanimously signed off Tuesday on a $15 million plan to open the center, as well as an up to $7 million annual agreement for provider Nexus Family Healing to operate the 10- to 15-bed crisis residential program for kids.
“This is long overdue,” County Administrator David Hough said. While the county hopes state lawmakers will address broader youth mental health needs, he added that the county has to act, “because if we don’t, it’s not going to be done for some time.”
He hopes the facility can start operating in three to six months, and said it will serve Hennepin County children and potentially some kids from other counties.
The new center will focus on a gap in services for kids who need short-term residential treatment to stabilize their behaviors while a support plan is created for them. Those kids are often stuck in juvenile detention centers or emergency rooms. Others remain at home with family members who aren’t equipped to meet their intense needs or have to leave the state to get help.
Hennepin County’s crisis stabilization center will include three key services:
Kids will likely stay at the short-term facility for a maximum of 30 to 45 days, said Leah Kaiser, the county’s behavioral health director.
The center will be located on two floors of a building at 1800 Chicago Ave., in Minneapolis, where the county currently offers walk-in mental health and substance use disorder support for adults.
Star Tribune
While some stress as Nov. 5 approaches, many Americans remain hopeful about the election
The early voters arrived at their polling place in a clatter of skateboard wheels and excited chatter.
Tucking their boards under their arms, they nodded to election judge Beatrice Owen and headed in to cast their vote.
It was a small moment, but it made her smile. She holds on to the memory, one of her favorite Election Day recollections, on the long days she and other members of the League of Women Voters spend registering voters and the even longer nights at candidate forums for lesser-known races you have to flip your ballot over to see.
“This is your country,” said Owen, president of the League of Women Voters of St. Paul. Voting, she said, is a responsibility and a civic duty.
In an election cycle churning with anxiety, stress and rage, Owen still sees Minnesotans approaching the ballot box with all the hope and enthusiasm of a first-time voter on a skateboard.
“I think, overall, people are kind of excited,” she said. Excited enough to research the constitutional amendments on this year’s ballot, excited enough to read up on the down-ballot judicial candidates, excited enough to walk up to a League of Women Voters booth at an event and learn more. “It’s like they’re saying ‘I’m taking responsibility for my country.’ I think that reflects in a positive, upbeat attitude.”
Hearing about positive, upbeat voters is a pleasant change from news of a stressed-out, doomscrolling electorate lying awake at night wondering what is going to happen to those of us on Donald Trump’s ever-growing enemies list.
The 2024 presidential election is tying us in knots. The American Psychological Association’s annual Stress in America report finds stressed, anxious nation where politics is fraying families and fueling fears about the nation’s very future.
