Star Tribune
Coal ash spill in northern Minnesota was five times larger than first thought
Minnesota Power now estimates that some 5.5 million gallons of water, siphoned off the top of a disposal site for coal ash, spilled through a cracked pipe outside its coal plant.
When the Duluth-based utility first reported the spill earlier this week, it had estimated that 1 million gallons of the tainted water had bubbled up from an underground pipe. The pipe sends the liquid back into the Boswell Energy Center in Cohasset, Minn., for re-use.
A “significant portion” of the water saturated the ground around the spill, the company now says. At least some of the water reached Blackwater Creek, flowing on to Blackwater Lake, a dammed section of the Mississippi River, according to Minnesota Power and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
“The updated spill volume does not change the spill mitigation and response activities underway at the site and has been reported to regulators,” the utility’s statement read.
It is not clear how concentrated the pollution in the spilled water is. It was sucked up from on top of a pond where the plant had previously deposited fly ash, or fine particles that are carried by flue gases, between 1980 and 2015.
“The MPCA remains focused on evaluating concentrations and extent of potential pollutants released and the impacts to soils, Blackwater Creek and Lake, aquatic life and wild rice beds,” the agency wrote.
Testing is underway for what contaminants might have spread from the spill, and MPCA said Friday that it had hired its own contractor for sampling and monitoring at the site.
Both MPCA and the utility said that sulfate, a mineral salt, has been found in levels above state limits in place to protect wild rice, but below levels of concern for drinking water. In addition to the sulfate, tests of the creek have also found higher levels of boron, an element that occurs in coal ash but that is not necessarily harmful to people who consume it.
Initial testing has not found mercury, arsenic and selenium, all common components in coal ash, from the area of the creek where contamination is highest, according to Minnesota Power’s statement.
MPCA and the Minnesota Department of Health have been evaluating downstream drinking water users, but almost all use wells. The next downstream community to draw its drinking water directly from the Mississippi River is St. Cloud, according to an MDH statement.
Cleanup crews on the site had already installed booms in the water and an earthen berm. Now, Minnesota Power said it plans to excavate tainted soil as part of its mitigation efforts. The area has been surveyed for cultural resources in consultation with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, which has reservation lands to the west of the spill site.
A participant in an inline skating race held Saturday on Saturday died following the race, race officials announced on a Facebook page Sunday.
Mike Lufholm, 36, of Minneapolis, was remembered in Northshore Inline Marathon organizers’ Facebook post as an active member of the rollerblading community. He died following an apparent medical incident at the race course.
“Mike was a true ambassador for inline skating with a passion for the sport,” one commenter said. Another recalled seeing him in Duluth before the race with his wife and newborn daughter Friday.
Lufholm grew up in northern Minnesota and began skating in middle school, according to his team member profile on Rollerblade.com.
Race officials thanked participants who came to Lufholm’s aid, first responders and medical professionals who helped provide care.
“Our hearts go out to his wife, daughter, family, and all those who were close to him. He made such an impact on the rollerblading community,” the Facebook post said.
A 27-acre wildfire believed to be caused by human activity near Ely in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was 25% contained Sunday morning, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
The Wood Lake fire was discovered around 10 a.m. Tuesday on an island on Wood Lake, a news release from the U.S. Forest Service-Superior National Forest said. It caused the closure of an entry point on the lake, as well as several nearby lakes and portages.
“Firefighters made good progress yesterday with higher humidity levels, continuing to reinforce the fire’s containment line,” the news release said Sunday, noting that firefighters are making contingency plans around Moose Lake.
Firefighters from Connecticut are assisting in fighting the fire.
The fire is under investigation, and Superior National Forest law enforcement are seeking any information about how the fire started.
A sheriff’s deputy wounded a man during a standoff in western Minnesota early Sunday.
The Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office was called for a welfare check at a house near Clarkfield, south of Montevideo, Saturday afternoon, the agency said in a news release. When officers arrived, the man they meant to check on fled into a farm field with a rifle, the release said.
Sheriff’s deputies rushed neighbors out of the house next to the field, and said the man pointed his rifle at them before running into the just-vacated house.
Deputies surrounded the house and tried to talk to the person, but called a SWAT team when they could not persuade him to come outside. Members of the Kandiyohi-Meeker-Willmar SWAT team arrived and also tried to talk the person out of the house.
The man fired at the SWAT team, according to the sheriff’s office. A member of that SWAT team shot back, hitting the man in the leg. The standoff continued.
Two other SWAT teams relieved the Kandiyohi-Meeker-Willmar team after about eight hours, according to the sheriff’s office.
Just after 6 a.m. Sunday, the man left the house and shot a long gun at the SWAT teams. Another SWAT team member shot back and hit the man.
The man was taken to HCMC by helicopter and was in stable condition Sunday afternoon.
