All News Releases By Date

Update Meeting on Cass Lake, Minn., Superfund Site June 23, 6:30 P.M.

Release Date: 06/10/2009
Contact Information: Mick Hans, 312-353-5050, [email protected] Don de Blasio, 312-886-4360, [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 09-OPA104

(Chicago - June 9, 2009) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 will hold a meeting to update residents on the development of cleanup plans at the St. Regis Paper Superfund site in Cass Lake, Minn. A public meeting will be held Tuesday, June 23, 6:30 p.m., at Leech Lake Tribal College, Room 100, A-Wing, 113 Balsam N.W., Cass Lake.
EPA is working with International Paper Co. and BNSF, as well as support partners Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, to develop options to permanently reduce health risks at the site. A feasibility study to evaluate a number of options is now under way. Once the study is complete, EPA will propose a recommended approach and present it to area residents, along with hosting a public hearing. The hearing will likely occur in late 2009 or early 2010. The June 23 meeting will provide a progress report and opportunities to ask questions of EPA and its partners.
The St. Regis Paper Superfund site was a wood treatment facility that operated from about 1958 to 1985. The site was initially cleaned up in the 1980s by its former owner, Champion International. IP is the current property owner and continues to treat ground water from the site.


For special accommodations at the June 23 meeting, contact EPA Community Involvement Coordinator Don de Blasio by June 19 at 800-621-8431, Ext. 64360 or [email protected]. More information about the St. Regis Superfund site is available at Cass Lake Library, Leech Lake Tribal College, the Bemidji State University Library and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Division of Resource Management. For more information, please visit www.epa.gov/region5/sites/stregis/.