--------------BA4B9B5E7CB9F411DDD2947E Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit [Please note: included in this e-message is information shared, with permission, by a non-list member, Dave Stack, Minneapolis.] Since Bassett Creek has been in the news of late, I thought that sharing the following information to be appropriate even though it includes another municipality, Golden Valley, as well as a large, widely-know corporate citizen, General Mills, which is not located within the City of Minneapolis' borders. The City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board plan to invest many millions of dollars into redevelopment and new park land along Bassett Creek. This is downstream from the General Mills' discharge, and it is not in Minneapolis's interest to have the water quality of the creek further degraded. I believe that the City of Minneapolis must get involved with this issue on the side of the DNR. Or perhaps there already are people/departments in Mpls. who are aware of this important issue and working on it -- please let us know. The Minnesota DNR has been working for many years on a program to reduce the amount of clean, drinkable ground water that is used for once-through cooling systems. This cooling water is run through a building's air conditioning system one time, and then is dumped into surface waters. General Mills, at its headquarters office complex in Golden Valley, is not only 'not' planning to reduce usage, it has filed for permission to 'increase' pumping from the Jordan Aquifer. Currently, GM dumps about 250 million gallons of aquifer water into Bassett Creek annually. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has denied GM's request for more aquifer water. The DNR believes that this is wasteful use of a valuable resource that should be protected for higher purposes, for future generations, and that air conditioning in this manner is not a good enough reason to use up potable groundwater. The metro area is expected to gain something like 600,000 new residents in the next 20 years. Clean drinking water can only become more in demand.. A great number of municipalities in the metropolitan area pump their drinking water from the Jordan Aquifer. One of General Mills' arguments is that their draw from the aquifer is very small and insignificant compared to the total draw from all pumping. Though General Mills also says that there is no evidence that the aquifer is depleting. The DNR has serious doubts about this. Due to this denial, General Mills has filed a lawsuit against the DNR, stating that it should be granted a special exemption to the state law. In a net benefit proposal, GM would donate to the City of Golden Valley about 25 acres for a nature preserve. In addition, General Mills would donate about 4 acres of park land for ballfields to Golden Valley, along with a generous amount of park development money. The City of Golden Valley has entered the lawsuit on the side of General Mills as an intervener, and has filed an amicus brief in the lawsuit. Golden Valley does not happen to get its municipal water from the aquifer, but instead is hooked into the Mpls river water system. With the combined efforts of the General Mills Corporation and the City of Golden Valley, it is feared that the DNR may be a little out-gunned here and may need a some help. There have to be better ways to air condition a building without wasting clean, drinkable aquifer water. It would be most helpful to have an expert in stream ecology present information to the public or someone like John Sage of the Green Institute who has a background in "green" building technology. There is the possibility of thermal or chlorine pollution harming the biology of the creek. There is also a need to have the issue of the discharge water containing a fungicide addressed. Larry Sawyer from General Mills indicated in a meeting with the Golden Valley Planning Commission, Open Space and Recreation Commission, and Environmental Commission that a fungicide is also added to the water they use for once-through cooling. He did not say what fungicide is used, nor is it even mentioned in the EAW that a fungicide is added to the water. So far, there has been nothing in the media on this issue. Why not? If you are interested in more information regarding this issue, please check out a website that Dave Stack has set up at: http://www.mninter.net/~stack/aquifer All concerned citizens and organizations are encouraged to send in a written comment during the one month comment period for the Environmental Assessment Worksheet. The EAW is posted at the Golden Valley city website. Not only do we need to weigh in with the City of Golden Valley but we need to hear from Mpls. city officials about our city's involvement -- if any -- re: this serious issue. Corporations, businesses of all sizes, and municipalities need to start getting it "right" about important environmental issues such as this. The technology is there, it simply needs to be applied. Thank you for bearing with this unusually long post. I believe the seriousness of the subject matter warranted its length. Jenny Heiser East Phillips Ward 6 --------------BA4B9B5E7CB9F411DDD2947E Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit <!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> [Please note: included in this e-message is information shared, with permission, by a non-list member, Dave Stack, Minneapolis.] <p>Since Bassett Creek has been in the news of late, I thought that sharing the following information to be appropriate even though it includes another municipality, Golden Valley, as well as a large, widely-know corporate citizen, General Mills, which is not located within the City of Minneapolis' borders. <p>The City of Minneapolis <b>and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board</b> plan to invest many millions of dollars into redevelopment and new park land along Bassett Creek. This is downstream from the General Mills' discharge, and it is not in Minneapolis's interest to have the water quality of the creek further degraded. I believe that the City of Minneapolis must get involved with this issue on the side of the DNR. Or perhaps there already are people/departments in Mpls. who are aware of this important issue and working on it -- please let us know. <p>The Minnesota DNR has been working for many years on a program to reduce the amount of clean, drinkable ground water that is used for once-through cooling systems. This cooling water is run through a building's air conditioning system one time, and then is dumped into surface waters. General Mills, at its headquarters office complex in Golden Valley, is not <br>only 'not' planning to reduce usage, it has filed for permission to 'increase' pumping from the Jordan Aquifer. Currently, GM dumps about 250 million gallons of aquifer water into Bassett Creek annually. <p>The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has denied GM's request for more aquifer water. The DNR believes that this is wasteful use of a valuable resource that should be protected for higher purposes, for future generations, and that air conditioning in this manner is not a good enough reason to use up potable groundwater. The metro area is expected to gain something like 600,000 new residents in the next 20 years. Clean drinking water can only become more in demand.. A great number of municipalities in the metropolitan area pump their drinking water from the Jordan Aquifer. One of General <br>Mills' arguments is that their draw from the aquifer is very small and insignificant compared to the total draw from all pumping. Though General Mills also says that there is no evidence that the aquifer is depleting. The DNR has serious doubts about this. <p>Due to this denial, General Mills has filed a lawsuit against the DNR, stating that it should be granted a special exemption to the state law. In a net benefit proposal, GM would donate to the City of Golden Valley about 25 acres for a nature preserve. In addition, General Mills would donate about 4 acres of park land for ballfields to Golden Valley, along with a generous <br>amount of park development money. The City of Golden Valley has entered the lawsuit on the side of General Mills as an intervener, and has filed an amicus brief in the lawsuit. Golden Valley does not happen to get its municipal water from the aquifer, but instead is hooked into the Mpls river water system. <p>With the combined efforts of the General Mills Corporation and the City of Golden Valley, it is feared that the DNR may be a little out-gunned here and may need a some help. There have to be better ways to air condition a building without wasting clean, drinkable aquifer water. It would be most helpful to have an expert in stream ecology present information to the public or someone like John Sage of the Green Institute who has a background in "green" building technology. There is the possibility of thermal or chlorine pollution harming the biology of the creek. There is also a need to have the issue of the discharge water containing a fungicide addressed. Larry Sawyer from General Mills indicated in a meeting with the Golden Valley Planning Commission, Open Space and Recreation Commission, and Environmental Commission that a fungicide is also added to the water they use for once-through cooling. He did not say what fungicide is used, nor is it even mentioned in the EAW that a fungicide is added to the water. <p>So far, there has been nothing in the media on this issue. Why not? <p>If you are interested in more information regarding this issue, please check out a website that Dave Stack has set up at: <A HREF="http://www.mninter.net/~stack/aquifer">http://www.mninter.net/~stack/aquifer</A> <p>All concerned citizens and organizations are encouraged to send in a written comment during the one month comment period for the Environmental Assessment Worksheet. The EAW is posted at the Golden Valley city website. <p>Not only do we need to weigh in with the City of Golden Valley but we need to hear from Mpls. city officials about our city's involvement -- if any -- re: this serious issue. Corporations, businesses of all sizes, and municipalities need to start getting it "right" about important environmental issues such as this. The technology is there, it simply needs to be applied. <p>Thank you for bearing with this unusually long post. I believe the seriousness of the subject matter warranted its length. <p>Jenny Heiser <br>East Phillips <br>Ward 6</html> --------------BA4B9B5E7CB9F411DDD2947E--
