Dyna Sluyter writes:
"Graco's expansion is pretty much an office building and distribution
center, not a metal shredder or foundry or chemical plant. What kind and
volume of pollution are you citing in declaring Graco "one of the larger
sources of pollution in the upper river corridor"? Their are some tough
competitors for that title- Hennipen paper, Howe fertilizers, and all the
pesticides that produce those all too green lawns in the sprawling suburbs
upriver."
The Graco building that is going up now is a manufacturing site; the office
tower will come later. According to 1991 Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)
reports, Graco emitted 464,658 TONS of chemicals into the atmosphere in
1990, including such carcinogenic compounds as chromium and nickel and
developmental toxins such as xylene. Trichloroethane was also one of the
emitted compounds which is considered a developmental, reproductive and
environmental toxin and demonstrates persistence in the environment. I do
not know what the new, larger plant will emit; we will have to wait until
they are up and running and make their TRI reports.
Of the 650+ pollution sources in the upper river corridor (with more than
one-half hazardous waste generators) Xcel/NSP is the biggest polluter, and
we cannot exclude individual residents as polluters. But the point to be
made is that Graco was allowed to expand its manufacturing without any
environmental review to help us determine whether it will contribute even
more to the toxic soup within the upper river corridor (and the city) while
other industries are told they must go because they are damaging the
ecosytem. The city keeps saying it will not make the same mistakes, as it
did with the Kondirator metal shredder. But without an environmental
assessment, how do they know this isn't another "mistake?"
The MPCA warned us a couple of years ago that Mpls has an air toxin problem,
and the recent (June 28) "smog" warning, which I believe is the first-ever
for Minneapolis, should scare us into action. But it probably won't.
Unfortunately, unless people see their hands turn green, the effects of
pollution seem too remote. The so-called "mobile" sources (cars and trucks)
produce a significant amount of this pollution as well, and the north side
has I-94 running right along its riverfront to add to the industrial
pollution.
Making glib statements won't make pollution go away. We need to come
together as a community - industry, public agencies and residents - to find
ways to reduce the harmful things we all do to our natural systems. We
cannot continue to sacrifice the health of our children. Jobs and taxes can
be compatible with a clean environment.
Senator Linda Higgins (Mpls north side) introduced a couple of bills this
session after the Mississippi Corridor Neighborhood Coaltion (MCNC) held a
legislative district meeting on environmental issues for the community in
January. One very positive outcome is that N and NE Mpls will now have five
(I think that's the right number) additional pollution monitoring sites.
Hurray for Higgins!
MCNC has tried to bring environmental issues before the neighborhoods in N
and NE so that they have a basis from which to make decisions about
development in their communities, and to take action on harmful practices.
We hope to have another meeting with our legislators this fall. We are
collaborating with Clean Water Action to educate neighborhoods about using
GIS mapping info as a tool for informing residents about what pollution
sources are in their specific neighborhoods. We hope the Hawthorne
neighborhood participates since it has the second highest number of
pollution sources in the upper river corridor.
Fran Guminga
Bottineau, Ward 3
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