CONFERENCE
in the matter of
Pollution of the Interstate Waters of the
UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER
VOLUME VI
St. Pa.-'., /ilrnescta
February 8, 1964
,S. DEPARTMEN1 Of HLALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
Washington, D.C.
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OOOR64007
CONFERENCE
in the matter of
Pollution of the Interstate Waters of the
UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER
VOLUME VI
St. Paul, Mirnescua
February 8, 1966
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
Washington, B.C.
230 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604
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VOLUME VI
CONTENTS.
STATEMENT OF: PAGE
John P. Badalich (Con't)
Demetrius G. Jelatis 1513
Clarence A. Johannes 1530
J. L. Porterfield 1537
Dean K. Johnson 1541
Warren Bjorklund 1555
Arlin Albrecht 1569
George Serbesku 1578
Mrs. Edith Pellcr 1581
Closing Statements 1699
Adjournment 1712
Appendum 1714
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1506
(No response.)
MR. SMITH: Mr. Thlmsen, will you take over on
this, please?
MR. THIMSEN: St. Paul Park:
"A secondary treatment plant was constructed
here In 1955 and enlarged in 1963. The plant
consists of a primary settling tank, a high-rate
trickling filter, secondary settling tank, chlorlna-
tion contact tank, arid separate sludge digestion
tank. It is designed to treat sewage and waste at
the rate of 0.4 mgd Kith a 5-day BOD of 200 mg/1
to produce an effluent of kO mg/1."
MR. SMITH: Is there a representative here of
Inver Grove Township?
(No response. )
MR. THIMSEN: "A sewage treatment plant to
serve part of the South Grove Development was
constructed in 1963. The plant consists of a
commlnutor, two extended aeration units, a settling
tank, a sludge holding tank, and chlorinatlon
facilities. The unltB are designed to provide
secondary treatment by the extended aeration modi-
fication of the activated sludge process for a
sewage flow of about 0.03 mgd with a 5-day BOD of
approximately 268 mg/1. The effluent is discharged
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1507
"to a ditch leading to the Mi8*liMppi River,"
MR. SMITH: Cottage Grove Township?
MR. THIMSEN; "The plant was constructed In
1962 and la designed to provide secondary treatment.
The plant consists of a bar screen, primary settling
tank, aeration tank, secondary settling tank,
chlorinator, and chlorination contact tank, heated
sludge digestion tank and sludge drying beds. It
was designed to provide treatment by the activated
sludge process for a flow of 0.4 mgd with a 5-day
BOD of about 200 mg/1. The units are considered
i
capable of producing an effluent with a 5-day BOD :
I
of approximately 20 mg/1." I
i
i
"Plans for a second stage addition were j
approved on May 22, 1963, and construction is
underway. The changes include a mechanically
cleaned bar screen and chamber, primary settling
tank, aeration tank, secondary settling tank,
chlorination tank, sludge digestion tank and
alterations to the control building. The proposed
changes will Increase the treatment capacity of the
plant to 0.80 mgd with a 5-day BOD of about 200 mg/1.
The final effluent of the new plant will be approxi-
mately 20 mg/1 of 5-day BOD."
MR. SMITH: Hastings?
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1508
MR. THIMSEN: "The plant was constructed In
1956 and is designed to provide primary sedimenta-
tion and chlorlnation. The plant consists of a
cutting screen, settling tank, chlorination facili-
ties, sludge digestion tank, and sludge beds. It
is designed to treat 0.6 mgd of sewage and wastes
with a 5-day BOD of 300 tng/1 to produce an effluent
of approximately 190 sng/1."
MR. SMITH: We would like now to go to the St.
Croix River, which comes in at this point. I have statement
from both Stlllwater and Bayport which I would like to read.
The first statement is from Banister Engineering Company,
dated February 6, 1964, arid it reads:
"This firm, as Consulting Engineers for the
City of Stillwater, have been directed by Mr. L. R.
Brower, City Clerk, to write this letter as a
statement by the City of Stillwater concerning its
sewage treatment facilities.
"The City of Stillwater has a primary sewage
treatment plant for which construction started in
1959 and was completed In 1961. The project con-
structed at that time included the sewage treatment
plant> two large pumping stations and an inter-
ceptor sewer. Part of the aewage collection system
In the City of Stillwatar consists of separate
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1309
"sanitary sewers but a substantial Mount of com-
bined sewers exist. Many of theae were constructed
prior to 1870.
"All new sewers being constructed are
separate sanitary sewers. Consideration is being
given to a gradual separation of the combined and
sanitary sewers.
"The City currently has no definite time
schedule for providing secondary sewage treatment
facilities. However, the present dry weather flows
tributary to the sewage plant are substantially
below the dry weather flows for which the sewage
treatment plant was initially designed."
MR. STEIN: Do you have the requirement that they
put in secondary treatment?
MR. SMITH: We have no requirements, '^here is a
policy statement indicating that there will be no new
sewage treatment plants on the St. Croix River without
providing primary and secondary treatment, and that those
providing primary treatment must in the near future provide
secondary treatment. There is no time schedule.
MR. STEIN: You don't have a time schedule?
MR. SMITH: No, sir.
MR. STEIN: Is your State agency considering
establishing a tine schedule to require the secondary
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1510
treatment or not ?
MR. SMITH: It certainly has been discussed.
I will have to defer on that question now,
MR. STEIN; I Just raised the question. Thank
you.
MR. SMITH: I also have a statement from Banister
Engineering Company with regard to Bayport, and it reads as
follows:
"This letter constitutes a statement by the
Village Council of the Village of Bayport on behalf
of the Village of Bayport pertaining to sewage
treatment facilities now provided by the Village
and proposed to be provided.
"The Village of Bayport currently has in
operation a sewage treatment plant of the activated
sludge type receiving the sewage and wastes from
a sanitary sewer collection system, which includes
the sanitary wastes from the State Prison. The
plant has been adequate, but because of flows from
the State Prison being substantially greater than
those originally anticipated the plant has been
overloaded for the past three or four years.
"The Village Council recognizes this fact
and will receive bids on February 24, 1964, for
the construction of Improved and enlarged facilities
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1511
"having a capacity anticipated to •>« adequate
for future conditions for quite a few years. The
plant will be of the contact stabilization type
and the degree of treatment anticipated will be a
minimum of 90# removal of B.O.D.
"The Council has directed that we, as Village
Engineers, make this statement."
MR. STEIN: Mr. Smith, I don't know if you want
to answer this, but I think this is beginning to clarify
the policy.
Presumably, if any of these people come in for
a permit, they would have to provide at least secondary
treatment before you would give them a permit. Is that so?
MR. SMITH: This is correct. If there are any
new ones, yes.
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
MR. SMITH: I would like now to go to the
Vermlllion River, and, Mr. Thimsen, would you read the
statement for the Hastings State Hospital?
MR. THIMSEN: Yes, Sir.
"The Hastings State Hospital sewage treatment
plant was constructed in 1937* with additions in
19^9. It is a secondary plant and consists of a
flow measuring device, bar screen, comnlnutor,
primary clarlfier, two aerators, chlorlnation unit,
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1512
"heated sludge digester, and sludge beds. The plant
Is designed to treat sewage and laundry wastes by
the activated sludge process. The waste flow is
0.15 mgd and has a 5-day BOD of 3^0 tng/1. The
plant is designed to produce an effluent of approxi-
mately 20 mg/1. Discussions have recently been
reported concerning a possible connection of the
hospital to the Hastings sewer system."
MR. SMITH: I would like next to go to the
Cannon River and take Cannon Palls. Would you read that
one, Mr. Thlmsen?
MR. THIMSEN: "Plans and specifications for
the proposed plant were approved by the Commission
on October 8, 1963. The plant will be a secondary
plant consisting of a primary settling tank, a high-
rate trickling filter, a secondary settling tank,
a chlorine contact tank and chlorination equipment,
sludge digesters, sludge drying beds, and control
building. The plant is designed to provide treat-
ment for sewage and waste at the rate of 0.50 mgd,
including the malting plant wastes. The raw 5-day
BOD of about 360 mg/1 will be reduced to about
75 mg/1."
MR. SMITH: Again going down the Mississippi
River, I would like to call on Mayor Jelatis of Red Wing.
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1513
D. 0. Jelatis
STATEMENT OP DEMETRIUS Q. JELATIS,
MAYOR OP RED WING, MINNESOTA
MAYOR JELATIS: Mr. Chairman and conferees:
My name is Demetrius Q. Jelatis. I am Mayor of
Red Wing, a downstream community.
I have a copy of our annual operations report of
our sewage treatment plant for the last year, 1963, and I
can enter this for the record. Also, our plant engineer,
Mr. George Williams, is here and can answer any questions i
regarding a point that may come up.
I would like to preface my statement by asserting,
first, that nothing I have said in the past or am saying
today should be interpreted as criticism of the motivation
or as implying a lack of devotion on the part of our Water
Pollution Control Commission. Theirs is a monumental task,
hamstrung, as Dr. Margraves so eloquently described, by a
lack of funds and personnel, as well as inadequacies n
existing legislation.
What I have to say is Intended to Indicate, in
no uncertain terms, that we believe all that we are currently
doing and planning is not enough*
I must apologize in advance for the inevitable
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D. G. Jelatls
duplication in ray prepared statement of matters that have
already been covered adequately by others.
Last spring the oil pollution of the Mississippi
following the ice break-up dramatically called to the atten-
tion of the general public a situation that previously
was well known only to an informed minority, namely, that
the Great Mississippi below St. Paul could equally well be
called the "Great Sewer." While the resulting spectacular
slaughter of some thousands of migrating waterfowl shocked
and disgusted nature lovers all over the country, that
deplorable incident represents only a minor Insult in com-
parison to the continuing day-by-day pollution of this
stream.
To add to the dismal sum of scatological
statistics, I call attention to the documented fact that
roughly two-thirds of the human excrement flushed down the
toilets of this capital city flows nearly unchanged into the
river, which less than fifty miles downstream bathes the
banks and nearby beaches of our City of Red Wing, and becomes
the water playground of thousands of local and transient
users In Lake Pepin and the beautiful Hiawatha Valley area.
The essentially untreated two-thirds of the metropolitan
area sewage comes from an equivalent population of some two
million people.
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1515
D, Q. Jelatls
Let us now turn to my downstream community of j
i
Red Wing, with a sewage equivalent population of some wenty
I
thousand. The 1963 annual report of our treatment plant j
!
discloses that the average treatment level produced an 87 j
percent reduction in BOD, treating about 1.5 million gallons
per day, and reducing an average daily incoming BOD of
2,645 pounds to an effluent of 334 pounds. This treatment
plant was completed just a few years ago at a capital outlay
of over $2 Billion, nearly $200 per capita of Red Wing's
population. To sake «y point, I need two additional
pieces of information: river flow and water quality in the
vicinity of Red Wing. Lacking exact current figures, I
am using for rough estimation data for 1956 from a Minneapoli
St. Paul Sanitary District report. River flow just above
Red Wing In the winter months was about 7»000 and in the
siumer months 15,000 cubic feet per second, so we can take
a figure of 10,000 as a fair representation. The same report
shows some 3 to k ppm of dissolved oxygen and 2 ppra BOD,
which may be even worse at the present time. Combining these
data with our plant operation figures I come to the concluslo
that our effluent adds only l/200th of one ppm to the BOD
and, even more astonishing, that were we to dump all our raw
sewage untreated into the river, it would add l/25th of one
ppm or only 2 percent of the BOD burden in the river which
s-
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1516
D. G. Jelatis
Red Wing receives from upstream.
I do not introduce these figures to pride our-
selves on civic virtue. As a matter of record, Red Wing
was forced into sewage treatment by action of the Water
Pollution Control Commission. But I do take pride in our
community for setting a good example by voluntarily adding,
at considerable cost, the secondary treatment facilities
providing the treatment level* Just described, and far
exceeding the minimum requirements of the Pollution Control
Commission. Further, I feel that this record gives ua the
right to demand better treatment from our upstream neighbors.
We are painfully aware that other factors besides
metropolitan sewage effluents contribute to the degradation
of the Mississippi and must also be considered in a total
effort of stream Improvement. I merely mention some of the
obvious problems requiring attention; the cleaning of
barges, with obnoxious wastes pumped out into the river;
the lack of controls and mandatory monitoring on numerous
process water and other effluent lines of manufacturing
,lants which, in many cases, empty unobserved underwater
into the riverj the immense tonnages of topsoil and organic
matter flushed into the river with every rain because of
inadequate water retention resulting from poor soil con-
servation practices. But even if all of these and similar
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1517
D. G. Jelatis
problems were miraculously solved, the metropolitan sewage
effluents at present and even proposed future levels would
continue to add an Intolerable and morally unjustifiable
burden on an irreplaceable natural resource.
It la hard to accept, at a time when we lightly
undertake expensive and technically demanding projects of
space exploration, the conclusion that we lack the technical
and financial resources to clean up the environment which
we have heretofore felt free to exploit and pollute at will.
We pride ourselves on our technological accomplishments
and on our bountiful material goods: automobiles and super-
highways, telephonest radio and television, and electrical
appliances by the tens and hundreds In even modest homes .
We have cone a long way towards placidly accepting the
supremacy of material and economic over human values.
Imaginative poets often see things more clearly and earlier
than the rest of us, and I am reminded of a sonnet by the
philosopher-poet George Santayana. He says:
"My heart rebels against my generation
Which talks of freedom, yet is slave to riches,
And, tolling 'neath each day's ignoble burden
Boasts of the morrow.
No space for noonday rest or midnight watches, j
!
I
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1518
D. Q. Jelatis
"No purest Joy of breathing under heaven,
Wretched themselves, they heap, to make them happy,
Many posueaslona. ..."
If we do not, at this late date, make a supreme,
concerted effort to undo the damage we have already done,
we will all richly deserve Santayana's concluding Indictment
ti
• • • •
You multiply distresses, and your children
Surely will curse you."
Thank you.
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1519
RLP WING WAGTLTREATMENT PLANT
Annual Operation Renort
]963
/'•rerare Flow ,-,-ilJons per dciy __ 1,544,700
Total t Low :->r year ___ _ _____ "ZTZZZZZZZZZZ _~ZZZZZ~ 563,816,000
''veraqe; Sludge gallons per day 5,09b
f >t a ' -Sludge for year _____ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ 1> 8GO >°°°
Aver ve Cubic Feet per day of Grit and Screenings 12.5
Tot 3l Grit and Screenings for year 4,550
Vypjvape n.O.D. of Influent P. r.^_ZZZZZZZZZ_ZZZZ_~_ZZ"Z~_ 20b
•"v-r^e B.O.D. of Effluent P.P.'-'. ______________ 26
'"ri7e Pounds of 3.0.0. per day Influent 2,645
Averse Pounds of R.O.D. per day Effluent" ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 334
";ibic feet of- Sludge Gas used for Heat ___________ 3,752,680
"ubic feet of Sludpe Gas wasted 985,470
Ton I Gallons Fuel Oil used __ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ 3,360
The Impeller and Shaft Sleeve had to he replaced in one pump at the lift
Vt itlon. ThiTi was due to pumpirnT grit which was bein^ carried through the crit
•r.nnnel at nip.ht when no operator was on duty to run the grit collectors. Time
-locks were installed on the collectors to run them at regular intervals.
The city water line going into the r ift Station froze during a long cold
".r>ell in January. A tap in the Lift Station is left dripping during cold
weather nov; to keen this from happening again,
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1520
D. G. Jelatis
MR. STEIN: Thank you, Mayor. That io a very
excellent statement covering the gamut, from the depth of
the sewers right up to the highest heavenly-llke poetry.
i
Are there any comments or questions?
MR. SMITH: Yes.
MR. STEIN: Mayor, would you wait Just a moment,
please?
MAYOR JELATIS: Surely. :
MR. SMITH: I think too frequently we refer to
the BOD removal, and from that deduct that the remainder ;
of the material is equivalent to raw, untreated sewage, as \
j
the Mayor states. j
Now, most of us know this is not quite correct. '
We are removing 33 percent, or a third of the biochemical [
*
oxygen demand, but we are removing a much higher percentage |
t
of the solid material and the floatable material, so that j
L,
the discharge to the river certainly is in better condition j
than a two-thirds flow of raw sewage. \
Would you agree, Mayor?
MAYOR JELATIS: I would agree to that, but what
you are doing, of course, is removing the objectionable ;
!
floating solids largely. >
i
MR. SMITH: Removing a greater percentage than ' ^
a third of these materials, and we are removing a third of ;
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1521
D. G. Jelatie
the total biochemical oxygen demand. I am not defending
the removal of only a third.
MAYOR JELATIS: But still the point I made was
that for a community to be asked to do a thorough Job of
sewage treatment when the BOD in the river flowing besides
them represents a much larger equivalent population than
the raw sewage that they are putting in, is quite a lot to
demand of taxpayers.
MR. SMITH: Of course, you were discharging a
very small percentage when the sewage was raw too.
MAYOR JELATIS: That is right. That is the ;joint
I made. j
i
MR. SMITH: The Chairman commented on the tolerancje
i
of the Commission. We might point out that the first sewers
were constructed in Red Wing 85 years before the sewage
treatment plant was constructed.
MAYOR JELATIS: I am not bragging about our past
performance.
(Laughter. )
MR. STEIN: That is not tolerance; that Is for-
bearance.
All right. Are there any other comments or
!
questions? !
i
i
You know, there may be a couple of places where i
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1522
D. Q. Jelatis
I think we might be able at least to narrow the gap. I
recognize your position, an everyone here doei. It all
depends on your point of view, which side you are born on.
The downstream community has a little different view of this
than some of the others who have talked, but when you talk
in terms of technological improvement, as far as I have been
able to ascertain here, we don't have the particularly
exotic wastes that are not reasonably amenable to treatment.
I thoroughly agree with Or. Hargraves that
research must be done, and we have to do research on particu-
lar plants, but I think the question here is organisation
and money, rather than dealing with a waste that no one knows
how to get rid of.
The other point I want to mention is a very, very
hard one. I know what you are talking about when you talk
about all of these pipes. Again, we recognize the resources,
as has been graphically put out by Dr. Hargraves. The hard
Job in waste treatment is finding every one of these outlets,
and this Job can only be undertaken by painstaking survey
and going up and down the banks of the stream, and trying
to find the temperature differences and where these sub-
merged outlets are.
Even in a city as well mapped as Chicago, when
we went on our diversion case, of which Mr. Poston was in
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1523 ;
P. G, Jelafcl*
charge, when we went on that nain aaoitsry canal going down <
right through the heart of Chicago, J inlnk we found
1,200 outleta which were not listed.
Again, I don't think that you can expect people
who have the day-to-day operations of a busy State program,
running around on fish kills, oil spills, trying to review
plans and specifications, to get the crew out there that
has the tine, the equipment, the inclination, the energy
and the money to locate all these spots. Again, this la an
area where, if you have any doubts about then, I am sure
it will be clarified if you do that study.
MAYOR JELATIS: I thoroughly understand that
position and, as I mentioned, I understand that they do not
have the resources and the personnel.
This is perhaps one of the most urgently needed
things that has to be done in this area.
MR. STEIN: Thank you, Mayor.
MR. WILSON: Mr. Chairman, I know I can assure
everybody that the Commission and all concerned have very
much appreciated Mayor Jelatis' tolerant and fair-minded
attitude throughout all the negotiations that have been had
with the Village of Red Wing, and his own leadership in
producing the admirable results that they have achieved in
their sewage treatment plant.
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1524
D. G. Jelatis
However, I just wanted to ask the Mayor the
same question that I asked Mr. Krauss a while ago, and that
is if he remembers the Mississippi River before the Twin
Cities plant was constructed?
MAYOR JELATIS: No. I have to admit I an just a
foreigner. I just came into Red Wing In 1945.
MR. WILSON: But you would agree with Mr. Krauss,
I assume, that the conditions were very much improved after
that, plant and the South St. Paul plant were constructed,
over what they had been when the raw sewage was going down
the stream oefore?
MAYOR JELATIS: Yes. Without any question, from
what 1 have been told by others, I would agree with that.
DR. HARORAVES: I think I would Just like to
say, I wish there were more mayors like Mayor Jelatifi, and
I think you ought to appreciate he is a graduate of MIT.
He understands whereof he speaks in many of these problems,
and we have had many conversations together, as we have with
other people around the State.
Perhaps we should have more good mayors living
downstream who are vocal.
MR. STEIN: Really, Mayor, one thing these people
have done in this profession, as when you talked about your
scatological statistic*, they have done a tremendous Job --
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1525
D. G. Jelatis
-iimoat better than the people we call undertakers or funeral
directors — In developing euphemisns and antiaeptic
terminology to describe their work.
(Laughter.)
MAYOR JELATIS: Inoffensive language for an
offensive problea.
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
MR. SMITH: The next cowRinlty downstream, and
the last one in this order, is Lake City. Mr. Thimsen, will
you present that?
MR. THIMSEN: "The sewage plant was constructed
in 1934 and provides primary treataent. The plant
consists of a primary settling tank, chlorination
facilities, sludge digestion tank and sludge beds.
It was designed to treat a sewage and waste flow
of 0.24 mgd with a 5-day BOD of about 260 mg/1 to
produce an effluent of about 175 ng/1.
"Plans for alterations were approved on
March 21, 1961. This project consisted of replace-
ment of the pumps at the main lift station, nodi-
ficatlon of the sludge digester, and installation
of a chlorinator. The proposed Improvements will
not increase the capacity of the plant but will help
to avoid by-passing of sewage, permit better
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1526
'operation, and provide effective disinfection of
!
the plant effluent."
MR. SMITH: I have two more letters from munici-
palities. The next one is from the City of Bloomington,
whi< h doea not have a direct discharge to the river, but
discharges through the Minneapolis system to the Minneapolis-
St. Paul Sanitary District.
This letter la addressed to the Commission, dated
February 5* 1964, and reads:
"The following is presented as a position
statement which is requested be entered in the record
of the January 7, 1964 Conference, under the authority
of the Water Pollution Control Act.
"The City of Bloomington, with more than 12
miles of the Minnesota River as its southern border,
Is vitally concerned with pollution control on the
Lower Minnesota River and the Mississippi River, and
favors the establishment of suitable and reasonable
standards for river conditions and effluent quality.
"Quality standards should regulate the use of
the Rivers rather than establishing outright pro-
hibition of 'major discharges' of treated or untreated
wastes in certain sections of the Rivers. Such a
prohibition tacitly approves 'minor1 untreated
wastes (such as combined storm-sanitary sewers and
-------
1527 <
"industrial wastes) which can and should be treated. ;
i
It also presupposes that It is better to collect |
all of the metropolitan sewage at one point for
concentrated discharge into the Mississippi River.
"Advances in sewagt treatment have been sig-
nificant. Properly treated effluent would add flow
to the Minnesota River and would reduce the pollu-
tion load below the major plant. UtillEation of the
rivers as conduits for conveying highly treated
wastes will save millions of dollars in interceptor
costs, and unless a much lower degree of treatment
is intended at the lower plant, there would be no
major offsetting treatment savings."
MR. STEIN: Thank you. Do you want to go on?
MR. SMITH; I also have a resolution from the
Village Council of Minnetonka Village. This is Resolution
No. 587, and it reads:
"WHEREAS, a thorough and comprehensive study
has been made relative to the expansion of Sewage
Works in the Mlnneapolls-St. Paul Metropolitan
Area, and
"WHEREAS, such study indicates the feasibility
of a major Sewage Treatment Plant on the Minnesota
River - and shows that the cost of interceptor
sewers and pumping stations to convey from the
-------
1528
"proposed plant site to the existing Mlnneapolls-
St. Paul Sanitary District Sewage Plant exceeds 12
million dollars with stage construction not feasible,
and
"WHEREAS, a large portion of the Southwest
Region drains naturally to the Minnesota River, and
"WHEREAS, no engineering study has concluded
that all sewage from this region should be Tunneled1
through Minneapolis, and
"WHEREAS, serious sewerage problems exist in
the Southwest Region with no economically feasible
permanent solution except discharge to the Minnesota
River, and
"WHEREAS, properly spaced treatment plants
with adequately treated effluent could add flow to
the river, allow time for recovery, and not concentrate
sewage effluent at one point, and
"WHEREAS, several sewage treatment plants have
recently been approved on the lower Minnesota River
by the Minnesota Pollution Control Commission, and
"WHEREAS, absolute prohibition of additional
treatment plants on the lower Minnesota River
'regardless of the degree of treatment or the
capabilities of the receiving stream' is being
considered by the State Pollution Control Commission;
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1529 :
"NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE VILLAGE >
COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF MINNETONKA:
"That the Water Pollution Control Commission
be requested the*- suitable and reasonable standards
be adopted for river conditions and effluent
quality from treatment plants located or to be
located along the banks of the Minnesota River. j
i
"Adopted by the Council this 2?th day of
January, 196*4.
/s/ Al W. lilies, Mayor."
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
i
MR. SMITH: Unless there are other municipalities ;
I
or political subdivisions present, we will now take in
order the industrial waste discharges.
We would like to start then, Mr. Chairman, with
the Rum River, and we have, in order the Cornelius Manu- j
i
facturing Company of Anoka. I
I
Is there anyone here representing that company?
(No response. )
MR. SMITH: If not, Mr. Johannes, would you
describe the facility?
-------
1530
C. A. Johannaa
STATEMENT OF CLARENCE A. JOHANNES,
PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEER, MINNESOTA
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
MR. JOHANNES: Yes, sir.
"The Cornelius Manufacturing Company is
located on the right bank of the Rum River in Anoka.
The company is engaged in the manufacture of soda
fountain dispensing equipment. Plant operations
include plastic molding, painting, and metal plating.
Wastes consist of cooling water, paint scrubber
water, and plating rinse water, all of which are
discharged directly to the Rum River without treat-
ment . Secondary containment structures have not
been provided to guard against accidental losses of
chemicals from the plating tanks. Sanitary sewage
is reportedly discharged to the municipal sanitary
sewer."
MR. SMITHt Would you also read the Federal
Cartridge Corporation deacription?
MR. JOHANNES: "This plant is located in
Anoka a short distance east of the Rum River. The
company manufactures smokeless powder and ammuriltlon
-------
1531
Q. A. Johannes
"for small arms. It la reported that sanitary
sewage and plating rinse water are discharged to
the municipal sanitary sewer, but a filtrate from
the manufacture of nitrocellulose is discharged to
a storm sewer which drains into the Rum River.
Relatively high concentrations of copper and zinc
have been found in samples collected of the flow from
the sewer outfall at the Rum River. Secondary
containment facilities to guard against losses of j
the plating solutions have not been provided." |
I
MR. SMITH: From this point we would start down j
i
i
the Mississippi River, and the first point of discharge would
be the Minneapolis water treatment plant at Pridley.
Is anyone here representing the Water Treatment
Department?
(No response. )
MR. SMITH: Mr. Johannes?
MR. JOHANNES; "The plant Is located in
Pridley a short distance upstream from the Camden
bridge. It produces potable water for the City of
Minneapolis and several suburbs. Raw water is
drawn from the Mississippi River. The plant has a
reported capacity of 158 ngd of finished water.
Wastes consist of sand filter backwash water and a
-------
1532 !
\
0. A. Johannes I
"lime slurry from the softening process. The filter
backwash water is discharged to the Mississippi
River without treatment, while the lime slurry is
pumped to a nearby clarification basin. The super-
natant overflows to the river at a reported rate of
about 1.5 mgd,"
MR. SMITH: Is there a representative of the
Northern States Power Company present?
(No response.)
MR. SMITH: I have copies, Mr. Chairman, of
their statement. May I have this incorporated in the
record?
MR. STEIN: Without objection, that will be done.
(The statement of the Northern States Power
Company is as follows:
Northern States Power Company is a public utility
operating in the States of Minnesota, North Dakota, South
Dakota, and through a subsidiary in Wisconsin, supplying
electricity in 637 communities having a total population
of over 2-^ million people. Its service area includes the
metropolitan area of St. Paul-Minneapolis suburbs.
Our company is vitally concerned with the use
of water in the portion of the Mississippi and its tribu-
taries under consideration at this conference. Of the
-------
1533 '
total generating capability of our ,-ompany, 1,352,300 ;
kilowatts, or about 75#-, is installed at our Riverside, :
Black Dog, High Bridge, Wilmarth, Red Wing, Southeast, and ;
i
Island Steam-Electric Plants, all of which are located on \
4
the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, Our company owns two !
other sites on which we contemplate future construction of j
^arge steam-electric plants as necessary to meet anticipated ;
i
increased use of electricity and population growth in our i
service area. One, called the R. P. Pack Plant site, is ;
at Newport on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The
i
other site, called Prairie Island, is located on the west :
bank upstream from the Red Wing lock and dam. ;
Our generation of electricity requires large
quantities of river water for cooling purposes. Water is ;
I
drawn from the river, passed through condensers, and i
i
returned to the river basically unchanged, except for a i
rise in temperature. This cooling water then mixes with i
i
the mainstream of the river and the heat is dissipated to i
the air. j
Our company participated in the extensive •
j
oublic hearings held by the Minnesota State Water Pollution J
Control Commission concerning the adoption of classiflca-
j
tlona and standards for the Mississippi River and tributaries!
from the mouth of the Rum River to Lock and Dam No. 2 i
i
near Hastings. As adopted by the Commission on March 28,
-------
1534 j
196?> provisions in these classifications and standards ;
!
regulate the discharge of circulating water from our plants ;
into this portion of the river.
As a result of such hearings and Commission |
<
action, and in order to compile more definite information I
i
i
on the effect of the discharge of circulating water from |
-,-ur -lanta upon river temperature, our company, in coopera- J
tion with the Commission staff, is conducting a series of {
,'iver temperature surveys. The Mississippi River in the
vicinity of our Riverside Steam-Electric Plant at Minneapolis
was chosen as the site for these surveys because there is a
new generating unit presently under construction at that
plant. This construction affords an opportunity to obtain
data on river temperatures prior to and subsequent to the
operation of the new unit. In connection with such con-
struction, we filed last summer with the Commission an
application for a permit to discharge cooling water into the
river fron. this new unit at Riverside. We have also supplie<
data and consulted with the Commission staff in order to !
i
assure that this construction meets the standards established
by the Commission.
In connection with the construction of con-
templated future generating plants on the two sites previous|
j
ly described, we have consulted and will continue to consult!
i
witn the Commission staff concerning our water requirements j
-------
1535 i
and uses and for the purpose of evaluating the design of
the plants. It la our belief that such discussions and
cooperation at the early design stages will result in our
construction and operation of electric generating plants ;
s
which will use water in accordance with established standarda
of the Commission. This will result in a reasonable and
compatible balance with other long established and legitimate
uses of the river, such as water supply, sewage treatment,
recreation, and various Industrial uses.
Northern States Power Company IB also cooperating
with the U. S. Public Health Service in its survey of
the Mississippi River by supplying information concerning
*
the company's operations and facilities.
Respectfully submitted,
NORTHERN STATES POWER COMPANY
/s/ By A. R. Renquldt
Dated February 5* 1964 Attorney)
* *
MR. STEIN: I see you have several more to go.
MR. SMITH: Y«s, Mr. Chairman.
MR. STEIN: We will take a ten-minute recess and
we will start at four promptly.
(Whereupon a recess was had. }
-------
1536
MR. STEIN: May we reconvene?
DR. HARQRAVES: We won't be here all night.
Dr. Barr Is beginning to worry, and so am I; so are many
others. However, since Minnesota has worked long and
diligently in order to get all of this material together
and paint the picture as we feel it is, and since practicall
all of this is in Minnesota, we have wanted to get this
material in the record.
It is obvious that enough, I think, has been
given, so that you can see some communities and some
Industries are doing a good job, and others are not yet
doing it. Those that you want to know more about and that
the conferees 'can know more about will be in the transcript,
because we have so arranged it; but those who have come
here and have been patiently waiting in order to be heard,
we will go through and aee those people who are here and
hear their comments. Then we will try to close it by turning
it back to the Chairman from the Minnesota delegation, and
we will complete this in as short a time as possible, because
we have been assured that these things will all be in the
record. So, Mr. Sroith, if you will carry on and call on
those that you know are definitely here, and if this is
agreeable with the Wisconsin group, then I think we can
terminate this rather quickly.
MR. SMITH: A representative of the American
-------
f
1537 I
J. L. Porterfleld j
Crystal Sugar Company at Chaska is present, and I would ]
like to call on him at this time.
STATEMENT OF J. L. PORTERFIELD, AMERICAN
CRYSTAL SUGAR COMPANY
MR. PORTERFIELD: Mr. Chairman, conferees, Indies |
and gentlemen:
My narae is J. L. Porterfleld. I represent the j
s
American Crystal Sugar Company, with offices in Denver, j
I
Colorado. We have a plant in question at this meeting at \
Chaska, Minnesota.
Now, Chaska is located adjacent to the Minnesota
River. As Dr. Hargraves said during today's meeting, I
believe, some of the plants are old. The Chaska plant was
built in 1906.
We manufacture beet sugar at our plant. We
process beets from an area of about 150 miles adjacent to
Chaska. We process between 200 and 250 tons of beets through!
the year.
We operate generally from October to January. j
i
However, this year we are running into February. 1
Harvest conditions have a lot to do with some i
|
of the problems we have. If the season is wet, we have a i
-------
1538
J. L. PorterfieId
soil condition that is troublesome.
During the early part of the year, we definitely
promised the Minnesota Department of Health and the Water
Pollution Department that if funds were available, we would
make changes at our Chaska plant, which we felt certain woulc
considerably reduce the BOD load going into the river.
Those funds have been made available and equipment is on
order. With the installation of this equipment we will be
able to return the pulp press water back to the system, and
we feel confident that we can reduce our BOD load by about
45 percent.
Now, as to the colifortn load —
MR. STEIN: Sir, I wonder if I might ask there
what would be your BOD load per ton of beets with your new
equipment':
MR. PORTERFIELD: I will give it to you by days.
I think that we will end up this year with about 16,000
pounds per day.
Now, the reason I hesitate to give you an answer
on BOD per ton of beets is because this year throws all
those figures into a cocked hat due to the qualities of the
crop.
about.
The soil conform we will not be able to do much
-------
1539
J. L. Porterfield !
The pathogenic or fecal conform, which we have
t
in tne past been putting into the Minnesota River, will be j
i
j
hooked onto the Chaeka disposal system this year, so that j
I
will be one more item out of the way.
At the present time we do not know how much
water we are pumping from the river. We estimate one figure j.
The state Department of Health, by lithium chloride methods,
estimates another figure, which we think is high. We will
install a meter on our water pumping station this year., so j
1
we will know about what we are pumping. Presently we think!
we are taking out of and putting back into the river about j
5 million gallons of water a day.
That is the conclusion of my statement.
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
Are there any questions or comments?
(No response. )
MR. STEIN: Again, I don't want to particularize
any plant that we don't know about, and I certainly don't
know about this one. As you know, we have had considerable
experience with sugar beet operations.
MR. PORTERFIELD: I am well aware of that.
MR. STEIN: They are now producing BOD loading
of 3 pounds per ton of beets, and three or four of the
Great Western mills in Nebraska have practically reduced the
-------
15*0
J. L. PorterfieId
BOD loading to the river to zero. On the South Platte Riverj
i
running through Colorado, we are engaged on a case like thisj
j
1
where sugar beet operations are much more prevalent than
they appear to be in this area.
i
MR. PORTERPIELD: That ia not so. |
I
MR. STEIN: That ia not so? Possibly not so, but!
again I think they are thinking of the same kind of achieve-'
i
i
ment. in other words, this is a case where we are put to ]
x
i
it, and I think we can get a remarkable reduction. •
Off the record. i
(Discussion off the record.) ]
i
MR. STEIN: Thank you. We will go back to the \
1
record now. j
i
Mr. Smith? j
i
MR. SMITH: I would like to call next on a i
representative of the Upper Mississippi Waterway Association}
i
-------
D. K. Johnson
STATEMENT OP DEAN K. JOHNSON, EXECUTIVE
SECRETARY, UPPER MISSISSIPPI WATERWAY
ASSOCIATION
\
MR. JOHNSON: Qentlemen, I want to read our
statement, with some interpolations, based on other state-
ments that have been made.
Then I want to add a comment on a matter that
was discussed yesterday.
My name is Dean K. Johnson. I am the Executive
Secretary of the Upper Mississippi Waterway Association.
The Upper Mississippi Waterway Association is
in its 32nd year of representing industries which ship
commodities to or send commodities from the region of the
Upper Mississippi by water, and of representing the operators
of barges and towboata that carry those commodities. By
item, two commodities largest in volume are coal upbound
and grain downbound. In 1963* coal tonnage was 2,866,000
tons, or 28.6 percent of total tonnage; grain tonnage was
2,897,000 tons, or 29.1 percent of total tonnage. Petroleum
shipments inbound were 2,010,000 tons or 20.3 percent of
total tonnage.
Over history and to the present, men of commercial
-------
D. K. Johnson
transportation have known that commerce, industry and
agriculture thrive where transportation facilities include
a vigorous water carrier system. Thie is for the reason that
there is no cheaper way to move bulk commodities than by
water. It has followed that here, deep in the North America^
Continent, receivers and shippers of bulk commodities have
remained competitive in the world markets and the effects
of this have rippled out in such forms as lower electrical
rates, cheaper heating, and a demand for our basic farm crop,
But the grain and coal and petroleum businesses are fiercely
competitive, so profit margins are low; and the barge and
towboat business is the remaining system in which there is
complete freedom of access, so it too is fraught with fierce
competition and low profit.
The circumstance of river navigation relates to
the current discussion of water pollution in this way:
shippers and receivers and carriers sense in suggested
regulation an attitude that we strive to attain conditions
of absolute water purityj they see efforts at compliance
with regulation so grounded as Involving expense that could
reduce the benefits of water transportation, they feel
attainment of such standards to be impractical or Impossible
and they are skeptical whether ever, even before civiliza-
tion, a river system draining so many and diverse lands had
-------
D. K. Johnson
a condition of purity which seems now to be sought.
If measured against standards of purity tending
to the absolute, waterway transportation will be guilty of
pollution. Speedy and efficient loading of grain barges
and unloading of coal barges causes a dust that settles in i
the river; the very small spill of petroleum over the deck of]
an oil barge when washed overboard by a heavy rain will,
by the nature of oil, show up as an alarmingly large patch
on the river's surface.
On the other hand, a malfunction of a pleasure
boat function will likewise cause the same large patch.
We sense that there is a blame placed on the barge industry
100 percent for the oil, which was remarked upon from time
to time, and about which there was newspaper comment. I
believe that the reports that were distributed to the members
of the audience here demonstrated the willingness of the
water transportation industry to comply with reasonable
regulations, but they ask that there be concern first.
The members of the Upper Mississippi Waterway
Association do not ask that governments charged with
responsibility for water purity leave the industries
represented by the Association to be free from control.
But they do ask that there be concern first for what are
the best uses of the rivers and that regulations adopted
-------
D. K. Johnson
accommodate those best uses and be economically subject to
compliance. In this vein, the Association applauded the
Minnesota legislature when its 1963 amendment to the Water
Pollution Control Act added commerce, trade, industry and
traffic to the subjects for consideration by the Commission
when promulgating regulations; the Association Joins with
the Minnesota Comraisslon in being skeptical whether the
river system, measured by present-day standards of health,
can (or even has been) a place for swimming.
A comment on the petroleum and soybean oil
catastrophes of last spring: the Association asks that the pe-
!
centness and the drama of those Incidents should not cloud
the fact of the rarity of their occurrence.
On the subject of the incident Involving petroleums
and soybean oil last spring, it must be certainly said that
measured in terms of damage and annoyance, they were
catastrophic. For such incidents, there should not be a
vacuum in the law. The citizens of Minnesota and Wisconsin j
are entitled to have a unit of government which can deal
with such occurrences, but I think you know that such
dramatic occurrences are very rare, so I urge this:
Regulations and laws framed to manage rare
catastrophes ought not to become standards or guidelines
applicable to water industries or other industries in their
-------
1545
D. K. Johnson
day-to-day operation.
By way of summation, the position of the Upper
Mississippi Waterway Association, by resolution adopted
October 24, 1963, is this:
The population explosion has properly caused
public and private concern over the limitation on
the water resources of the nation and over the
competition between transportation, industry,
agriculture and governments for the use and re-
use of our water resource*. On the other hand,
this Association senses among government officials
charged with legislation and regulation a mood
to establish standards for water purity at absolute
and clinical or scientific levels and to bring about
such standards of purity by prohibiting wastes
having less than a clinical purity from entering our
streams and waterways. Such a view, and such a
system of legislation and regulation, would fail to
recognize that our navigable streams and waterways
have never been clinically pure and that such
streams and waterways ar« capable of waste assimila-
tion and that a proper place In our economy for
our navigable streams and waterways necessarily
involves the Inadvertent or the intentional disposals
-------
15*6 j
D. K. Johnson !
of wastes which are less than clinically pure.
Accordingly, this Association urges industries
which navigate upon the waterways or which have
waterside plant installations to eliminate water-
way disposal of wastes where possible and to
minimize such disposals wherever it is economic;
on the other hand, this Association likewise urges
men of government and students of water use that
they seek an accommodation of public, industrial
and navigational use and re-use at an optimum
commensurate with a policy that the water in the
waterway need not bo clinically pure if it can
be reasonably and economically made clinically
pure when its use in that condition is needed.
A specific problem remarked upon yesterday was
the matter of the discharge into the river off of towboats
of debris and of untreated sewage.
A reading of the laws and the regulations that
apply make it appear simply that this should not be done.
This is clearly an oversiiaplificatlon. The question for
the barge and towboat operator is "How can we comply?"
I can give you, somewhat by analogy, what I
understand to be the case with pleasure boats in Minnesota,
which I understand should have had chemical toilets on board
-------
1547
D K. Johnson
— at least, those that had toilets should have had an
approved chemical toilet on board last summer. As I under-
star,d the circumstance, it Is that the only toilet subject
to approval by the standards adopted has an expense in
excess of perhaps some of the boats, and has a size such
that it cannot be put on board a pleasure boat.
The situation for the towboat operator who is
i
operating up the Ohio, up the Missouri, from New Orleans j
i
i
all the way up the Mississippi, is essentially the same. ;
i
What shall he do? They would like to comply. :
!
The builders of the towboats are In a position i
<
to design toilets, but with what shall they comply? Shall j
i
they comply with the standards of Minnesota, or the standards!
of Iowa, or the standards of Louisiana? It is not, in this j
!
situation, simply enough to consider what laws apply. {
!
1
Now, here in the audience today is Mr. Jack j
Lambert, who is the President of the Association for which I
speak, and who, for some years, has had a barge operation.
If the gentlemen who yesterday Inquired about
this circumstance, sewage from the towboat, wish now to
ask him questions, he Is available. In the alternative, we
would like leave, if you want to press on because of the
time problem, to submit for the record and to the conferees
specific comments on this matter that was discussed so long
-------
1548
D. K. Johnson
yesterday. However, Mr. Lambert is here.
MR. STEIN: Do you have any questions or comments'
MR. SMITH: I think we should comment on the
i
marine toilet situation. 1
!
Mr. Johannes, would you clarify some of those
remarks, or comment on them?
MR. JOHANNES: Yes. The situation, as it stands
today, is that two models of marine toilets have been
accepted by the Commission. One of these was available for
Installation last January, but the legislature saw fit to
delay the effective date of this Act from the first of
January, 1963* to the first of January, 1965. However,
at that time it is expected that any pleasure boat owners
will have to comply.
MR. JOHNSON: I think the very action of the
legislature points up the problem In the area of the
pleasure boat operator. It points up also the problem for
the barge operator.
The simple statement that there must not be
pollution has gone far beyond the technological opportunity
for the barge operator to comply.
It was not in Minnesota for the pleasure boat
operator simply a matter of forbidding the discharge from [
I
the toilets into the lakes and rivers. It occurs that after j
i
i
-------
D. K. Johnson
the law was passed in the first instance, there was no way
technologically by which the operator of a pleasure boat
could comply with the law.
The barge operator is in the same position.
They want to comply. They move throughout the nation, and
it is the problem of how do they comply technologically
and with what standards do they comply?
MR. STEINj Are there any other comments or
questions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.
May we have Is ave to —
MR. STEIN: You asked a specific question. It
is very difficult for the conferees to get together. I have
known all but one of the people at this table before. We
are all pretty much involved in the field.
At least, speaking for myself, I appreciate
your point of view. The conferees are going to com* to a
determination. I think your point of view has been well
and succinctly expressed.
We would be glad to put your material into the
record. If you think that anything happens in the summary
which does violence to your point of view, because we don't
-------
3550
D. K. Johnson
have the point, we would like to have It then. In other
words, we are not going to delay the conclusions and recom-
mendations because of this, but we will be delighted to hold
the record open.
Can you get that in in a week?
MR. JOHNSON: Yes.
MR. STEIN: If you would.
MR. JOHNSON: I will do that.
(The supplemental statement submitted by Mr.
Johnson is as follows:
During the course of this conference there
has been vigorous criticism of towboat operators whose on-
board toilet facilities deposit human wastes directly into
the river system. Without disputing that this conduct is
water pollution of a high degree, this Association suggests
to the conferees that the number of towboats in the waters
of the Mississippi are few and that the pollution from this
source is so slight as to be not measurable in comparison
with similar pollution from other sources such as pleasure
craft and municipal sewer discharges.
However, the real problem to which th«re needs
to be attention la the matter of what the barge operators
should do to prevent this kind of pollution. Some kinds of
chemical toilet facilities are now available for barges.
-------
1551 '
D, K. Johnson
For the owner of an existing towboat, the expense of re-
designing the interior of a boat to accommodate this kind of ;
treatment facility can be very great. For the purchaser ,
of a new towboat which can be designed in the first Instance
to accommodate this kind of treatment facility, the expense
is not quite so great, /^part from this matter of expense, ;
4
the nub of the problem la that, during a typical river \
n
navigation season, the towboat is likely to be all up and ]
down the Mississippi River and into the valleys of the Ohio
and the Missouri and on to their tributaries — in other j
words, throughout the central United States. It is typical ;
i
that, as here at the headwaters of the Mississippi, two :
!
States and the Federal Government may exercise concurrent i
i
jurisdiction over towboats operating in a navigable stream, i
A towboat operator who can obtain the funds to accommodate ;
a treatment facility faces the possibility that, after a j
!
substantial expenditure, his facility Bay comply with <
standards which, for instance, might be adopted by Minnesota j
i
but not with standards which, for instance, might be |
t
adopted by Wisconsin or by the Federal Government; or it •
i
may be in compliance with Ohio regulations but not Penn- ;
sylvania regulations, and so forth. ;
i
Other subjects about which there were comment j
i
were refuse (garbage and burnables) and bilge waters. The ;
-------
1552
D, K, Johnson
traditional design of towboats used throughout the central
United States has not included the requirement of long-
term storage facilities for garbage and burnables and has
necessarily Involved the regular discharge of waters
accumulated in the bilge areas. Household size cans are
not satisfactory for the retention of garbage because
garbage collects in an amount beyond that which can be
stored in a sanitary manner between dockings; the same thing
is true of burnables., and Incinerators are not the answer
because of Coast Guard and insurance prohibitions. The
accumulation of bilge waters is an unavoidable aspect of the
operation of water craft and these bilge waters must be
discharged from time to time before they rise high enough
to damage towboat machinery, but the only present facility
for discharge of bilge waters off the stream exists in
private commercial boat stores which are seldom located close
enough for the regular and complete discharge of all bilge
waters. A direct discharge of garbage and burnables and
bilge waters into the stream may be illegal under existing
State and Federal statutes and it is known to be offensive
but, absent off-stream aids and uniform and approved
regulations and appliances, towboat operators presently
have little recourse. A last item mentioned during this
conference was the discharge of liquid products, especially {
-------
1553 <
i
D. K. Johnson j
petroleum, from barges. The economic penalty on a carrier
for the loss of the commodity which he carries is severe
and this penalty is a strong deterrent on the intentional
discharge of liquids from a barge; it follows that this
discharge is almost always accidental. The moat careful
planning and regulation will not avoid the rupture of a
barge on a snag or sandbar which did not exist when the
pilot last passed through the area. This Association wants
the conferees to know that every possible measure is taken
by its carrier members to prevent the direct discharge of
polluting liquids into navigable streams and that the
occasions of pollutions of streams by such liquids is no
more within the control of water carriers than are such
Incidents as the condemnation of roadways by the rupture
of a truck tank in an automobile collision or the distribu-
tion of petroleum from a rail tanker in a derailment.
It is thus the circumstance that the mere pro-
hibition against the discharge of polluting materials from
towboats or barges into a navigable stream will not
accomplish the desired result (unless, of course, the
result of vigorous enforcement should cause towboat operators
to avoid the river involved); instead, the towboat and
barge operators represented by this Association look to the
conferees at this meeting to learn about and contemplate
-------
D. K. Johnson
]
the waste accumulation problems with which the barge operate^
must deal and to suggest to him and to government officials
elsewhere on the river system a program both uniform and ;
j
economically feasible under which the barge and towboat j
j
operators may Join with other interested parties in i
|
minimizing pollution of our nation's streams and waterways, j
Respectfully submitted
Dean K. Johnson
Executive Secretary
Upper Mississippi Waterway
Association.)
* * *
MR. STEIN: Mr. Smith?
MR. SMITH: I believe representatives of Clear
Water are here and they wish to make a statement.
-------
1555
W. BJorklund
STATEMENT OP WARREN BJORKLUND, VICE
PRESIDENT, CLEAR AIR CLEAR WATER
UNLIMITED
MR. BJORKLUND: I am Warren BJorklund, Newport,
Minnesota, Vice President of Clear Air Clear Water Unlimited.
Mr. Chairman, conferees, ladies and gentlemen:
Clear Air Clear Water Unlimited ia an organizations
of people interested in our water resources and in preventing]
air and water pollution. i
i
Our actions are limited only by the financial
help and enthusiasm of the members. Our major effort is in
the area of encouraging good legislation, reporting Incidents
of pollution to the proper authorities, and educating an
all too indifferent public to the seriousness of our water
problems.
In the seven years of our existence, we have
seen considerable progress -- the installation of sewage
disposal plants, changes in State laws, and a greater concern
by the public for the water pollution problem. In spite of
this progress, the Mississippi River is more polluted in the
Twin Cities area than it was seven years ago.
The Twin City Metropolitan Sanitary District
-------
1556
W. BJorklund
expansion program, when complete, will no doubt improve the
present condition. New industrial wastes will offaet this
progress unless proper safeguards are made. We do not
believe the proposed standard of pollution set up for this
area is consistent with our moral obligation to help keep
the river as clean as possible for our friends downstream,
I wonder what we In the Twin Cities would say if the same
standard were applied for an industrial area between St.
Cloud and Little Palls.
I would like to say that though we differ with
the Ideas and actions of the Water Pollution Commission,
Conservation Department, and other State departments on
occasion, we realize that they have their problems, and in
most cases these people are dedicated and are making a most
unselfish contribution for the benefit of the citizens of
Minnesota. We thank them for their cooperation with our
group.
As we see it, one of the major problems is lack
of authority to discourage and stop industrial pollution.
By authority, we mean a single department with people and
money enough to enforce the existing laws. Additional
legislation to discourage pollution is also necessary. We
would like to cite Instances where serious pollution existed
and no government agency had the legal means, personnel or
-------
1557 !
W. BJorklund j
i
authority to prevent a major disaster. i
i
The Honeymead Paper Company in Mankato had an j
!
accident in December of 1962, where over 2-£ million gallons :
of oil burst from storage tanks. To state it simply, real j
i
efforts were made to recover part of this spillage, yet j
!
thousands of ducks were killed months later by the oil con- !
tasiinatlon in the Upper Mississippi. Another spillage
accident at Richards Oil Company in Savage complicated the
disaster.
J would like to quote from a letter from the
Conservation Department to Representative Albertson as the
result of this disaster:
"There are several items that should be
cleared up in regard to the Department of Con-
servation's authority and duty with regard to these
two accidents. First of all, we have authority
under two laws to take action when water is being
polluted. One law, Chapter 101.42, Section 17,
states that it is unlawful to deposit refuse, saw-
dust, shavings, oil, tar, or chemicals into the
waters of this state providing that it can be shown
at the time that this material was deposited in
such quantities as to cause injury or to be detri-
mental to the propagation of any wild animal found
-------
3558
W. BJorklund
''in or upon the waters. Only when we can prove
this was detrimental to wild animals could action
be taken by this Department. At the time of the
discharges there was no proof that this material was
affecting wild animal life in the waters."
How naive can we be? Here is over a million
gallons of soybean oil, and over a million gallons of
petroleum products dumped into the river, and our conserva-
tion department says that we have no proof that this materia
la affecting wild and animal life.
This letter, incidentally, was written in April
of last year. Continuing with quoting from his letter:
"The second point I wish to make ia that
there was no money available for this Department
to engage in clean-up operations of this type.
"The other law which is in our game and fish
code is Section 616.163 which forbids the throwing,
dumping or depositing in any lake, stream, river,
or any body of public water or on the ice thereof,
any trash, rubbish, garbage or other litter. The
penalty for violation of either of the lews I have
cited is a misdemeanor. What we lack, in this
state, are laws dealing with the pollution that have
*,
teeth in them. The other problem is that we have
-------
I
I
1559 '
W. BJorklund
"so many different agencies of the state and ;
federal government dealing with various phases
of water laws and pollution that there is no
one single agency that can move in and do a
job when such a catastrophe as happened last ;
winter occurs." \
\
This last paragraph I heartily agree with. These ;
things are really part of the problem, but to think that
the Conservation Department feels that they are helpless to
do anything about the probability of a major duck disaster
I think is just a shame for the State of Minnesota.
We submit, gentlemen, there is a lack of
authority in a single agency to prevent this from happening
again. The Rosenmeier Bill will help some, but additional
money and personnel for the department will be needed to
make it effective.
These spillage accidents received national pub-
licity because of the dramatic duck kill and costly clean-
up operation. We were told no legal action can be taken
against the companies involved to recover the State's
estimated expenditure of $35*000 for clean-up operations j
i
or the value of the ducks destroyed. !
Diverging a minute, the morning paper changed !
i
this a little bit in that the Federal Government is taking i
-------
1560
W. Bjorklund
some action.
While we talk about this disaster, other smaller
incidents of oil spillage continue with knowledge of the
Water Pollution Commission, and nothing can be done to stop
it because we cannot prove damage. Recently a quantity
of oil was spilled in the Pine Bend area. This was reported
to the Water Pollution Commission and, as far as we know,
a check was made and the company involved was, in effect,
told, "Please, fellows, don't do it any more." The anawer
by the Commission to those making the complaint was, "We
don't have enough proof of pollution damage." This approach
has led to a continuing increase in pollution of the
Mississippi River and other State waters.
I would like to quote Minnesota Statutes Sec.
115.01 - Sub. 5:
"Pollution means the contamination of any
waters of the state so as to create a nuisance, or
render such waters unclean, or noxious, or impure,
so as to be actually or potentially harmful or
detrimental or injurious to public health, safety,
or welfare, to domestic, commercial, industrial or
recreational use, or to livestock, wild animals,
birds, fish, or other aquatic life."
To our knowledge, the Water Pollution Commission
-------
1561
W. Bjorklufid
has prosecuted only two violators under this State law —
one a construction firm fVx Jis^oilhg, -^i «.-g:fite oil in «
roadside uitch, and another for disposing of a small quantity
of oil in the river st Pine River, HinnetJt-ta . We believe
that if a schedule >;!' ?!;<-..-- -^j* •-*;,<•--, I i- : - t. :.-« *•-•*>'•..• w.ess
Gl'
each indiviaual wui-i;uiu»* i .i«w ij*s w.ight be rinoJ $100
or lose his job b«oa ^b.s WA . .al.ti'erefce t>; t^Js pivl
problem, we woula ^uiox.!,/ .,»s^ «aa
-------
1562 I
W. Bjorklund \
i
fined $50 for littering a highway with a beer can* but we
can carelessly spill a thousand gallons of oil on the river,
and because nobody proves that a given fish or duck was
affected by this spillage, no penalty is imposed. The
"please don't" letters by the Water Pollution Commission,
Department of Health, and Conservation Department, are not
enough. Thoughtful punitive legislation will b* helpful.
I would like to comment briefly on some other
statements made here this afternoon.
I think this hearing la a great thing. It is
going to bring out the problem, but I would be very unhappy
if it turned out to be a whitewash and we believed every-
thing that all these people have said here today, and if,
as someone said, "The road to hell is covered with good
intentions." we don't want that to happen to our problem
here.
However, I would like to question a comment
by the engineer from South St. Paul on 80 percent of the
solids being removed as an average. I happen to live in
Newport, and I have seen this many times, where there are
substantial patches of animal fat that are in the river,
particularly during the wintertime.
This may still only be that 12 percent that they
throw out on this one (particular day, but these things are
-------
I
t
1563 ;
W. Bjorklund •
happening and it is just a nasty situation.
You only have to spend a few hours on the river
In the summertime, particularly between St. Paul and the ,'
Spring Lake area, to find substantial areas covered with oil j
i
film. !
j
i
We grant that a lot of this IB necessary. We are j
i
never going to have a trout stream, but certainly enough
evidence that carelessness is responsible for a great deal
of tnis has been submitted, so that legislation of some j
i
sort should be made to correct these things. ]
As others have said today, the pollution problem
i
!
is serious. We have a great resource to protect. Let us i
1
give a clean water heritage to the next generation of
industrialists, sportsmen, and all other people that need
water.
Thank you for your kind attention.
MR. STEIN t Thank you.
Are there any comments or questions?
(No response. )
MR. STEIN: Thank you very much.
MR. WILSON: Mr. Chairman, I just want to call
attention to one point that was brought out by Mr. BJorklund,
He may be assured that the Commission is most attentive to
all the problems to which he has called attention. I don't
-------
W. Bjorklund
think that he read carefully all the statements in this «
t
i
preliminary draft for a long-range program. j
j
I want to call his attention to one in particular/.
where it says: "Details will be treated in succeeding =
i
chapters." This is merely the preliminary draft for a j
part of the program which states the background material
i
and the different operations, 19 different operations, which
the Commission must follow, which included this matter of ;
l
dealing with these very oil spill incidents that Mr. \
}
Bjorklund called attention to. '•
The Commission has recognized that that is a i
serious problem that demands attention, but the specific i
!
t
recommendations for legislation or other measures to deal ;
i
with that are not included in this draft. There hasn't been i
t
\
time to prepare that, and the Commission has until the first j
of next January to complete this comprehensive plan and j
i
program. A great deal remains to be considered and added ;
(
before this final plan is promulgated by the Commission.
i
This advance draft was simply issued at this j
i
time by the Commission to invite all persons concerned to i
I
make their suggestions j and if the Clear Air Clear Water ,;
i
or the Upper Mississippi Pollution Control Committee have '
any suggestions to make, they will be most welcome. j
I want to call their attention to this: In order ;
i
-------
1565 ;
W. BJorklund
i
t-; convict a person of a crime, It Is necessary to prove the;
i
(
elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Also, no •
matter how bad an oil slick looks, unless you can first
prove the origin of the oil slick, which has been proved ;
in some of these cases, and also prove that that particular \
i
oil slick was actually or potentially detrioental to some :
actual fish or waterfowl or other wildlife in the stream, i
i
you fail of securing evidence to prove a conviction. If !
i
you start prosecutions and fail to get convictions for a
laet-- 01 evidence, it weakens your law enforcement program. '
Now, if people want a law which will penalize
carelessness, that way be sought from the legislature. The
legislature has enacted such laws which penalize negligence '
i
and carelessness. It has not done so in the case of the ;
i
<
law to which Mr. BJorklund called attention. j
i
That requires definite proof of some sort of a ',
i
deliberate act or omission, which resulted in this actual j
jr potential harm to wildlife. j
i
So that if more strict penalties are desired on j
j
this matter of carelessness, or if the legislature is going i
to punish on assumptions, that has to be written into the
i
law. ;
!
Whether that kind of a law will be sustained j
i
i
by the courts, remains to be seen. If the legislature ',
-------
1566
W. BJorklund
attempts to go that far, it la obviously going to create som«
problems, and people who ar« accused and charged with a
crime simply for carelessness are undoubtedly going to con-
test the reasonableness of that type of legislation.
However, we haven't reached that point yet
because the legislature has not passed that kind of a law
with reference to these oil spills.
MR. STEIN: Not in Minnesota.
MR. WILSON: Not in Minnesota. No. It may have
done so elsewhere.
MR, BJORKLUND: Mr. Wilson, our point is that
in our existing legislation we have this phrase, that
pollution means the contamination of any waters of the
State so as to create a nuisance or render such waters
unclean or noxious or impure, so as to be actually or
potentially harmful.
Now, this to me means that if somebody has
discharged 1,000 gallons of oil into an area, it would seem
to me that our experts in the Conservation Department, our
scientists at the University, somewhere, somehow, somebody
should figure out that what goes in is potentially harmful.
i
These ducks get killed because the oil gets on them.
Now, you are the attorney for the Water Pollution
Commission. In other words, your position is that if
-------
1567
W. Bjorklund ;
somebody deposits 1,000 gallons of oil In the water, It is
~ot potentially harmful. I
i
MR. WILSON: I think, Mr. Bjorklund, you have [
jornpletely misunderstood the effect of that statute. ;
1
i
That statute is the basis of the Water Pollution i
Control Act under whloh the Commission has certain authority!
to issue the abatement orders after the adoption of standards
arrj the holding of hearings. '
i
That pollution definition is not a penal law. ;
5
There is no provision in our law which aays that anybody •
!
who commits pollution is guilty of a crime. That provision !
'i
that you read is the basis of the Water Pollution Control !
Law, under which the Commission operates by theee measures i
i
that, I have told about. I
i
i
When it comes to criminal prosecution, you have |
i
i
to proceed under the other sections of the statute where, ;
as 1 said, proof of those elements is required beyond a
reasonable doubt.
Now, if you can persuade the legislature to
adopt more definite criminal laws, well and good.
But let me call attention to this: If very
much of the activity of the Water Pollution Control Commis-
sion is required in the enforcement of criminal laws, it
will have to have a police force. It has no police force.
-------
1568
W. Bjorklund
The Conservation Department has a police force in the person
of game wardens, and they do give a lot of assistance in
these matters of pollution. However, the Water Pollution
Control Commission has no control over them.
It has no police force or Inspection force of
Its own, and if there are to be Introduced into the law
definite penal provisions which the Water Pollution Control
Commission has to enforce, It would be an empty gesture to
put them'in the law without providing a police force that
could operate all over the State, like the game wardens or
like the highway traffic patrol.
At present, the Water Pollution Commission la
in aoout the same position that the Co»»l88loner of Highways '
would be in with all these severe traffic laws, but no
officers to enforce them.
MR, BJORKLUND: Well, I know that thla would be
an extensive debate if I wrestled with Mr. Wilson, so I
will drop my part of it there.
Thank you very kindly.
MR. STEIN: Are ther« any other comuents or
questions?
(No response. )
MR. STEIN: If not, Mr, Smith?
MR. SMITH: Are the representatives of any other
-------
1569
f. f-lbreoht
group or organization present who wish to be heard at this
time'-
MR. ALBRECHT : 1 am from the Upper Mississippi
:'ollutlon Control Committee.
MR. SMITH: Will you state your name, please?
I
STATEMENT OF ARLIN ALBRECHT, UPPER |
i
MISSISSIPPI POLLUTION CONTROL COMMITTEE |
I
j
MR. ALBRECHT: My name is Arlin Albrecht. I am 1
from Red Wing. I represent the Upper Mississippi Pollution :
i
i
Control Committee. i
j
We feel a crime of civilization is being ;
i
•ommitted against people who live along the Mississippi •
i
uelow Minneapolis -St . Paul, and we are here to protest that
Our protest is simple:
The technological means exist to provide a
reasonably clean river downstream from a big metropolitan
Complex, but those means are not presently being employed.
In other words, the section of Mississippi we
want to use and enjoy ia contaminated and polluted not
because pollution is an inevitable accompaniment of modern
industry and metropolitan growth.
-------
1570
A. Albrecht
It is contaminated and polluted because of the
human failure of Twin Cities area people -« the human
failure to treat their own wastes ae they ought to do, as
our scientific know-how permits, as neighborllness and
common decency require.
The Upper Mississippi Pollution Control Committee
which makes this plea is an organization of individuals who
tive downstream from Mlnneapolis-St. Paul as far as La
Crosse, Wisconsin.
We are ordinary citizens, drawn from all walks
of life. We are drawn together by one common bond -- we
nre revolted that a magnificent river, which could be
reasonably clean and usable, is a mass of pollution Instead, j
We are all laymen — not biologists or sanitary I
!
engineers -- and we can only speak in lay terms. '
We do not wish to indulge in propaganda or to
i
make an emotional outcry against conditions which cannot be
changed if we are to enjoy the benefits of 20th century-
living in a modern, industrial society. We want to be
reasonable and restrained.
But we insist on one principle: Communities
upriver ought to be willing to make as great an effort ae
we -- to accept as great a financial sacrifice in taxes
and sewer charges In order to treat their wastes before
-------
1571 '
A. Albrecht
putting them Into the iMlsaissippi River, which we all share j
!
in ,-ommon. i
*
In the Mississippi below Minneapolis-St. Paul,
Minnesota and Wisconsin share together one of the natural
i
i
wonders and magnificent playgrounds of the Upper Midwest. ;
It la a region marked by distinctive bluffs and
wooded hills, by blue water and secluded bays -- a natural
place for modern man to escape the hectic pace of city
life and absorb the peace and beauty of the great outdoors.
A mighty river has created this natural beauty
in its meanderings. And It is a monumental piece of j
!
human error that this same river should now carry a constant!
i
stream of pollution past the places o: beauty it has created^
i
It is impossible to calculate the monetary loss j
i
that results from pollution. No one can set a price on '
i
the loss to outdoors lovers who witness the corruption of i
i
natural beauty. But we can point specifically to the dis- !
heartening situations faced by boaters, fishermen, swimmers, >
I
resort owners, and families in simple search of a pleasant
day's outing.
The boater abounds along our part of the
Mississippi, and his wants are simple. But he wants more
than the opportunity to leave a churning brown wake behind
his stern.
-------
1572
A. Albreeht
Most likely, the boater is seeking a restful
place for his family to spend a summer afternoon. These
pleasant places abound on the river below the Twin Cities.
The sand is there, the privacy is there, and the promise of
a rewarding day is there, so long as nobody goes near the
water.
For a stretch of river some 25 miles below the
Twin Cities, swimming involves a positive health hazard.
1
For the squeamish, that mileage could be extended to 40. ;
i
•
Water skiing; holds the aam« hazards, and playing i
I
in the sand below high-water mark is not looked upon with I
i
favor by conscientious parents.
t
The average boater gets a feeling of absolute j
frustration when he rounds the bend into an inviting bay
only to find oil slicks on the water's surface or a chemical
scum carried in from the main channel.
Scores of long-time fishermen have abandoned the
river -- sick to disgust with going home empty-handed or
catching fish that prove inedible because of an oily taste.
All kinds of visitors come to the Mississippi
to admire the rugged bluffs and peaceful valleys that
rise away from the river. But they do not admire the fact
that it is impossible to see your hand three inches below
the surface. Nor do they admire the dirty film that coats
-------
1573
A. Albrecht
your hand as It Is withdrawn.
Uprlver communities, we Insist, ought to make as
great a financial effort to protect our river as we make
to ^rotect the river that people use below us. ;
i
Take Red Wing, Minnesota, where the Upper :
Mississippi Pollution Control Committee has its headquarters £
i
Red Wing, in the years 1960-63, made a capital ]
j
Investment (exclusive of Federal and State aid) of !
•1
$2,011,000 in primary and secondary sewage treatment facili-i
ties that regularly remove 90 percent or more of harmful I
i
pollutants. '
For a population of 10,528 (i960 Census), Red \
i
Wing's capital Investment la $191 per capita. ;
The Minneapolis-St. Paul urbanized area (I960 ;
Census) has 1,377,1^3 people. If the same $191 per capita i
were Invested, the Twin Cities area would have over $263 ',
1
million available for sewage treatment. >
It seems to us that every consideration of ,
i
Justice and decency demands that the Twin Cities metropolitan
area be willing to spend this much, if necessary, in order ;
!
to protect the river we want to enjoy. :
i
Thank you. •
MR. STEIN: Thank you. :
i
Are there any comments or questions?
-------
A, Aibrecht
MR. SMITH: Yes.
Do you attribute the brown color of the river
entirely to sewage and industrial waste discharges?
MR. ALBRECHT: Certainly not. The brown color
of the river is brought on by factors that include the
municipal waste and industrial waste. It also Includes soil
erosion and various other factors that we have touched on in
this conference.
MR. SMITH: This same statement applies to the
fact that you can't seen your hand three inches below the
surface of the water?
MR. ALBRECHT: I suspect it does. Yes.
MR. SMITH:: I didn't get this inference. You
referred to sewage arid Industrial waste, and I may have
missed it, but I didn't hear any reference to siltation and
to soil conservation.
MR. ALBRECHT: I think I was speaking in broad
terms -- in terms of what we consider to be the primary
problem — namely, municipal wastes.
MR. SMITH: I think also in your comparison of
costs and expenditures — I don't want to appear to be
defending the Twin Cities, but I think in the cost, you
i
must remember that they, in years past, spent funds for
1
,'.onstruction of the interceptor sewers and a primary treatment
-------
1575
A, Albrecht
plant, which is Included in the figure that you gave for
Red Wing.
MR. ALBRECHT: Yes, I realize that.
MR. SMITH: That Is all.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further questions?
DR. HARGRAVES: I think some other things ought
to be mentioned regarding the fertility, of course, which
no plant is yet able to take out, and which gives rise to
the algal growth and other things.
If you follow with any particular interest the
t
i
farm ponds and the reservoirs, and the fishing activities •
in these, the beat lakes are those where you can't see your i
^
3
hand when you submerge it down to the elbow, because of the i
j
fertility that is present. The best fishing is present I
t
i
there. ]
I am not saying that this is waste from industry
i
and ao on. This is fertility where the farmer throws in i
<
the fertility elements and raises these microscopic organisnisj,
i
so that the fish can feed on them. This certainly has to j
be included in the studies that are to be done, as to how
much this opacity or density of the water is due to i
fertility elements which are actually an aid to fishing. I
MR, ALBRECHT: However, I am sure that you are j
familiar enough with the clear water lakes, as opposed to
i
i
i
-------
1576
A. Albrecht
the river, to feel the difference when you put your hand
in the water.
DR. HARORAVES: Oh, yes. I am not denying what :
i
you say. I am just saying for the record that this ought to j
be part of the study that goes on here, as to the effect of <
fertility and other things on the fish habitat, because the
best fishing, it shou.ld be pointed out, from farm pond
experience and from reservoir experience, is where the j
i
fertility is sufficient to give organic life of this sort j
that does take it out of the clear water, clear lake type of ;
i
fishing. j
i
In those areas in the north country we raise !
i
i
five pounds of fish per acre, or thereabouts. When you get j
i
a good fertilized lake,, it can run five or six hundred
pounds per acre, so that this is not all without some
question of good as far as we who like fishing are concerned.,
I think this should be part of the Federal study, that we
ought to know more about these agents.
MR. ALBRECHT: Well, I certainly agree with that.
MR. STEIN: Are there any other comments?
MR. MUEGGE: I have one question.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Muegge.
MR. MUEGGE: I am going to get over here with
you temporarily.
-------
1577
A, Albrecht
MR. ALBRECHT: Surely.
MR. MUEGGE: In your statement, you said some-
thing about there being a public health hazard for a '
distance of 25 milea below the Minneapolis-St. Paul treatment
i
works, which, for the squeamish extended to 40 miles. :
!
j
Why would the squeamish people be more susceptible!
!
to public health hazards? •'
MR. ALBRECHT: I think we are getting into a
question of semantics here. My meaning was that the river
was not what you might call wholesome, and that the
squeamish tend to avoid it, not necessarily that it would be
a health hazard only for the squeamish.
I am sorry if I didn't make that clear.
MR. STEIN: Are there any other comments or
questions?
(No response.)
MR. SMITH: That is all.
MR. STEIN: Thank you, sir.
MR. SMITH: Are there any other representatives
of groups who wish to make statements?
MR. STEIN: Would you identify yourself, please? j
Give us your name and your connection. >
-------
G. Serbesku
STATEMENT OF GEORGE SERBESKU, SPRING
LAKE, MINNESOTA
1578
MR. SERBESKU: My name is George Serbesku. I
live on Spring Lake and I represent some of the fafflilles
that live there.
I didn't intend to speak, but what I would like
to say is that in or about, oh, September, when this spill
waa going on, I had picked up some ducks — and, naturally,
the one you are talking to is your game warden, so I did.
What came of it? I was told that by picking up these oily
ducks that couldn't fly, I am liable for a ticket. Yet Mr.
Wilson says you have to have the proof. They wouldn't let
me keep the proof, so how are you going to do anything?
It Just goes to show that 15 barrels of oil
covered all the backwaters in there and affected somewhere
in the neighborhood of what I had found, seven ducks, and
friends of mine that found ten, and we were liable for a
ticket because we had picked them up without — they call it
a permit for capture. That is what the Federal Department
calls it. I didn't have mine for that period, so I couldn't
keep them and I was breaking the law.
So, what I got a plaque for in March from the
-------
1579
G. Serbesku
Governor for doing In the spring of the year, I get a ticket,
i
for In September or October. I am the guy who went to the i
Governor with these ducks last spring.
Any questions?
(Laughter.) !
MR. MUEOQE: Spring Lake has been mentioned i
oefore by commercial fishermen. Where is it located? •
i
MR. SERBESKU: Spring Lake is located about -- \
i
MR. STEIN: Why don't you turn to the map? '
i
MR. SERBESKU: It Is right here (indicating). i
Actually, it is about five miles up from Hastings Dam, and ;
it Is off on the southern side in Dakota County. The river '
is the dividing line between Washington and Dakota, and we ;
i
are on the south side. It is approximately five miles i
long and a mile and a half wide. Right now, and even in
20 below zero weather, the water is open 10 feet from shore i
from my house, oh, around the rest of the lake for -- well, j
j
i
it is about four miles. That is why it is called the !
I
Spring Lake.
MR. MUEGGE: Does it have a connection so that
i
the river water can get into it? I
MR. SERBESKU: Well, it used to be closed off i
i
i
from the river until our Federal Government put in a
dredging system up at the upper end and ruined that, so now j
-------
1580
G, Serbeaku
we can't do much fishing there any more.
We are trying to get it closed. I have an acre
of ground donated up at the head end of the lake that I
have been trying to get off ray hands. It was donated to
the State, to the Federal Government -- anyone who wanted
It for a landing or a park or a picnic ground — but nobody
wants to seem to take it off my hands. I will be paying
taxes on it next year. It was given to me, but nobody wants
it.
MR. MUEGGE: They might put a trailer on It
during the study project.
MR. SERBESKU: I was out there yesterday and
looked at it.
MR. STEIN: Are there any comments or questions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: Thank you very much, sir.
MR. SMITH: I have one more. I believe Mrs.
Edith Peller would like to enter some material into the
record.
MR. STEIN: Will you identify yourself first?
DR. HARGRAVES: Tell us what you are going to giv
us.
-------
1581
E. Peller
STATEMENT OP MRS. EDITH PELLER, EXCELSIOR, ;
5
MINNESOTA
I
i
MRS. PELLER: I am Mrs. Edith Peller from !
i
Excelsior, Minnesota, and I am a free-lance writer. i
I would like to submit to the conferees this j
i
story, "Operation Duck Rescue" and "Path of Pollution j
]
Pursued," which was in Audubon Magazine for November 1963,
and which has been introduced into the Congressional Record i
by Congressman Dlngell with the Federal Water Pollution Act. i
i
i
I wanted to aak a question of the conferees, \
i
specifically about the -- not about the criminal proceedings j
j
or the penal measures that might have been taken with j
!
f
Honeymead and with Richards Oil Company, but before that j
time. This question, I think, is pertinent in a study in
terms of future accidents.
We have been told that the different agencies of
government could not take action at the time this happened,
but they did take some action.
Now, why does this make a difference? The
Richards Oil Company had the disaster on December 15th.
In that same month, it was reported by Ernie Boyd, Game
Warden, and on January the 20thf the Minnesota Department
-------
1582
E. Peller
of Health men were sent to Richards Oil Company. Richards
Oil Company was told i;o clean the oil mess up.
The Honeymead accident happened on January 23rd.
In February, Jerry Laraont, the State Game Warden, reported
it to the Federal -- I am not sure whether it was the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service or the United States
Department of Health. At any rate, the United States
Department of the Interior release No. 5634 states that the
disposal of the oil by dumping into the river was halted by
the Federal Government.
So they dumped it onto a farm and it went down
a ravine into the Blue Earth River and everybody forgot
about it.
DR. HARGRAVES: Mrs. Peller, I hate to do this,
to this charming lady, who has come up here and left herself
open for questions, and so on, but they are going to close
this up on us in 55 minutes.
The question you are raising is going to require
a whole lot of legal explanation. We have almost a volume
written on this, with colored photographs, and we will back
you up in most of the things that you are going to say.
I just don't think we can take this time, if you will forgivt
us.
MRS. PELLER:; Surely.
-------
1583
E. Pelier
DR. MARGRAVES; We will supply you with this
material on the oil spills, the dates we called, and the
dates we went to the Richards Oil Company. All of this is
in the records.
I think Mr. Wilson attempted to answer the
problems in part from a difference of a criminal code and
otherwise. Here is tonight's paper, in which it says:
"U.S. files pollution control complaint and
the Savage firm is charged with a law violation."
It is already on its way to court.
MRS. PELIER: That wasn't my point.
DR. HARGRAVES: I know what your point was.
MRS. PELLER: My point was before the ducks
died.
DR. HARGRAVES: I understand, but there are a
lot of complications in that.
MRS. PELLER: Everybody fell asleep until the
ducks suddenly —
DR. HARGRAVES: We didn't fall asleep because
that was ditched into a lagoon. It was embanked. We j
i
i
stopped the city from bulldozing it off the stre«t» into the j
river. i
i
Essentially, all of the things were done that '
could be done.
-------
1584
E. Peller
I will agree with you perfectly. The greatest
difficulty was when they firat started, they continued to
break the law, and Suwetiixu^ sLouuet ha we been done at that
time. I am fully sympathetic with you on that, and L hope
that if it ever happe$ns again we will see -uat uiey are
prosecuted.
MRS. PELLER*. Thank you. 1 will turn my state-
ment and the attached papers over to the reporter, if I may. ]
MR. STEIN: They will be incorporated in the
record. Thank you.
(The statements submitted by Mrs. Peller are
as follows:
THE DESECRATION OP OUR RIVERS
EDITH PELLER
Route 7, Box 72.%
Excelsior, Minnesota
I. OPERATION DUCK RESCUE
II. PATH OF POLLUTION PURSUED
by
EDITH PELLER
-------
1585
E. Pelier
I. OPERATION DUCK RESCUE
On Thursday, March 28, 1963, John Serbesku, 16-
year-old son of George and Dorothy Serbesku, saw ducka
covered with oil, struggling and squawking, trying to awlm
thru slimy, oil-coated waters to shore near their home at
Spring Lake, Minnesota. While his father awore with deep
anger at the pollution of the waters and those responsible
for it, John suggested they try to rescue ducks on the lake
and along the shore and wash them. So George bought a big
package of soap powder, handed it to his wife, who washed
38 ducks that day in their shed-basement, and that is how
the rescue operation started.
Today, nine days later, Governor Karl Rolvaag
is spearheading Operation Duck Rescue, coordinating all i
t
agencies involved, which Includes the State Department of j
i
i
Conservation, the U. S. Pish & Wildlife Service, the U. S. J
I
i
Army Corps of Engineers, the Minnesota National Guard, the j
i
State and Federal Health Departments, the Attorney General's j
I
office, as well as the Serbeskus1 rescue operations and the j
scores of volunteers. ;
I
Oil pollution of waters occurred with the thawing j
of iae first on the Blue Earth River, then the Minnesota I
!
i
I
-------
1586
E. Peller , A
River. On Friday, December 15, 1962, a crude oil tank burst ]
i
at the Richards Oil Company* Savage, Minnesota -- not too I
\
rar from where the Minnesota River joins the Mississippi. •
i
On February 23* a soybean oil tank burst at the Honeymead
Products Company at Mankato, Minnesota. The ice held the
oil from spreading. Then at ice break-up, millions of
gallons of crude and soybean oil flowed into the rivers.
This occurred at the worst possible time, with the ducks
coining up the Mississippi flyway, and geese and swan to
follow. Although there is still oil in the Minnesota
River along the banks and in pockets, the water flowed
swiftly enough, so that a concentration of oil was not too
evident until it reached the South St. Paul area of the
Mississippi River where it widens and curves, within which
there are several small lakes and islands where the birds
ordinarily drop to rest and feed. This includes Spring
Lake, River Lake, Baldwin Lake, Moore Lake, Lower Gray
Cloud Island, Gray Cloud Island, North Lake, Sturgeon Lake,
and Red Wing.
This is one trouble area. At that time, the
Mississippi River was still frozen at Lake Pepin, another
widening of the Mississippi River. On Tuesday, April 2nd,
the first barges broke through the ice and Lake Pepin became
a second potential disaster area. Some 28 miles from Lake
-------
1537
E. Peiler
City at Lake Pep Jin Is Weaver, the beginning of the river
bottom areas of the Upper Mississippi River Fish and Wildlife^
Refuge. This is a favorite resting and feeding area for
migrating birds. With the opening of Lake Pepin, oil began ,
to accumulate in pockets nearlng the Weaver bottoms.
The emergency rescue operation began and is con-
<
tinuing at the Serbesku home. I think you will be interested"
to hear how one family set the spark for action of all of th4
:
governmental agencies. Dorothy Serbesku did it by working
4
all day and into the night washing birds, and George, when
>
he wasn't out with his son on the lake rescuing them, made
his voice felt whenever he could find ears to hear. This
is an eye-witness account. ;.
i
I did not know the family before. Reading of i
i
the disaster, I telephoned the State Conservation Departmenti
and they suggested the Serbeskus could use help, so for the ;
i
past four days I have driven 80 miles and worked, washing !
and feeding birds, listening, talking with State, Federal
and University people trying to see the many problems j
i
Involved, and what solutions were possible. j
I
Neither Mr, or Mrs. Serbesku are members of the ;
I
Audubon Society or any conservation group, but their interest]
in conservation of all wildlife is a deep and passionate J
i
thing. They live very simply and are of> very modest means, i
-------
1588 '
£. Peller I
;
Mrs. Serbesku Is a practical nurse at a nursing home and '
Mr. Serbesku la a livestock weigher. Both are on sick leave
because of an autotaobile accident. They had no adequate
facilities nor finances for rescue work, but I think they
felt someone had to do something, so they did. Their
dedication and concentration on the Iwnedlate job to be done
i
is unbelievable. I have yet to see them take time off to i
eat during the day. They look tired, they are tired out,
but the disaster keeps them going.
Mr. Serbesku is short, stocky, and dynamic.
i
He has been an angry man, frustrated by the delays in rescued
i
uut showing much warmth and appreciation as more help pours I
i
in. His wife, Dorothy, is attractive, quiet, soft-spoken \
and efficient. She gives the volunteers no orders, but they
find themselves washing and drying birds, while she is
washing birds, preparing fresh water, seeing there are cratesj
filled with straw., and everything organized so work can
proceed as quickly as possible.
Let me describe the basement shed where we work.
It la old, unpainted and has a dirt floor, mostly mud now.
Every so often, someone widens a ditch In the "floor" for
water to drain off. There is a washing machine, so hoses
were attached to the faucets which fill an old bathtub in
which the birds are washed. Then we use a small boiler and
-------
1589
E, Peller
a couple of palls filled with rinsing water, An oil stove i
1
1
i
supplies the heat. For hot water, there IB a 20~gailon j
i
gas tank, and with this slow and inadequate supply of hot
water, we can still wash 250 or 300 birds a day. By the ;
i
time 1 joined the group, someone had contributed a stock :
tank. However, it needed so much water, which cooled off
1
so rapidly, we finally used it to put the oil-aoaked birds i
i
in and transferred them to the bathtub as we could. No ;
type of hot air to dry the birds, so we use rags, which ;
Dorothy then washes and dries every night. Then we have a
"sick-bay." This is a washtub in which we put the washed
birds who appear very weak and ill. "Sick-bay" ia close
to the oil heater and the birds are kept warm with clean
rugs. Not scientific? Nothing about this, even the kind
and amount of soap used, has been carefully checked for
safety to birds and for best results. But no one knows
the scientific way to do it — and up to now, no facilities
have been available.
OPERATION DUCK RESCUE DIARY
Thursday, March 28th;
While Dorothy washed birds, George, covered with
oily mud, carried two bushel baskets of gray oil-covered
-------
1590
E. Peller
dead birds to the State Legislature and asked for help, ;
i
forcefully. He said some of the men he talked to objected
to hl» language, but he was careful there were no women
around when he voiced his anger In none too polite terms.
He went to the State Conservation Department and the U. S.
Pish and Wildlife Service. He called the newspapers and
t
the TV channels asking them to come and see for themselves !
and make a plea for volunteers, men, boats, motors and
i
women to help clean birds, and to get government action on
the pollution of the waters.
Friday, March 29th; i
—' ' ' I
I-
I
Kenneth LaBoone, 3cate game warden, came out with i
i
a canoe and went to work rescuing ducks. Newsmen and TV j
(
i
men came out. Neighbors began to help collect and wash ;
1
birds. That day, 172 birds were saved and the next stage j
began. The State Conservation Department began trucking j
i
them to the Carlos Avery State Game Farm at Forest Lake, j
i-
Minnesota. They provided bird cages, straw and gunny sacks. :
At the Game Farm, they were washed again and feeding attempts!
began with a chick scratch mash. Three soap companies came .
out and left soap products. One, Tony Langersfeld, who i
i
has A.mway, an organic soap company in Hastings, spent all
afternoon mixing solutions to try to remove the thick gray >
-------
1591 •
E. Peller
soybean coating which wasn't ooraing off in the washing
operations and did achieve a measure of improvement. j
Saturday _t March 3Qt n_l
i
More help arrived and 300 birds were saved. The ;
dead birds began to pile up.
Sunday and Monday , March 31&b_ and April 1st ;
250 to 300 birds saved each day.
Monday, April 1st:
The Minneapolis and St. Paul newspapers had the
ni;', spread on the disaster. Forest Lee, supervisor,
Minnesota Game Research Unit, said, "It's impossible to
tell how many ducks and small mammals have been affected,
but I would say eight to ten thousand is a conservative
figure." The Richards plant at Savage began an oil burning
operation, but thousands of gallons of oil were still lying
in ditches. 150 gallons of emulsifier were ordered by the
Richards firm to be flown from New York to spray the fuel
oil.
John Fletcher, director of the Como Zoo in St.
Paul, s »t up a ''duck laundry" and fenced off an area of
the basement floor to house the ducks.
-------
1592
E, Peller
The new Governor, Karl Rolvaag, held an emergency
evening meeting with State and Federal personnel of agencies
which would be involved in rescue a? d pollution clean-up
efforts. He requested all information possible by noon the
following day,
Tuesday, A pr11 2nd ;
The Como Zoo trucks began transporting ducks from
the Serbeskus to the Zoo, where they were re-washed and fed.
I
In two daye, they took about 500 ducks. Volunteers came (
to help the regular staff.
By tl is time, the rescue crews consisted of about
12 boats and motors, each taking two or three men. The ]
i
State provided six boats, motors and men, U. S. Pish and s
Wildlife, two men; the rest were volunteer helpers. Equip- ]
!
tnent in the boats were gunny sacks for dead ducks and small j
animals, and nets for the living. One man would control the
boat while the others picked the birds out of the water or
along the shores. Women and men volunteers came to help
wash and dry birds. More men with retrievers were working
the shore and inland,
The noon meeting called by Governor Rolvaag
adjourned to view the disaster and about three o'clock,
-------
1593
the Governor and an entourage of State people, TV men,
and newspaper men arrived at the Serbeskua' . There had been i
a heavy rainstorm earlier and the parking area at the lake
was a mess of mud and water holes. The day was gray, cold
and windy. Photographers were busy taking pictures of the
black oil at the water's edge and the boata coming in with
sacks of dead birds to be emptied in an ever-increasing
pile in front of the shed. Inside the shed, the pictures
were a little more hopeful, maybe because everyone working
on live birds felt they were doing something to help. The I
t
Governor and his Committee saw ducks which, after repeated '
i
washings, still were so oil-coated their wing feathers ;
i
could not be separated. They moved very little and their i
j
beaks sank into the water. Others, though, swam contentedly <
in the soapy water and resisted attempts to pick them up.
The coots showed the greatest resiliency by pecking aggres-
sively without discrimination at humans and ducks alike.
The Committee stayed to watch and discuss the problems for
two hours, and the Governor promised immediate action.
That night a warning was issued to residents
of towns on the Mississippi River south of Lake Pepin that
their drinking water supplies may be polluted. Barges broke
through the ice at Lake Pepin opening a flow of water and
oil down the Mississippi. Possible legal action against
the two companies responsible was being considered by the i
-------
159^
E. Peller
Minnesota Water Pollution Control Commission. Clarence Prout
State Conservation Department Commissioner, was assigned to
coordinate all State activities and to enlist Federal
cooperation when necessary. A search was on for more
suitable buildings near Hastings, Minnesota, where the
Corps of Engineers could put up portable heating units to
minimize duck fatalities caused by having to transport
bathed wet ducks to permanent quarters.
Wednesday j A pri1 3rd.;_
Report that 30 of the 300 ducks sent to Como
Zoo the night before perished. This ten percent fatality
figure tied in with figures from the Carlos Avery Game
Farm up to the present time.
Large-scale rescue operations were finally
underway. Mike Casey, Regional Game Manager for Southeastern)
Minnesota, was assigned to direct the work, setting up his
headquarters in the Serbesku hone and getting a telephone
installed. Until now, the nearest phone available was three
miles away. Twenty-five boats and motors and seventy-five
Conservation Department men were to Join the rescuers.
Fourteen thousand dollars was appropriated by the Minnesota
Executive Council, the entire amount available from the
State Calamity Fund. Then the weather struck the final blow.
-------
1595 .
E. Feller
Temperatures went down to ?3° and snow flurries and ^5-mile
an nour winds all day and night made rescue work by boat too \
hazardous. Moat of the men and boats were called off, but
hour after hour chilled men, boys, dogs, walked the shores
and inland collecting many dead and 127 live birds, many in
bad condition, stiff with cold and oil. :
That day a biologist at the State Department
j
i
suggested we try giving the birds an eye dropper of Karo >
syrup when washed to restore and sustain energy until moved ;
,
to permanent quarters. So feeding was added to the routine ';
emergency care. ;
The Federal people were authorized to use grain,
oats, wheat, barley and corn in backwater areas to attract ;
migrating birds away from the oil slicks. However, this •
has still not been put into effect, fearing that a supply ;
t
i
of food may atract flocks of birds which might otherwise !
fly over the danger areas. ,
Federal and State Conservation planes flew over i
i
i
1
the two other danger areas, Lake Pepin and the Weaver '•
\
bottoms. They saw thousands of ducks and geese and about ;
t
1,000 swans. Accumulations of soybean oil were evident on '
the Minnesota side of the Mississippi in the form of white j
i
patches, but it had not reached the refuge area as yet. ;
t
However, there is no question that the oil will be there
-------
boon, The poasn,
floating log booms
studied oy tfifc u,
cost one
,m „ »apl *;a
have. The Nai;i.or*aj. uuai . u.ut *te- o -tvntjJU^i'J iif, u log ooora
above the three entr-iiicea t-o t-r.t: wee-^fct' bt-t>ti.>u.a .
The
ti«e oil al;
Savage,
..&ble.
Thursday, April 4Uu
By mornini;? t/it '*jlnd olsd down^ i.ue sun shone
and the twenty-fix-t. iu.dtt> v.'^r-l - r :;. brin ; iu load at'tdi1
load of dead ducks, t, aver- anci tru.ski.-feL, wtri.-n couldn't
survive the effects c: oil and i;t-t iO'/* liv-,,
ducks were found, T^eve htre ac I'ngnta oi ducks seen, and
it appears that this phase oi I'tb-j-te operaticiis at the.
Serbeskua will wlna up tomui'i-ow,
Sevent.y--aeve*i t,mn and officers cf the Minnet-^lct
National Guai^d# t',>_,,rv.' , .. . i «:«,.•».!ibioua vehicles, boatt*.,
trucks, an airplane, , nej-i.-uptri- set up headquarter& at
the Hastings Armor j t>.- Ao.;at<- f. A: fc.t ..usnulationa and
the advisability ox b»/;;tls"ii> ut, ':« A i oat i life,
-------
1597
E. Peller
Friday, April 5th;
In the past twenty-four hours, about eight
hundred dead ducks piled up in front of the shed. Rescue
operations were almost nil. Only fifty live ducks were
i
i
washed. Of the 127 ducks saved on Thursday, only 50 survived1
The first mallards were brought in and we wondered whether I
the mallard and teal migration would continue past this area]
or drop to rest and die.
This is Operation Duck Rescue for the first nine
days. The list of birds and animals found, alive and dead, |
i
is as yet incomplete. The original estimate of eight to !
i
ten thousand birds destroyed has been reestlmated at ten j
i
to twelve thousand. Of those we have washed, the great j
majority have been the greater and lesser scaups, the "blue
bills." One dead loon, our State bird, was picked up on
Monday. There were horned and pled billed grebes, herring
and ring-billed gulls, ring-necked ducks, bufflehead, ruddy
ducks, common goldeneye, wood ducks, hooded and red -breasted
mergansers, canvas backs, black ducks, mallards, pintails,
blue winged teal, green winged teal and coots. A great
j
blue heron appearing more dead than alive, was bathed and
put in "sick-ba;v, , " where he lay with his head curled on his
wings, completely unable to respond to our solicitous
-------
1598 !
E. Peller
attentions. The next morning, he was walking the basement |
j
floor at the Como Zoo, pecking viciously at his rescuers. S
s
There were reports of dead cardinals and chipping sparrows
covered with oil, but none were brought in. i
i
Of animal life, a deer was seen covered with oil. !
There are many dead beaver and tnuskrats. Dead fish are found)
on shore. i
Today, Friday, the aun shines warm, with the
temperature in the sixties. There is a gentle breeze
swelling the buds of the swaying trees along the shore. The
lake is beautiful and empty. My mind repeats the phrase,
"The lake is beautiful," and the thought continues, "with
promise of spring." I sit on an overturned boat writing,
knowing that behind me is a pile of dead ducks and dead
beaver. And knowing the promise of spring is a lie here.
I am appalled by the silence, and I suddenly realize this
has been bothering me since I began washing birds. At one
time we would have perhaps two hundred birds in the shed,
in cagea, in sick bay, being washed and dried. There was
never a squawk. It was as though the birds were on silent
film. George tells me that at this time every year there
are five thousand ducks on the lake, and their squawking
i
fills the air day and night. The rescue operations will j
I
continue further down the Mississippi, but spring is doomed i
-------
1599
E. P@ller
j
here. I wonder w aether we will hear the sound of frogs, ;
or i. they too are gone. '
The long thoughts continue. Minnesota's pollution
;aws are far too wesk. The maximum punishment for breaking .
the law IB $100 fine. In this crisis, governmental action
j
was sincere and concerned, but agonizingly slow in getting :
stwrted. As I look at the map, it seems as though we i
mi/sht have prevented this tragedy siasply. Why didn't we *
Ice-boom off the Minnesota River and siphon off the ell before
it reached the Mississippi? Since the Mississippi River is a
national concern, could we mt have a Federal law by which
immediate action could be taken to close up any waterway
entering the Mississippi when pollution on a danger level is :
i
aiacovered? Whet might have been a relatively simple •
operation on the Minnesota River is now so complex and ;
difficult that the engineers are still discussin
the problem, and the oil continues to flow down the !
i
Mlseissppi. t
II. P.*TH CF POLLUTION PURSUED
Wednesday, April 10th:
Today I took a trip by car i'rom my home to
-------
1600
E. Peller
Belle Plaine, Minnesota, to see the log booms put up by
the 682nd Engineer Battalion. My first view of the Minnesota
River was at Chaska, Minnesota, about 26 miles by road from
Belle Plaine, so I was heading towards the pollution area.
The countryside has a quiet, almost forgotten kind of
beauty. Spring ia not yet here in its lush burst of green-
ness, but the promise can be seen and felt. The road winds
through craggy ravines and low hills covered with willow
and birch, maple and oak, sumac and dogwood. The birch
and the willow stand out yellow and gray-green with life
awakening; the oak, the maple, and the sumac bushes still
wear dead reminders of winter. There are far stretches of
farmland where farmers are plowing the fields a rich
crumbly brown, and around the few, scattered, neat appearing
farm houses, the lawns are green. The river is visible only
at points where it meets with the road, but it looks more
like a beautiful woodland stream than a river. It is hard
to believe the river was wide enough in 1861 for Thoreau
to take a trip by steamboat through this area to Redwood
Palls, Minnesota. The Brewer black birds, the red wing
black birds, the meadow lark, the robin, and the flicker
are heard singing, and the flicker and the meadow lark fly
across the front of my car.
I stopped in Chaska, Minnesota, and Laurie Echo,
-------
1601
£. Peller
my collie, and I clambered down the steep rocky Dank to
Inspect the river. The water appeared to have an oily
sheen, and the deposits along the rocks were a muddy gray.
»te found the remains of a blackbird and three large fish,
ail stiff with oil. Prom there, we went to Carver, a tiny
town not far away, and looked at the river here. It again
looked as though it had a slight film of oil. We saw no
wildlife, dead or alive, here.
i
The next stop waa at Belle Plaine, where the Army 5
tv ;_:ir,eers had just completed blasting part of a hill which
was hindering the centrifugal motion of water pouring in the
aren or the log boom and causing the oil to flow over the
lo.'ts, I met Major Donald Gregg, Commander of the 682nd
Engineers Battalion, in charge of operations here. Company
A from Northfield had constructed the boom. They had
started operations on Friday, April 5, at Port Snelling,
Minnesota, where the Minnesota River enters the Mississippi.
As indicated in the Appendix, this was very experimental, so
that even the areas to log boom were not certain. He worked
out a plan so that the booms were put across in seven places
Of the seven, three yielded accumulations of oil and will
remain. The oil, both soybean and petroleum, was two
inches thick and as it accumulated, it was raked on shore.
Major Gregg was told it would disintegrate here. He
-------
1602
E. Peller < *
4
*-.*'ought it would have been better to bury the accumulation, j
?
since if it rains, it will be washed In the stream again. j
Major Gregg and Company A moved to the Belle !
Plaine area on Monday, April 8th. Here the river curves and 1
widens 30 that the log boom of 350 feet was angled across a ;
4
fitreton of 200 feet of river. They made 30-foot poles from ,
trees at the banks. If this plan seems necessary for ;
j
some time, these logs will be replaced by cedar logs. I }
?culd see the water flowing into this area, with gray oil '
]
4
dli-.ks, which remained in the artificial pool-like concentra-«
s
5
tion. I had not been aware of the oil stench until I came ]
here. Major Gregg said there are two other concentrations ;
of oil where the river curves at Henderson and at Blakely, I
|
Minnesota, between Mankato and Belle Plaine. In the three \
Jays of work here, they had seen no ducks or eagles. They i
*>ere leaving the area that day to join Company D at Red j
1
Wing on the Mississippi River. Later, the same day: j
4
Met Bill Mehellch, Game Warden for Carver County.
i
He said that when the oil tank had burst at Honeymead Plant j
t
in Mankato on January 23rd, the company had pushed the thick,!
1
jelly-like soybean oil onto the ice on Blue Earth River, a !
i
tributary flowing into the Minnesota. He had seen it here ;
and said it could then have been picked up by heavy machines j f
i
arid trucked away. When the ice melted, the oil in Blue \
-------
1603 :
E. Peiler
Earth River flowed into the Minnesota River. He and another j
1
warden went by boat from Mankato to Belle Plaine. The i
i
r j ver was full of a thick ribbon of oil pouring down- ;
stream. Since the banks of the river are high this year, j
the 3il did not get into the fields nor collect too much :
j
in pockets. Because the duck migration had not as yet :
arrived, he thinks this accounts for the few dead ducks ;
s
seer . ?
The wild creatures , the beaver and the muskrat,
have oeen moat affected. The beaver trapping season here '
is f^om March 2 3rd to May 5th. The game warden has seen
rjfsver standing on the banks , miserably rubbing their eyes ;
and enrs, too sick to get, into the water. Trappers,
frustrated at the beavers not finding their way into the ;
trnps, have been shooting them, which Is illegal, and are j
. ';irv, wrought into court. So an individual who shoots a
i
tjick beaver must pay the legal consequences, while Honeymead j
and Richards Company, responsiole for the tragedy, as yet ,
!
have taken no responsibility nor have been indicted for thetzr
t
criminal carelessness . Mr. Mehellch issued tags for 46
trapped beaver, all of whose skins were covered with oil. ;
llth
Drove to Shakopee, Minnesota, twenty-six miles
-------
1604
E. Peller -
Oelle Plaine, and ten miles before the Minnesota River •
enters the area of the Richards Oil Company at Savage, ;
Minnesota. Here the river looked shiny, but there were no
."tr'n^s of soybean oil visible. J saw a dead muskrat and
p large fish lying in the water ab the shoreline.
At *-.he Richards Oil Company in Savage, there !
i
were nc oiTicial& around, so I spoke to some of the employees
i
i
and got permission to drive into the area. I was told five ;
hundred gallons of emulsifier has been dumped into a ditc'..
)
to dissolve the oil, snd that two hundred more gallons were •
ordered. Originally, I had been told by the State Conserve- :
tier, Department that the emulsifier was declared unsuitable. ;
(
J dt not know if this is the same, or IT another has been i
\
substituted.
•
1 drove along the oil-affected acre,, and it 1
looked like a countryside in hell. The stench was over-
powering. This appeared to have been marshy land, now ;
black from fires and with pools of black oil scattered among ,
the dead grasses. Tree trunks and lower branches were j
i
covered with black deposit, while higher up, a few
branches with green buds made the picture more ghastly. ;
Flames and smoke were coming from an oil-filled ditch to
my right. On my left was a ditch about six feet wide into
which the black oil from the fields appeared to be draining.
-------
1605 '
E. Peller
In front of me was an oil truck to which was attached a pipe-*
i
line which, 1 gathered, was for the purpose of pumping oil
out of the ditch. It was the lunch hour and no workmen
were about. Farther on, the ditch was barricaded with logs,;
i
under which apparently was seeping the water from which much !
i
of the oil had been removed. It was no longer black in
color. At the bank was a drum the size of an oil drum with
a faucet on top. The name printed on the drum was the
Gamden Oil J.plll Products. This was apparently the emulsi- .
Tier poured iti qt this point. Here the banks of the dlt--h
i
were silvery gray and the water was fairly clear. I was
told at the office that the eraulsifier combined with the
il
-------
1606
E. Peller
natural resources was continuing. I drove past the ditch
and stopped to look at the Minnesota River. In the sunshine,
rainbows of colored petroleum oil appeared in patches
flowing down the river towards the Mississippi.
Friday, April 12th;
My husband and I had planned some time ago to
celebrate our anniversary weekend with a trip down the
Mississippi to see the spring migration. Our Joy in bird
watching was hampered by the need to see for ourselves
where concentrations of oil still remained and what methods
were- being used, or planned to be, to correct it.
At Red Wing, Minnesota, at a ooat marina, the
soybean and petroleum oil lay thick on the water for
several yards out into the river. It was the worst con-
centration of oil I had seen so far. As we stopped to
take snapshots, a man called to us to be sure to send the
pictures to the President, Past the marina, the river ia
controlled by a low concrete wall. Here the water flowing
swiftly was full of long, stringy patches of gray soybean
oil, as far out as I could see. Where the water had flowed
over the wall and onto the ground for about three feet, the
surface was sticky enough so that one felt the gluey contact
with every step.
-------
1607
E. Peller
Our next stop was at the Armory at Red Wing 1
!
I
I
for information on the log booms. No officers were in, but j
an enlisted man explained the booms being constructed. They
were being set up from Red Wing north for about five miles
in the area bordered by the Pralre Islands into North and
Sturgeon Lakes. The five boons, two of which were completed,
were to be called to No Name, Brewer Lake, Hardy Run, Miley
Run and Jackson Run. These booms are made of 10" poles,
33' long, staggered and connected together with steel bands.
The purpose of these booms is different from the others.
Instead of collecting oil, they are stretched along the lakes
where the lakes open into the Mississippi. The purpose is
to keep the oil in the lakes where it is now lying in
pockets and marshy areas. This oil is thus kept from flowing)
down the Mississippi.
We were told no oil has been evident in the Lake
Pepin area or beyond. A» we rode along the Mississippi to i
the Weaver Bottoms, the river sparkled and thousands of j
1
lesser scaup and coots were swimming up the river. At the j
weaver Bottoms, there were whistling swan, American egret, I
i
cormorants, lesser scaup and coots in shallow marshy land '
j
and water, and no »ign of oil. j
We talked by telephone with Donald Gray, Refuge
Manager of the Federal Upper Mississippi River Pish and
-------
1608
E. Peller
Wildlife Refuge. He had returned from viewing the river b^
air that day and saw good size oil slicks from Lake Pepin
to Lake City. There was a large number of lesser scaup in
Lake Pepin, but they seemed to be avoiding the oil slicks.
He had seen a few dried out strings of soybean oil substance
hanging from trees around Wabasha, but is sure no oil has
come into the refuge. He had seen one great blue heron,
four gulls, one, a ring-billed in full plumage, all of
which had died of oil pollution. He offered to take us by
boat the following day to see the four burlap barriers
stretched across the Weaver Bottom area.
^M^ April 13th;
A beautiful, sunshiny day and a brisk breeze on
the Mississippi. We apent three hours in an aluminum boat,
moving slowly around the Weaver Bottom area and the river
sloughs, then a fast ride up the Mississippi to Alma,
Wisconsin, through the river locks, and back again. There
was no sign of oil accumulation anywhere, and the trip was
memorable, first, because the water was clean, and, secondly,
because of the t'alry land of beauty on the river, on the
sloughs, in the river bottoms, with ducks swimming,
startling us by their flight into the air, and the heron
rookery with what seemed to be a hundred heron circling
-------
1609
above us.
We Inspect^-' • h* ? / MI*,;**;, -arrlers. There
was one at t^1* upper C-?TK* if V <•• ~ /*r bcttoms, and three alonj;
the side, where they •;*.\.**-* ••••• "-^ •'-'-retched over about a
hundred foot area. Th« barr,e""» were constructed of chicken
wlr« to which burlap baga were attached. The chicken wire
was supported by rope stretched across the river. We saw
some branches, leaves, and small accumulations of seed pods
which the current had pushed up against the burlap, but
there was no oil on the burlap or accumulated in the debris.
The barriers appear to be fine as long as the oil doesn't
cone in. But it is easy to see how quickly the burlap
would become saturated with oil, and sink into the water,
permitting the oil to pour into the shallow river bottoms.
A considerable number of the National Guard would need to
be on duty around the clock to change the burlap, and I
cannot see how that could be accomplished without the oil
getting through during the changing process.
Later That Day
Back up the river to Spring Lake and a visit
with the Serbeskus. There are no ducks on the lake, and s
thick soybean oil deposit goes out several feet in depth
along the shore line. It was good to hear that our lone
-------
1610
E. Peller
great blue heron rescued the weak before was atill doing
very well at Como Zoo in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Sunday, April
To the Carlon Avery State Wildlife Refuge and
Game Farm near Forest Lake, Minnesota, to see the rescued
ducks. We arrived too late to see the greater munber at
the Onme Farm, but at the Refuge about one hundred and sixty
ducks were sunning outside in a wire enclosure attached to
a barn. Most of the ducks appeared to be lively, but their
feathers were still stiff with oil. We were told that
those that had been washed again had died of pneunonia.
Two or three ducks were still dying every day. Up to the
present tine, about 30 percent of the ducks had perished.
Here my Journey end*. But death} unnecessary
death will continue. 1 see the wood duck in flight and I
wonder if they have nested in a tree by the water's edge,
and when the babies are ready for their fir»c swia, they
will follow their Bother to the a?.'mv shore and struggle and
die. I wonder how many of our shrinking population of bald
eagles will drop from the sky to pick up an oil-soaked fish
or duck and die of this »eal. ; o:;--, u;; the warm weather
comes, that along the six or sr v«j hundred snilee of shore-
line of river and lake affectedj »*•-:' r &t;ench arises from
-------
1611
E. Peller
the oil pollution and the wildlife decay, that men and women
and children will recoil in horror from the stink In their
nostrils, and stinging in their eyes, and the poisonous
taste of the waters, so that all their sense will know the
meaning of water pollution. Then, perhaps, they will insist
that proper measures be taken now, and that laws, both
Federal and State, be strong enough to halt pollution at its
onset.
WHOSE FAULT IS IT, AND WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY
There is no doubt in ray mind about the criminal
negligence of the companies Involved. Theirs was the
Initial responsibility. But from the time the first tank
burst on December 15, 1962, until the ice broke in March,
1963, the law enforcement agencies involved closed their
collective eyes and failed to take corrective measures.
If our Minnesota pollution laws are weak and provide only
a $100 penalty, why did not the State Conservation Department
realize measures would have to be taken and start coordinat-
ing the Army, the Health Departments and the Attorney
General*s office so that the oil could be taken off the
frozen ice? If the oil had drained into the Minnesota
River through springs, then boon* could be ready and dl
-------
1612
E. Peller
siphoned out when the ice broke and before the oil reached
the Mississippi. Why has the U. S. Pish and Wildlife Service
assumed this is only a State problem? They were represented
at only one conference called by the Governor on April 1,
1963. I was told no one from their offices in Washington,
D. C., has been here to see the problem. Are they so busy
acquiring w«t lands and bringing poachers into court that
they cannot be bothered? When I have questioned top
officials of both the State Conservation Department and the
U. S. Fish and Wildlife in this area, the answers are
evasive and liberally dispersed with "I don't know." I was
asked by one official if I was preparing a "white paper."
What are they afraid of? Are their positions so tenuous?
Are they fearful of "big business"? Have they been told
that if the State government is tough on business, we will
get no new industries from outside the State and that our
own will leave? I do not like to place guilt and
irresponsibility on agencies for which I have had great
respect. I know they have done and are doing a fine Job
in their research, their refuges, their dedication to
specific projects, and the training, caliber, and personal
Integrity of their personnel. But this, I feel, after
three weeks of investigation, that the problem of oil
pollution was improperly handled and is still not corrected;
-------
1613
E. Peller
that top official! are uncomfortable about discussing it;
and that I do not know the reason behind It.
Lincoln observed, "The sin of silence when they
should be heard makes cowards out of men."
» * *
APPENDIX
Since so much of the Information given out by the
newspapers on the oil pollution problem has been garbled,
and in order to see the day-by-day developments more
clearly, here are some of the facts, re-checked as to
accuracy.
Date Oil Tanks Burst:
December 15, 1962 Richards Oil Company, Savage,
Minnesota
January 23, 1963 Honeymead Food Products Coapany,
Mankato, Minnesota
-------
1614
E. Peller
Report of Oil Piled Up On Ice to U. S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and to State Conaervatlon Department
December 1962 by Game Warden Ernie Boyd !
t
February 1963 bY Gterry Lieaandt, State Game Warden1,
Mlnnetonka Game Refuge
January 20, 1963
Minnesota Department of Health men sent to Savage
Plant and ordered them to control flow of oil.
February 1963
Federal Government stopped dumping into Blue
Earth River. Oil dumped on farmers' land nearby. (Depart-
ment of Interior, News Release 563*1.)
March 28 - April 5, 1963
Operation Duck Rescue at Serbesku's at Spring
Lake, Minnesota.
April 5-6-7* 1963
682 Engineers Battalion set seven log boons
at Ft. Snelling where Minnesota River flows into Mississippi.
Four collected no oil, dismantled. Others, accumulations
two Inches thick, raked out.
-------
1615
E. Peller
April 6 and 7, 1963
Pour burlap and chicken wire barriers set up
by firmy Engineer above Red Wing and at Weaver River Bottoms
entrances.
April 8-9-10, 1963
Army Engineers moved onto Minnesota River and
set up log booms at Belle Plaine, Minnesota. Accumulation
less here, other accumulations of oil seen at Henderson, .
Blakely and Spvage.
April 11, 1963
682 Engineers Battalion Joined National Guard
at Red Wing, Minnesota, to help in completing the five log
booms set up along lakes bordering Mississippi five miles
north of Red Wing. Writer saw oil still flowing from
Richards Oil Company into Minnesota River.
April 13, 1963
Writer saw thick accumulation of oil along shores
at Red Wing, Minnesota, and at Spring Lake, Minnesota.
April 14, 1963
Of the fifteen hundred ducks washed, it was
-------
1616
E. Peller
estimated that between thirty and fifty percent had died
or were dying.
Governor's conference with U, S. Public Health
officials and tentative plan to spray polluted areas with
an absorbent powder to combine with soybean oil to make
it settle to bottom of lake. Experimental area, Spring Lake
April 15, 1963
Wind too strong, experiment delayed.
April 16, 1963
Governor believes work of National Guard complete*}.
Further efforts will bo made with Public Health and Con-
servation people.
AREA INVOLVED IN TERMS OP RIVER MII£S
Minnesota River
Prom Mankato to Belle Plaine
Belle Plaine to Savage
Savage to Ft. Snelling
Mississippi River
Prom Ft. Snelling to Hastings
Hastings to Red Wing
Red Wing to Weaver
River Miles
57.1
36.2
31.8
23.1
20.0
-------
1617
E. Peller
Past Weaver - no one knows how far and when.
LAKES AND ISLANDS ON THE MISSISSIPPI
STILL BADLY CONTAMINATED WITH OIL
Lower Gray Cloud Island
Grey Cloud Island
Spring Lake
River Lake
Baldwin Lake
Prairie Islands
Moore Lake
North Lake
Sturgeon Lake
CONTROL METHODS USED
I had wondered why there wasn't a simple method known
to control oil pollution on rlvera. Major Donald Gregg
tells roe there is no literature on the subject, that there
never has been this type of disaster In this country, ao
every solution attempted was experimental. They did not
know whether the petroleum (Richards Company) or the soybean
.>11 (Honeytnead) would rise to the surface. On Saturday,
April 6th, he drew up a Jar of water (8") from a boat marina
on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. The first inch
contained the red petroleum oil, the next three inches were
gray soybean oil, and the balance, water.
-------
1618
E. Peller
There were three experiments to control the oil.
They tried stretching chicken wire laden with straw across
a part of the Mississippi, hoping the straw would absorb the
oil. This was unsuccessful. Secondly, a dam was floated
two miles above Red Wing, Minnesota, by using two steel
cables, one V above the water, the other 18" below, with
burlap bags attached and at intervals, empty oil drums.
Oil stopped by the bags was then raked onto the shore.
However, the burlap became saturated and the labor of
changing the bags frequently made this plan ineffectual.
The third method was the log boom, originated by Major Qregg
Here heavy rope and steel cable are stretched across the
river, supporting logs,. It was discovered there was no need
to stop the flow of water from the surface down 18". A
single log's diameter was wide enough to control the surface
oil into a pool-like concentration while the water flowed
swiftly underneath. This oil could then be diverted to the
shore.
* * •»
-------
1619 i
E. Peller ;
!
i
1
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OP THE INTERIOR j
*
i
NEWS RELEASE j
OFFICE OP THE SECRETARY Rettle - Interior 5634
Por Release APRIL 20, 1963
INTERIOR DEPARTMENT STUDIES EFFECTS OF
MISSISSIPPI RIVER OIL POLLUTION ON WILDLIFE
Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said
today his Department is making Intensive efforts to pinpoint
the immediate and long-term effects of serious pollution on
the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers that already has killed
at least 2,000 waterfowl, plus an undetermined number of
fish, beavers, muskrats, and other wildlife.
Studies underway, Secretary Udall said, will
assist in determining whether there will be further danger
to fish and other aquatic life from depleted oxygen levels
in backwater areas when oil, which has been responsible for
the pollution crisis, oxidizes during the warm summer months.
The problem began last December 9 when an oil
olpellne broke at the Richards Oil Company storage facili-
ties in Savage, Minn., southwest of Minneapolis and St.
Paul, dumping about 1,400,000 gallons of crude oil into a
-------
1620
E. Peller
marshy impoundment on the south bank of the Minnesota River,
about five miles above its confluence with the Mississippi.
Cold weather temporarily confined the oil.
Six weeks later, a 3,000,000-gallon soy bean
oil tank owned by the Honeymead Food Products Company in
Mankato, Minn., farther southwest of the Twin Cities area,
Durst and spread oil over city streets and surrounding land
to depths of three feet. Disposal of the oil by dumping
into the Blue Earth River was halted by the Federal Govern-
ment. Efforts then were made to dispose of it in a ravine
on a private farm six miles south of Mankato.
However, the oil from the ravine seeped into a
nearby creek, then into the Blue Earth River, to the
Minnesota River, and finally, with warming weather, into
the Mississippi itself.
Meanwhile, warmer weather freed the crude oil
near Savage, and by the last week in March both the soy bean
oil and crude oil were draining into the Minnesota and
Mississippi rivers. Federal, State, and local officials
concentrated remedial actions at Spring Lake — a backwater
area where large numbers of migrating waterfowl stop.
On April 1, Federal wildlife officials attempted
a large-scale baiting operation to keep the migrating water-
fowl from the deadly contaminated water. They were only
-------
1621
E. Peller
psrtly successful. Despite the efforts of dozens of
volunteer citizens working day and night in "Operation Duck
Rescue" — trying to clean and keep alive hundreds of dying
oil-soaked ducks — Federal officials now estimate that as
many as 2,000 ducks were killed by the oil.
In announcing Department of the Interior efforts
to find out the answers to questions about future effects
of the pollution, Secretary Udall noted that the oil slick
is now beginning to disperse and oxidize. This is a long,
alow process — roughly comparable to the organic breakdown
of aewage in a treatment plant.
Attorneys of the Department also are studying
the conditions that led to the pollution problem, Secretary
Udall said.
"The possibility of large-scale rlv«r pollution
from oil storage tanks, pipelines, and other similar facili-
ties is of great concern to us In the Department of the
Interior," Secretary Udall said, "especially as such pollu-
tion may endanger parts of the National Wildlife Refuge
system and vast areas of the Nation's water areas. We
believe such incidents are preventable."
"We have an obligation to protect fully the
national interest in such cases of large scale pollution/'
he added. "If this disaster had struck in a waterfowl
-------
1622
E. Peller
wintering area, the entire resource of the Mississippi
Plyway could have been endangered."
Conferences already have been held among
representatives of the Department of the Interior, Minnesota
State officials, and U. S. Public Health Service representa-
tives to develop possible measures for preventing similar
incidents in the future. These include safety devices on
oil-storage tanks, revetments and dikes around storage
areas, improved skimming devices for removing oil from water
surfaces, and zoning arrangements on river flood plains.
Secretary Udall said the Department's Pish and
Wildlife Service laboratory at La Crosse, Wls., is
speeding Its studies of the pollution. The laboratory is
operated by the Service's Bureau of Sport Fisheries and
Wildlife.
Department biologists noted that the heroic
rescue efforts to save the oil soaked ducks were made
against staggering odds. Cleaning of the ducks robs them
of vital oils needed to keep them afloat and warra. When the
natural oils are removed, the ducks are vulnerable for
several weeks.
# # *
-------
1623
CONSERVATION NEWS
AN EDUCATIONAL SERVICE OP THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE
FEDERATION, 1^12 SIXTEENTH ST., N.W., WASHINGTON
6, D.C.
This is one of the free services made possible by contribu-
tions received for Wildlife Conservation Stamps.
Articles oontained herein may be reprinted without permissior
credit would be appreciated.
Ross Leffler, President Thonas L. Kimball, Executive
Director
M. Rupert Cutler, Editor
Vol. 28, No. 11 June 1, 1963
In This Issue Page
Industrial Pollution Shows Indifference to
Public Interest 1 * * «
INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION SHOWS INDIFFERENCE TO PUBLIC INTEREST
In the Nay 15 issue of CONSERVATION NEWS we
described in detail an oil spill on the Minnesota River
near the Twin Cities in Minnesota which eventually was
-------
1624
E. Peller
carried down the Mississippi. A bursting storage tank and
a leaking tank farm pipe allowed 1,400,000 gallons of
petroleum and 3,000,000 gallons of soybean oil to spew out
into the Minnesota River. Cold weather kept the full
effects froa becoming apparent until the ice went out and
the oil was carried into and down the Mississippi.
The atory of an estimated 10,000 ducks being i
Caught in the oil was th« subject of nationwide reporting
through all popular media. Pictures of dead, oil-coated
ducks were widely circularized. It was a sad but dramatic
story, and emphasized how ineptly we continue to take care
of our material blessings.
Oov. Rolvaag of Minnesota immediately took action,
and calls for help quickly reached the National Capital
for emergency measures by way of manpower and money. But
the tiger was already loose and no one was quite sure how
to get it back in the cage. Recriminations, which are
understandable at such times, did not evaporate the oil,
nor even develop future preventatIves. Certainly the oil
spillage was not deliberate, but it was the result of a
serious degree of negligence.
According to Interior Secretary Udall, studies
now under way will assist in determining whether there will
be further damage to fish and other aquatic life, especially
-------
1625
E. Peller
oxygen depletion as the oil oxidizes in the backwaters
during the summer months. j
One concern of the Department of the Interior
— and rightly so — is what effect the oil may have on the
Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge* which extends
for 300 miles along the Mississippi.
Secretary Udall further commented: "We have
an obligation to protect fully the national interest in
such cases of large scale pollution. If this disaster had
struck in a waterfowl wintering area, the entire resource
of the Mississippi Flyway could have been endangered."
If improved pollution laws, measures of safety,
etc., result from this disaster, there may be some beneficial
results. This incident of ducks dying and the general
damage occurring from oil pollution, as said before, was
sufficiently dramatic to capture national attention. But
dramatics of this type are a poor substitute for conserva-
tion. Successful resource management results from sober,
intelligent continuity of program, which too often does not
hit the headlines.
What la not apparent to the rank and file of
people are the various type* of pollution which from day
to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year
corrode and destroy aesthetic and economic resources before
-------
1626 '
E. Feller
the eyes of an indifferent public.
In 1962 an exhaustive and comprehensive report
was issued entitled "Pollution of the Navigable Waters
of the Detroit River and Lake Erie and Their Tributaries
Within the State of Michigan." Its damning evidence should
make ar.y thoughtful citizen hang hie head in shame.
The Detroit. River, which empties into Lake Erie
a,,d borders frichiasan and Canada, has developed into a
chronic Tester of filth and pollution. Possibly it is one
of those cases so persistent that people finally become
discouraged and lackadaisical. This entire region was once
Ideal habitat for waterfowl. They traversed it in uncounted
numbers.
The lower west bank of the river wa.; developed
•.'.>r Industrial purposes. The resulting effluent warmed
•;r» river and kept it open. As a result ducks lingered
after the normal freeze-up.
As far back as 19^*1» the general region was
recognized as a special problem area, with the increasing
. '• 1th of the river spreading into the marshes of Lake Erie.
In 1948 there was an estimated minimum loss of
10,000 birds. In succeeding years the recorded losses were
r; t as high. In I960 there was another loss of 12,000
oirds. The report states that, regardless of associated
-------
1627
E. Peller
complications, oil flows constituted a serious factor.
There was also grease, fats and various oil compounds from
domestic sewage.
A study wade in 19^6-48 by an International
Joint Commission disclosed that an average of 16,280 gallons
of oil was dumped Into the river every day, and that althoug
this had been reduced, oil waa still a problem.
The first serious duck losses due to botulism
east of the Mississippi were found in 19^1 on the Raisin
River which flows into Lake Erie. There were heavy loads
of paper mill waste in the river. The outbreak spread to
the marshes of Maumee Bay. Here another 10,000 ducks
were killed by the disease. Decomposing organic natters
Uuaped into the Raisin River was the principal factor,
A smaller outbreak of botulism occurred in 19**2. Again In
13^8 a heavy oil spill caused the phosphorous poisoning of
many diving ducks in the Detroit River area.
The report makes this observation: The Detroit
River-Lake Erie waters serve as a vast area of natural
wildlife habitat and as a vast area for public recreation.
The quality of this water is very Important, both for
people and for the various forms of fish and wildlife which
are dependent on it. In looking to the future w* have two
clear-cut and opposing choices 5 (l) permit the Detroit
-------
1628
E. Peller
River to degenerate to a situation like that which exists
on the Rouge, or (2) employ technical skills to meet the
pollution problems and adequately enforce abatement regula-
tions to provide for the multiple uae of these waters.
The Detroit River problem so far as oil pollution
is concerned is of much longer duration and has had more
insidious effects than the oil duapage on the Mississippi
of this past winter. But to a greater or lesser degree there
have been many examples of such pollution throughout the
nation for many years which have gradually eroded away the
wildlife and recreational values.
In a speech nearly thirty years ago, the
dynamic "Ding" Darling spoke his mind on the subject:
There isn't a salmon run in any river on the Atlantic
coast in the United States to speak of any more. The ahad
are rapidly disappearing, The Hudson River, once carrying
a great myriad of sturgeon, is as sterile as the Connecticut
River. The Great Lakes, once the greatest reservoir of
food supply, fresh water and aquatic food resources, gone;
... the Pacific Coast rivers of the United States no longer
carry their vaunted run of salmon ... Now maybe you don't
like fish. That's about all the Chinese have left. They
have used up their soil, and if they can't get anything
from the water they just starve, that's all."
-------
1629
K, Se
Another recent Sssiie of debate la an oil refinery
In the vicinity of Biacayrie Bay, Florida, Interior
Secretary Udall and the Army Engineers have entered the
controversy and are taking a careful look at the situation.
Pear of oil spillage and the destruction of the biological
community which supports world-advertised sea fishing is
one of the big dangers .
Many local controversies have resulted when
large corporations plan Installations which have a potential
to destroy wildlife habitat or recreational use, Thes*
often occur along a river flat, a marsh which is to be
filled in, a hill which must be denuded of trees.
Administrative heads of these corporations are
often excused for lack of biological knowledge, but it Is
usually some lay group of citizens that exert a militant
opposition, and their rank and file are certainly not
trained biologists,
If the man on the street can sense potential
danger, it is inexcusable for a chairman of a board to
plead ignorance. It is also often stated that engineers
receive no biological training, but why should they be
exonerated for looking only through one knot holt? If the
butcher and baker can visualize destruction, the engineer
cannot plead innocent .
-------
1630
E, Peller
It IB true that laymen groups obtain the services
of wildlife specllista, but so could the corporations
before they extend their plant. Such arguments do not hold
water. If corporations are smart enough to employ the
technical advice of engineers, it would appear that their
failure to employ biologists is nothing more than
indifference to the general public Interest.
Credit the man on the street for many of the
battles which have been won. However, he is winning too
few. How many oil apillei must occur, how many ducks and
fish must die* before the; tide on such carelessness and
indifference begins to ebb? — ERNEST SWIPT
# # #
Bills aimed at preventing reoccurrence of pollu-
tion of state waters from accidental or intentional dis-
charge of stored liquids have been Introduced in both houses
of the Minnesota legislature. Authors of the bill in the
house, H. P. 1907* are Representatives Barr and Orusslng.
The Senate bill, S. P. 1783* *» authored by Senator
Patterson.
The bills state that every liquid substance
stored at a place where 11; would pollute any waters of the
state if it should escape from confinement is hereby declared
to be a dangerous instrumentality."
-------
1631
E. PeJlar
Owners of a-uoh liquids and owners of the storage
facilities are made Jointly and severally liable In full
damage to the state or its political subdivisions for all
expenses incurred in preventing escaped substances from
polluting any waters of the state and in removing such
substances from the water or in confining the spread of
pollution. The bill Is designed to stimulate the construc-
tion of dikes and impoundments around storage tanks and for
other safeguards to prevent the spread of polluting sub-
stances into waters of the Minnesota.)
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
Are there any other people?
MR. WILSON: Mr. Chairman, I would Just like
to add to the comaents that Dr. Hargraves made.
In regard to the desire of the Commission to
provide everyone with the fullest possible information and
to take all the action it can in the exercise of all the
powers that are given to it, I made some comments a while
ago upon the legal provisions applicable to enforcement
in those cases previously reported to the Commission.
Under the Rosenmeier Act, which was signed by
-------
1632
the Governor on May 27, 1963, after thaae incidents had
occurred, and which necessarily cannot be retroactive as to
any events theretofore committed, the Commission will have
stronger powers on standards adopted under that Act.
The Commission has not yet adopted any standards
under the Rosenmeler Act. The standards that we have been
talking about were adopted under the old law after hearings
the preceding year, and when we get to the point of adopting
standards under the Roaenmeier Act, then we are going to be
in a much stronger position with\respect to both criminal
enforcement and enforcement of the procedures under the
Water Pollution Control Act.
These questions are somewhat complicated. I have
told a number of people here that I would be glad to sit
down and discuss with them the possibility of future action,
but I think all we have time to say here and now is that
it is definitely the Intention of the committee to exercise
whatever powers the legislature gives it to the fullest
possible extent.
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
Mr. Smith?
MR. SMITH: I have several other statements that
I would like to present.
MR. STEIN: Do you want to read them or just
put them into the record?
-------
1633 !
MR. SMITH: No, I don't believe I will read them,!
Under ''Industrial Waste Sources" as listed in
the Minnesota agenda, if the reporter would put into the
record the description of the Industrial waste facilities
at those places, for which I do not present material now,
this will take care of that portion.
MR. STEIN: That has been agreed to.
MR. SMITH: The first statement I have is from
the Honeymead Products Company, and I would like to present
that.
MR. STEIN: Just for the record, without reading
it at this time?
MR. SMITH? Ptor the record.
(The statement presented by the Honeymead
Products Company is as follows;
HONEYMEAD PRODUCTS COMPANY
TEI£PHONE: 7911 TEIETYPE: 541
MANKATO, MINNESOTA
January 31» 196U
To the Minnesota, Wisconsin Conference on Inter-State
Pollution of the Mississippi River
Re: The Mankato Soybean Oil Flood
Gentleroen:
At 9:00 A.M. on the morning of January 23, 1963
-------
1634
things were normal at the Hbneymead Products Company Mankato
Plant. A few minutes later the area was flooded with
millions of gallons of soybean oil. The flood resulted
from an explosion of a very large soybean oil storage tank.
The ruptured tank, with a capacity of WO tank cars or about
3,500,000 gallons, instantaneously released a flood of oil
with such force as to demolish plant buildings and disrupt
our incoming high voltage power lines, thereby shutting down
the plant. Railroad box cars and tank cars, some of them
loaded, were pushed helter skelter from their positions on
plant sites. One of the box cars loaded with 120 full drums
came to rest in the middle of the Blue Earth River some
hundreds of feet from the ruptured tank. Tangled railroad
tracks were carried with the cars. The temperature on
this twenty-third of January was 21° below 0. The flood of
oil covered the plant area and the neighborhood for several
»
blocks around. The ice of the adjacent Blue Earth River was
also covered by the flood. Low temperatures caused the oil
to congeal to a lard-like consistency. Accumulations of
solidified oil to a depth of three feet existed in the plant
area.
By the middle of the afternoon of January 23 w«
had a temporary limited electric power supply to the plant.
The boiler room equipment was the first to be activated
after electric power was restored. The availability of steak
-------
1635
allowed us to proceed with the cleanup plan that had been
worked out during the day. The simple plan was to establish
melting pits in which the solidified oil would be melted by
heat from steam colls. The liquid oil would be pumped
from the melting pits to tank oars. Our plant produotion
crews were organized Into around the clock cleanup crews.
Outside contractors were integrated into the cleanup crews
to supply specialist* such as electrician*, pipe fitters,
welders, etc., as well as equipment such as dump trucks,
bulldozers, front end loadersf pumps and hoisting equipment.
We had planned to load congealed oil from the
river ice into dump trucks and haul it up the river bank to
the melting pits. A heavy bull dozer broke through the ioe
and we were not able to find a slope up the river bank that
the trucks could negotiate. We then established two
melting, pits and pumping stations at the base of the river
bank. Light weight front end loaders were lowered to the
river ice. The front end loaders cleared the river ice of
congealed oil, disposing of the loads into the two melting
pits.
The cleanup campaign continued 24 hours a day
for weeks until all of the debris had been picked up.
About 120 tank cars were recovered and loaded in this cleanup
period.
Meetings between company officials and
-------
1636
Governmental Agencies, i^derai, ot&te and Local on various
phases of the disaster ssave been held. Many meetings have
oeen held with personnel of the State Water Pollution Control
Commission, first in relation to cleanup problems and then
regarding means of reducing possibilities of future
disasters.
As a result of these meetings, the company has
adopted the policy of building smaller oil storage units.
We are presently working with the commission on the
engineering of a dike system to contain the results of a
tank rupture should it ever occur.
Many attending the conference are quite familiar
with the story of the exploding soybean oil storage tanks
at Mankato. It seems there were quantities of misinforma-
tion as well as Information dissimulated concerning this
well publicized event. This first—hand summary la offered
as being of possible interest to many attending this
conference.
Respect fully,
George N. Walker
Vice President and Plants Manager)
# #
MR. SMITH? I have a statement from Northwestern
-------
163?
Refining Company, which I am presenting.
(The statement J'rom Northwestern Refining
Company is as follows v
NORTHWESTERN REPINING CO.
POST OFFICE BOX 248
SAINT PAUL PARK, MINNESOTA
REFINERIES:
February 5*
ST. PAUL PARK, MINN.
NEW BRIGHTON, MINN.
Robert N. Barr, M.D., Secretary
Water Pollution Control Commission
State of Minnesota
Minnesota Department of Health Building
University Campus
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Northwestern Refining Co. operates a modern
petroleum refinery on the east bank of the Mississippi River
approximately ten Biles below St. Paul, Minnesota.
Northwestern Refining Co. began its operation
In 1939 and has always maintained a position of utmost
cooperation with the Minnesota State Board of Health and
the Minnesota Water Pollution Control Commission. Since
1939 the company has made a constant and progressive effort
to improve waste water treatment facilities and to maintain
-------
1638
these facilities at ?,:« efficient ,evel. The facilities at
Northwestern Refining :;u,, are considered to be entirely
adequate for the treatment of the refinery effluent. This
:ffluent is tested periodically and such tests indicate that
its purity is well within the limits specified by the
Minnesota State Board of Health,
Northwestern Refining Co.»s policy of cooperation
vith the Minnesota State Board of Health and the Minnesota
Water Pollution Control Commission will be extendec) to the
United States Public Health Service in its survey of pollu-
tion of the Mississippi River, )
« *
MR. SMITH: I have next a statement from the St.
Paul Ammonia Products, Inc.
(The statement from the St. Paul Ammonia Products,
Inc., is as follows:
ST. PAUL AMMONIA PRODUCTS, INC.
P.O. BOX 1*18
SOUTH ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA
February 6, 196M
-------
1639
Conferees
February 7» 1964 Conference re Interstate Pollution
of Mississippi River
State Office Building
St. Paul, Minnesota
Gentlemen?
At the request of the Minnesota Water Pollution
Control Commission we have been asked to comment briefly
on what we have done and what we propose to do toward abate-
ment of pollution of the Mississippi River.
Our contribution to pollution of the river
consists only of the discharge of chemical waste products.
No domestic type sewage of any kind is discharged to the
river. Because of other necessary regulations we are left
with no other practical method for the disposal of our
chemical waste effluent except to discharge it into the
Mississippi River. It is therefore essential to our con-
tinuing operation to be allowed to proceed with disposal of
our chemical waste products in this manner.
Prom the start-up of our operation we have
cooperatively worked with staff members of the Section of
Water Pollution Control, Department of Health In matters
such as methods of chemical analyses to be certain of
accurate and acceptable information* type of reported data,
-------
frequency of reporting^ sampij.ng points, special sampling,
changes In types of ereialcai wastes due to modi float Ions In
process methods, etc. We have in the past purchased and
installed costly equipment with the sole purpose of reducing
quantity of chemical wastes, We submit to the Minnesota
Water Pollution Control Commission on a monthly basis a
dally accounting of flows and chemical concentrations in our
waste water effluent. Included In our report Is Information
on the analysis of Mississippi River water collected upstream!
and downstream from the point at which our chemical waste
effluent enters the river. We collect and analyze these
samples for ammonia content on a voluntary basis so that we
have additional information to make a realistic evaluation
of the effect of our effluent on the river water for the
purpose of pollution control.
It Is not our policy to discharge specific
chemical contaminates up to the Halt of the quantities
set forth in our waste disposal permit. We are continually
looking for practical ways to decrease these quantities
or eliminate them entirely, Ae an example of the quantity
of reduction of chemical waste now being sent to the river
our records will show that for last year we discharged only
approximately 32$ of the quantity of dissolved solids that
originally were intended when applying for our waste dis-
posal permit.
-------
We believe It is apparent through demonstration
that we have definitely been interested and cooperative
in decreasing and controlling pollution of the Mississippi
by discharge of our chemical arid waste water effluent into
the river. As in the past, we will continue to work along
feasible lines which will aid in further pollution abatement
Yours very truly,
ST. PAUL AMMONIA PRODUCTS, INC.
/B/ Kenneth B. Knox
Plant Manager)
* * *
MR. SMITH: I also have a statement from the
Great Northern Oil Company.
(The statement from the Great Northern Oil
Company is as follows:
DEPARTMENT OP HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE
SPONSORED POLLUTION CONTROL CONFERENCE
STATEMENT OF GREAT NORTHERN OIL COMPANY
TO: The Honorable Anthony Celebrezze, Secretary of Health,
Education and Welfare, and Murray Stein, Chief of the
-------
1642
Enforcement Branch of the Division of Water Supply and
Pollution Control of the U, S. Public Health Service,
and designated conferees.
Robert N. Barr, M.D., Secretary of the Water
Pollution Control Commission of the State of Minnesota,
has requested the Great Northern Oil Company to submit a
statement for submission to you for your consideration at
the forthcoming conference on pollution of the Mississippi
River from the Rum River downstream through Lake Pepln.
In reply to said request, the Great Northern Oil Company
respectfully submits the following statement;
Great Northern Oil Company operates a modern
petroleum refinery in the Pine Bend area approximately ten
miles south of South St. Paul, Minnesota. Use is made of
the Mississippi River to repelve about 700 gpm of treated
refinery waste water. This company, since it commenced
operation, has worked closely and cooperated to the utmost
with the State Department of Health and Water Pollution
Control Commission of Minnesota. It is now the position
of the company and always has been during its entire history
that it has never contributed to the pollution of the
Mississippi River and that its standards of waste water whic
Is received by the river have always been higher than the
minimum standards required.
-------
1643 !
i
The Or«at Northern Oil Company's position In !
I
this respect can Lest b* substantiated by a brief descrip-
tion of its operations ard its waste disposal facilities ae
follows:
The treatment GJ* waste water at the refinery
includes oil separators, lagoons, two stages of biological
oxidation and a large final lagoon (see attached sketch).
The treated water quality exceeds the W.P.C. Commission
requirements in every respect and in no way does it compromise
the section 3 river quality standards recently used by the
Commission,
The refinery, situated about 1/4 mile from the
river, was built In 1954-1955 and expanded in 1963. At
today's capacity of about 50,000 BOD, the refinery processes
include crude distillation, catalytic cracking, hydro-
desulfurlzation, reforming, aIkylatIon, catalytic polymeriza
tion, and residual oil coking. Two sulfur plants produce
liquid sulfur from waste gases.
Refinery water use and waste water treatment
follow the most modern practices known to the Industry.
Cooling water, initially drawn from wells, is treated and
then recirculated through process coolers and over cooling
towers for water conservation purposes.
Steam oondensate from the cracking process is
acid treated, steam stripped and subjected to biological
-------
oxidation of the phenols in this latest deiign of &
filled Trickling Filter,
Oily water is collected in a separate sewer tcv
distribution to an oil gravity-type separator. A series
of lagoons and a hay filter then remove traces of oil bef; -.&
the water goes to the Activated Sludge unit for final
polishing of phenols, oil, and BOD,
The final lagoon has the capacity of storing
several weeks flow of treated water.
Recent projects included a coker blowdown system
which aids oil recovery and air pollution control. We have
contracted a project to install a new lagoon pump and
protective run-off line. Studies are being completed this
year on a new, original process to renove sulfide from
refinery waste water.
Our personnel are active in the nation-wide
water pollution control projects sponsored by the American
Petroleum Institute. A group of ORSANCO members visited
our waste disposal facilities last spring with many favor-
able comments.
The annual operating costs for equipment directly
related to air and water pollution control is In excess of
$300,000.
Barge loading and unloading facilities are in
the form of a dredged harbor on the west bank of the
-------
1645
Mississippi Just cast northeast of the refinery site.
The harbor Is used for unloading arid loading during the
months of ice-free water, inuring the winter months the
harbor is used only to load product* destined for customers
between the refinery and Ssint Paul.
All possible mechanical and procedural safeguarde
are utilized to avoid spillage during loading or unloading
operations. Drain pans under velvet catch any drip that
may develop when unhooking loading lines. These pans drain
into tanks and these are pumped Into trucks for return to
the refinery.
As a further precaution, a floating styrofoan
"slick bar" isolates the harbor from the riv«r. In addition;
a second "slick bar" is maintained around the barg« being
loaded or unloaded. The "alick bar" is aquippud with a atifl
plastic weir that extends vertically b»3ow the iurfaoe of
the water. With the bar on top and weir below w«fc«r, a
barrier for floating materials lighter than water is
constantly maintained. Thup 1f »n su;o?«1«nt (»uoh as a hole
rupture) should occur, spillage nati be* contained within the
harbor and recovered without escape into tht rlv«r stream.
The U. S. Coast Guard arid oth«r gov«rn»«ntiil
agencies inspect these harbor f8Q!lit:U*fs i®v«fal tt»»§ p»r
year,
The industry is dtf nrtBin«
-------
1646
and its money toward tb« solution of real polration problems
It will strive with equ&'i. vigor to avoid unnecessary and
ineffective expenditures. Willingness to cooperate, with
determination to be effective, is the industry's position.
In conclusion, we wish to stress the fact that
no domestic sewage from the Oreat Northern Oil Company is
received by the Mississippi River in any form and that our
company Intends to continue to cooperate In any way with
all agencies of the State of Minnesota and our Federal
government in eliminating and solving pollution problems
of the public waters of our state.
February 6, 1964)
-------
164?
WOCESS SI
70 100 {
OllY WATERS
500 600 gpm
\
r«AMS_T~"
»*"" Sour
"^'•r ast^H^?Mj**>iS§^^^^&^*m1SRa>w*sa|
Stripper ,„., J Wgi? T.iftfe I__
1 1 4 Oil Sep&ra>of J
^I,IIB|| lcsa^&;^Kfi!Efi£S%^^£^i^iZ^>&^^!=!^sf
~~™*| &„ ,«,,«.,,--„- ™,«C_™H»%
1 API Gravity I " ~<^
1 Sepacaior I
._ . ,..-i
/ 1 '*** 1
Activated Jr i hher I
\r i J *^ K ' «
3 1 U O Q d J
j-^
, lnt*rm«dia'«: Pond .^
— — »> SlVTB
Waste-water flow through treatment system
-------
1648
MR. SMITH: I have a abatement from Minnesota
Mining and Manufacturing Company.
(The statement from the Minnesota Mining and
Manufacturing Company is as follows:
STATEMENT REGARDING POLLUTION ABATEMENT PROGRAM,
MINNESOTA MINING AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY,
CHEMOLITE PLANT, WASHINGTON COUNTY, MINNESOTA,
BEFORE THE CONFERENCE CONCERNING INTERSTATE
POLLUTION OP THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER
February 7*
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M)
has traditionally taken an active part in the programs that
have been established to control the pollution of our
national natural water resources. Recognizing that the
conservation of these resources is the vital responsibility
of all individuals, 3M has established water pollution
control programs at all of its plants wherever a water
pollution problem IB Involved throughout the United States
and abroad.
To illustrate this interest in water pollution
control work 3M has been an industry member of the Ohio
River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) and has
actively participated by serving on the Chemical Industry
-------
1649
Committee — Advisory to ORSANCO for the past 10 years. In
1963 two of the 3M plants located In the Ohio River Basin
received the Replica of the "Outstanding Civil Engineering
Achievement" awarded to ORSANCO by the American Society of
Civil Engineers for their excellent accomplishment in the
Ohio River Valley in curbing water pollution.
A Water and Sanitary Engineering Department with
a staff of specially trained professional engineers has been
established within the company for several years. These
engineers devote full time to the development and engineering
of water treatment and waste water pollution control programs
for various company plants.
The 3M Company plant, located on the section of
the Mississippi River under consideration in this conference,
is known as the Chemollte plant. It is located in Cottage
Grove Township in southern Washington County on the north
oank of the Mississippi River. The plant is approximately
three miles above the Lock and dam No. 2 at Hastings,
Minnesota.
The company has been active in pollution control
ever since the Chemollte plant began operations in. 19*17.
The process waste water was first discharged to holding
ponds constructed prior to 1950. In 1955 waste water fron
Chemollte, after being treated in a skinning and settling
tank and an oxidation pond, was discharged into the
-------
1650
Mississippi River. The sanitary sewage has always been
segregated from the process waste and treated separately.
In 1962 new additional waste treatment facili-
ties were constructed to expand and modify the existing
facilities. These facilities, which are presently being
used, consist of skimming and settling tanks, sludge settling
tanks, oxidation ponds, neutralization facilities, and
necessary pumping and piping appurtenances. Plane and
specifications for construction of these facilities were
approved by the Minnesota Water Pollution Control Commission
before they were constructed. The facilities were put
into operation In March, 1963.
During the past three years more than 3/4
millipn dollars was Invested by the company in abating
water pollution at the Chemolite plant. In addition to
this capital Investment, at least $60,000 Is spent annually
for operation and maintenance of these facilities.
A water laboratory maintains a monitoring
program of the waste water as It passes through the treatment
facilities. Numerous samples are collected and individual
analyses are made regularly. Based on the laboratory
analysis of samples recently collected in the ravine
receiving the waste water before it is discharged into the
Mississippi River, the present facilities have reduced the
five-day BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) approximately one*
-------
1651
half, compared to the period when the old facilities were
in operation. Data is compiled and periodically submitted
to the Minnesota Water Pollution Control Commission for
their review.
3M works very closely with the Minnesota Water
Pollution Control Commission on the development of a water
pollution abatement program. This program is aimed at
maintaining an effluent from the plant that does not limit
the designated usage for this section of the river.
With the encouragement and approval of the
Minnesota Water Pollution Control Commission, 3M has
conducted extensive experimental studies since I960,
investigating the feasibility and possibility of using
various treatment processes for additional treatment of the
waste water from Cheraolite. More than $100,000 has been
Invested by the company in these studies alone. An
industrial plant with varied activities such as those at
Chemolite uses water as one of its basic raw materials, and
consequently, the treated water must be disposed of after it
has been used. The company has cooperated with the Minnesota
Water Pollution Control Commission and has satisfied their
general desires in the past and fully intends to continue
this cooperation in seeking solutions to future pollution
problems involving this section of the river.
We request the chairman and conferees of this
-------
1652
Conference to review the natural assimilation characteristics
of the river and Include the disposal of feasibly treated
waste water as one of the many essential uses of the
Mississippi River In this section.
The 3M Company wishes to extend its appreciation
i'or this opportunity to submit this statement to the
Conference.)
* » *
MR. SMITH: I have a oopy of the letter from
the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. Do you wish me to read
this or shall I Just enter it for the record?
MR. STEIN: Do you want this letter read, or,
if not, it can be in the record, This indicates what they
are doing?
MR. SMITH: It is a statement of their attitude.
MR. STEINj Do you want to read it or not?
MR. SMITH: We don't.
DR. HARORAVES: Do you?
MR. MC DERMOTTi No.
MR. STEINi Very well.
(The letter from the Pittsburgh Plate Glass
Company is as follows:
-------
1653
PITTSBURGH PLATE GLASS COMPANY
LINSEED OIL DIVISION
P.O. BOX 7k - PHONE DU 6-2813
R. W. CORNELL, FACTORY MANAGER RED WINO, MINN.
January 27, 1964
Dr. Robert N. Barr, Secretary
Water Pollution Control Commission
Minnesota Department of Health Building
University Campus
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dear Dr. Barn
Thank you for your letter of January 5» concerning
the meeting on February 7» 1964, covering the various
aspects of pollution of the Mississippi River, between
Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Our position on this subject Is quite clear
by the record which shows that we backed the sewage treat-
ment plant Installation In Red Wing. Since the Installation
of the treatment plant we have worked closely with the City
of Red Wing to make the operation of the treatment plant
as easy as possible by doing considerable work within our
own facilities to keep our contribution of load to the plant
as low as possible.
The most unfortunate accidents In Mankato and
-------
1654
Savage last spring were, without doubt, serioua and
regretful occurrences. However, as with all sudden and
major occurrences, a careful, deliberate, objective approach
must be taken to ascertain whether this sudden and major
occurrence Is really likely to happen again and, if so,
what is an equitable preventative solution. It is Indeed
fortunate that the Water Pollution Control Commission of
our State is a thoughtful .body that approaches these problem!
in a careful and deliberate manner for it is only in this
way that the Interests of all parties are protected and the
public is best served.
We will be most pleased to discuss pollution
problems and water usage requirements with the appropriate
representatives of the Minnesota Water Pollution Control
Commission and/or the U. S. Public Health Service. Any
services which we may be able to render either of these
organizations along the lines of the knowledge we have on
these subjects will be gladly given.
Respectfully,
/B/ F. K. Bierl
Assistant Factory Manager)
MR. SMITH: I also have a statement from Richards
-------
1655
Oil Company.
MR. STEIN: That is ont of those Involved.
DR. HARGRAVES: It IB the one that Is Involved.
It is this one right here that is being prosecuted by the
Government.
MR. SMITH: Yes.
MR. STEIN: Do you want this letter from Richards
read?
MR. SMITH: It can be.
DR. HARORAVES: Shall I read it?
MR. STEIN: Yes.
DR. HARORAVES: This is from the Richards Oil
Company. As you all know, there was the petroleum spill, and
it is. the one we have just been referring to. They wrote
to Dr. Barr as follows:
"I regret that I will be unable to attend
your conference on interstate pollution which is
to be held February 7, 1964 inasmuch, as I will be
attending the American Waterway convention in New
Orleans, February 3, 4, and 5th. Mrs. Richards
and I will leave for the South from there for a
short vacation.
"We are most grateful to your commission
for the help given us last year with a most
difficult problem of oil slicks and water pollution.
-------
1656
"This was the most exasperating and expensive
experience that I have had to endure in operating
a petroleum terminal business during the past
twenty years.
"We are now alert to the risks and dangers
of water pollution, and have made expenditures of
approximately $50,000.00 together with six months
work to build adequate containment dikes and a
oil water separation system on our river terminal
aite at Savage, to contain any liquid products
that might escape from either pipelines or storage
vessels on the property.
"As no man has the ability to predict an act
of God, foresee or prevent all mechanical failures, *
such as we experienced when our pipeline ruptured
during the night with a loss of 1 million gallons
of petroleum, it is imperative that your conference
establishes guidelines and standards for industries
to prevent further water pollution of our rivers
and streams.
"We wish your conference success in securing
the cooperation of both municipalities and industry
in this vital problem.
"Yours very truly,
RICHARDS OIL COMPANY
-------
1657
"/s/ Myron D. Richards,
President."
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
Are there any others, Mr. Smith?
MR. SMITH: I have a resolution adopted by the
Minnesota Federation of Labor here, which they wish to be
recognized.
MR. STEIN: Do you want that just put in the
record?
MR. SMITH: Yes.
(The statement of the Minnesota Federation of
Labor la as follows:
MINNESOTA AFL-CIO FEDERATION OF LABOR
4? W. NINTH STREET
SAINT PAUL 2, MINNESOTA
January 29, 1964
Dr. Robert N. Barr, Secretary
Water Pollution Control Commission
Minn. Dept. of Health Bldg.
University Campus
Minneapolis Ik, Minnesota
Dear Dr. Barr:
-------
1658
We were pleased to receive your notice of the
forthcoming Conference on Water Pollution, scheduled for
Feb. 1, in the State Office Building, St. Paul.
Organized Labor has consistently supported
measures necessary to correct numerous water pollution
problems that exist in our state.
The following resolution was adopted at our
1963 Convention, held in Minneapolis, Sept. 16-18, 1963;
CONSERVATION COMMITTEE RESOLUTION NO. 1
Subject? Water Pollution
WHEREAS: Pollution of our State's lakes,
streams and underground water supplies seems to
be on the increase, and industry and the various
subdivisions of government have not exercised the
caution or discretion necessary to protect the
health and recreational interests of our citizens)
and
WHEREASs This lack of concern and absence
of corrective action endanger* the health and
welfare of our state and nation; now, therefore*
be It
RESOLVED: That the Minnesota APL-CIO
Federation of Labor, its Central Bodies and Local
Affiliates be vigilant for abuses in all corners
of the state, and nilitant In its pursuit of
-------
1659
corrective action to restore water areas already
affected and preserve our natural resources for
posterity.
We would heartily endorse any program initiated
to clean up our lakes and streams in Minnesota to protect
the health and recreation interests of our citizens.
Sincerely,
MINNESOTA APL-CIO FEDERATION OF LABOR
/s/ R. A. OLSON, President
RAO:b
cc Wesley Ohman, Chairman, Interim Conservation Conm.
Rt. 3* Detroit Lakes)
«• « *
MR. SMITH: The next one is a statement from the
League of Women Voters.
MR. STEIN: Very well.
(The statement of the League of Women Voters of
Minnesota is as follows:
League of Women Voters of Minnesota
c/o State Organization Service
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55^55
-------
1660
February 7, 1964
STATEMENT TO THE INTERSTATE POLLUTION
ABATEMENT CONFERENCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI
RIVER INVOLVING MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN
The League of Women Voters of Minnesota is
particularly pleased to give its support to a conference
which, we are sure, can inprove water quality.
Our national Board members and staff have followec
national water resourced legislation with great diligence.
They have testified at hearings and rallied member support
for the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and amendments
that have strengthened and extended this act. Many League
members all over the country have been called on to explain
League views and have helped to create support for water
pollution legislation. In Minnesota, the looal Leagues
participated in putting together the publication "Water
Resources in Minnesota" in 1959. This gave many people an
introduction to the seriousness of our water problems.
The League feels that pollution abatement is the
best way to make more water available for all users, as
well as to remove health and aesthetic hazards. There are
many groups that have reason to speak about this problem
that faces us today. We recognize the Importance of these
special Interests. Basically, what pulls us all together,
-------
1661
is the concern for clean water. In the state of Minnesota,
we are responsible for the condition of the water we send
out of this state. We are vulnerable to the criticism of
downstream users if we do not set a high standard for
ourselves.
With increasing population and growing use of
surface waters, a higher degree of treatment will be neces-
sary In many localities. -We are aware that in 1963 our own
Minnesota Water Pollution Control Commission was able to
step up its anti-pollution activities. It was last year
that the state legislature extended the powers of the
Commiaalon and gave it enforcement authority. The area
affected here is Minnesota's most populous and productive.
The quality of our water will determine our health and our
future.
But — this authority ends at the Minnesota
state boundary -- and the water keeps rolling along. We
are especially grateful that this conference hat been called
by the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. We
realize that the federal government has a unique role to
play in erasing state lines and looking at our problems as
part of a growing national crisis.
The statement of the League position on water
resources is as follows:
In order to meet the present and future water
-------
1662
needs of the people of the United States, the League of
Women Voters believes:
A. Over-all long-range planning and development of
water resources require
1) Better coordination and organization at the
federal level,
2) Elimination of inconsistencies and conflicts
in basic policy among federal agencies,
3) Federal procedures which provide the Executive
and Congress with adequate data and a frame-
work within which alternatives may be weighed
and intelligent decisions made.
B. Comprehensive planning, development, and water
management on a regional basis are essential to
the optimum development of the nation's water
resources.
l) Such development should meet the particular
needs of the region but not be in conflict
with the national interest.
2) Machinery is needed, appropriate to each
region, which will provide coordinated planning
and administration among federal, state and
other agencies.
3) Procedures should be established which provide
information and an opportunity for citizen
-------
1663 |
participation in policy decisions affecting !
the directions which water-reaource development
will take.
C. The federal government has a necessary role in
financing water-reaource development, but state
governments, local governments, and private users
should share such costs, as far as possible, based
on the benefits received and the ability to pay.
We use this statement of League position to
evaluate national water resource programs and legislation.
We urge you also to use it as a criteria for developing
pollution control programs in this area. )
# # #
MR. SMITH: Next I have a joint statement of
the Minneapolis and St. Paul Area Chambers of Commerce for
the record.
(The joint statement of the Minneapolis and St.
Paul Area Chambers of Commerce is as follows:
JOINT STATEMENT OF THE MINNEAPOLIS AND
SAINT PAUL AREA CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE
For presentation at the Federal and Interstate
Conference on Pollution of the Mississippi River
-------
1664
at Saint Paul, Minnesota, February 1 ,
Mr. Chairman:
We sincerely believe that our area has pioneered
In developing and putting into operation means of combating
water pollution.
In 1938 the Twin Cities Inaugurated the first
metropolitan sewage treatment facility on the Mississippi
River. Because of increased population and other factors
a $23 million addition to the sanitary facility is now
under construction and in the near future will be in opera-
tion. in addition to serving the central cities of Saint
Paul and Minneapolis, 37 suburbs in the Twin Cities metro-
politan area are connected to it. Under recent legislation
a plan is being developed for the construction and financing
of additional collection facilities so that more suburbs
can be provided service. The expansion program also providei
for treatment conforming to present state standards.
It is of interest to all metropolitan residents,
numerous officials of the Twin Cities and their suburbs,
together with representatives of business and Industry who
have been and are devoting large portions of their time
to the problem. They are cooperating with legislators and
the Minnesota State Water Pollution Control Commission in
an effort to afford ever widening control of pollution in
-------
1665
i
the metropolitan area.
We have been led to believe that current concern
regarding pollution problems on the Mississippi may have
been prompted by the widely publicized pollution last spring
caused when petroleum and soybean oils flowed into the
river from broken tanks or pipe lines. While these were
very unfortunate incidents they bear not at all on this
area's handling of the sewage treatment problem. Recent
legislation vests power in state agencies to prevent or
minimize recurrence of such incidents. The Chambers of
Commerce of both Saint Paul and Minneapolis gave unqualified
support to Senate Pile No. 2^3 enacted into law by the
1963 Session of the Minnesota Legislature.
This act "provides for prevention, control and
aoatement of water pollution by construction and operation
of municipal sewage disposal systems." Quoting further
from this act, "It is the policy of the State to provide
for the prevention, control and abatement of pollution of
all waters of the State so far as feasible and practical,
In furtherance of conservation of such waters and protection
of public health, and in furtherance of the development of
the economic welfare of the State."
Everything possible is being done and has been
done consistent with available resources and the needs of
other metropolitan services.
-------
1666
SAINT PAUL AREA CHAMBER OP COMMERCE
MINNEAPOLIS CHAMBER OP COMMERCE)
* * *
MR. SMITH: Next I have two copies of a statement
of the Outboard Boating Club of America.
DR. MARGRAVES: And they will send eight addi-
tional copies.
MR. STEIN: We will give one to the reporter,
and unless there is objection, it will be copied into the
record.
(The statement of the Outboard Boating Club of
America is as follows:
STATEMENT
By Ron Stone of the Outboard Boating Club of
America Before a Bi-State Conference on Water
Pollution Control On the Upper Mississippi
River and Its Tributaries
St. Paul,, Minnesota
February 7, 196^
Governor Rolvaag, Governor Reynolds, Mr. Chairman
and Fellow Conference Participants, my name is Ron Stone.
-------
1667
I am a member of the Government Relations Department of the
Outboard Boating Club of America, headquartered In Chicago.
We are a national trade association representing
166 manufacturers in the recreational boating industry, 22
of them in the two states that are the principal area of
your study. Our Minnesota and Wisconsin-based member manu-
facturers enjoy a multi-million dollar share of the boating
market. Their products are top brands in outboard motors,
outboard and Inboard boats, sailboats, houseboats, boat
trailers and marine accessories.
The Outboard Boating Club of America speaks for
the people who buy pleasure boating equipment as well as
the people who manufacture and sell it. Over 350 boating
clubs, boasting 40,000 individual members, are affiliated
with us from coast to coast. Twenty-six of our clubs are
in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Naturally we are more than Interested in the
subject of water pollution control and abatement on the
Upper Mississippi River. It affects the health and welfare
of every person in the area who looks to the Mississippi
and its tributary waters for boating, fishing, water skiing,
waterfowl hunting, waterside camping and picnicking and
other recreation.
There is a tremendous Investment in dollar* and
pleasure at stake here. Boating and other forms of water
-------
1668
recreation dependent upon the use of boats have helped nake
the recreational Industry one of the top five industries In
both Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Minneapolis-St. Paul
area is one of the leading metropolitan markets in the
country for outboard motors. We estimate there are at least
131*000 outboard motors in use in this area alone.
The boating industry likes to advertise going
out in a boat as clean, wholesome recreation with something
to offer the entire family, but this is a very hard sell
where waterways are polluted. Polluted waters that are
offensive to senses of sight and smell and corrosive or
damaging to boat hulls take the refreshment out of boating.
Any attempt on our part to estimate the number of
people who do not participate in pleasure boating because
of pollution would be guesswork, but we have reason to
believe that many are repelled from boating on certain
waters because of filth and slime and other repugnant condi-
tions.
We know of one midwestern boating club who turned
their back on a river In their home community because the
river looked and swelled up to its reputation as a common
dumping ground for municipal sewage and industrial waste.
The club built a clubhouse on a sparkling Inland lake over
one hundred and fifty miles away, and the members haul their
boats hundreds of miles back and forth on weekends and
-------
1669
holidays for the sake of clean* Inviting water.
Ironically, we have heard It said that the
tremendous Increase In the was of inland waterways for
boating, fishing and other recreational pursuits IB part
of the water pollution problem. If recreational water-craft
do contribute to pollution, we submit it is very negligible
compared to municipalities who inadequately treat or do not
treat at all their sewage before discharging it into the
water, and industries which likewise fail to treat adequate13
their waste products. If pollution from recreational water-
craft were completely controlled, we do not think it would
make any significant difference in the pollution problem
in general. Nevertheless, we are eager to do everything
reasonably possible to eliminate recreational boating as a
source of water pollution however trivial.
Is pollution from recreational watercraft really
s problem on the Upper Mississippi?
If the problem does exist, it would probably be
most acute within areas of large concentration of boats,
such as marinas, where there is perhaps relatively less
dilution effect due to limited flow and other factors.
Obviously, an important and effective deterrent to pollution
in shoreside areas of heavy boat concentration is the
provision of adequate sanitary facilities. Thus, marina
operators, both public and private, should be encouraged to
-------
1670
place reatrooms and trash disposals convenient to docks
and launching areas,
Another aspect of the problem la the deposit
of rubbish and garbage overboard, particularly in areas
where, when washed ashore, it will prove a nuisance to
riparian property owners. This kind of heedless behavior
is usually prohibited under general legislation found In
most states. It is unlawful by statute in Minnesota and
Wisconsin for anyone to throw refuse into any waters of the
state. £a a practical matter, however, effective enforce-
ment of such laws is difficult.
This problem is not Insurmountable. On our
public highways where littering was formerly a serious
problem it now seems substantially remedied by the twin
approach of education and enforcement. Pines for an offender
are often very high, and more important, the public has been
persuaded to cooperate. We are encouraged by anti-litter
campaigns for our waterways already initiated by boating
groups alone and in cooperation with organizations such as
Keep America Beautiful, Inc.
If we may Judge by recent state legislation, the
greatest attention in the area of boat pollution today is
being devoted to regulating the operation of toilet facili-
ties aboard boats. There are basically two legislative
approaches to this:
4
-------
1671
1. Requ.:;-; ,'.-.- -.:f > ; • ng va all marine heads
to prevent the oat pollution problem is
discovered or alleged. For- example* in Wisconsin except
on Lake Winnebago, the ilaaisetppl River, and the Wisconsin
River for 15 miles abov* end below the dam at Wisconsin
Dells, it ia unlawful to Maintain or operate any boat
equipped with a toilet utileaa tfi.e toilet is sealed or
otherwise rendered inoperative ao that no human waste can
be discharged into the water. This approach is deened
highly unfair since rei%«-;natue alternatives do exist. It
also seems highly unrs&iisitio aince It defies basic laws of
nature. A sealed toll«r -areate problems of convenience
and etiquette but Is ua'ii.**.»,>• to prevent the deposit of
waste materials when *n« 'joo^Bion deffl&nd».
A number oi" de^ic?* ar* na*¥ on the market which
-------
n I "* J
iij I jC
!
treat human wastes before they j.re ^oaursieati t«- the water,
For the most part these ere (.rhlordnating uulfc.,; of one kind
or another. Usually sosia maceration prooesa 3.;,; also
involved prior to chemical trwatwenr,,
Also recently develops are specia.t devices to
hold waste materials until they oi-a, &e dispose,* of in waters
far off-shore not susceptible to pollution or at a special
ahoreslde facility.
The availability of these marine toilet
appurtenances has given rise to a second fonn of state
legislation, which we consider to be a more reasonable solu-
tion to the boat pollution problem.
In 195? the state of New Hampshire,- %ffcer con-
siderable testing of the effectiveness of tnarlr.e r.hlorlnators
passed an act requiring that every toiler, on any boat
operated on state waters be equipped with a etfcte-approved
treatment device, and prohibiting the JJachargK of any
untreated sewage into the water, the act; authorizes the
state's water Pollution Oorauiiii&loi) to determine the adequacy
of treatment devices, and any device u«ed in a boat on
New Hampshire waters must be constructed and iivstalltd in
accordance with regulations oi ch» Cossmia&lon, State
registration of watercraft; equipped with tollata is condi-
tioned upon proof that the toll-efca ers fitted wltn an
approved treatment device. All boat;:* navlng toilet
-------
1673
facilities are subject to inspection at any time to see
that they comply with the law* and those that do not will
have their registration suspended if the equipment violation
is not corrected as soon as practicable.
The New Hampshire aot was endorsed by the New
England Water Pollution Control Commission not long after
its adoption, and started a wave of action in the same
direction.
Subsequently the Council of State Governments
Issued as part of its program of suggested state legislation
a model act very similar to the New Hampshire law. At about
the same tine the Outboard Boating Club of America pub-
lished its "Model Act on Sewage Disposal from Boats," (A
copy Is appended to this statement.) Both acts recommend
the use of marine toilets be permitted only with the affixa-
tion of a treatment facility or method authorized by
regulation of the state pollution control agency. They
also authorize the state boat registering agency to refuse
to number boats with toilets unless they meet requirements
for treatment devices^ At the same time, it is suggested
that this problem remain exclusively under state jurisdiction
and that local units of government be expressly denied the
right to regulate in this area.
Over the past five years the Outboard Boating
Club of America has distributed thousands of copies of its
-------
1674
model act without char&. to people in and out of government.
In this time we have se«r: six more states adopt laws
requiring boat toilets to t>« quipped with sewage treatment
devices. Pour of these state*, Minnesota, Missouri, South
Dakota and Nebraska, are part of the Upper Mississippi
River and Its tributary aystem.
Other states are known to be considering the
merits of requiring vessels to be equipped with treatment
devices. Even as I present this statement, the legislatures
of three states are entertaining proposed marine chlorina-
tlon laws.
Recognizing this trend in boat pollution regula-
tion, the Outboard Boating Club of America three years ago
took positive steps to prepare boat manufacturers for
installation of required treatment devices. We published a
standard in our "Engineering Manual of Recommended Practices'
for minimum space requirements for marine toilets fitted
with chlorinator units. (See copy appended.) floatbuilders
are advised to leave a recommended minimum apace on craft
•v
of size and design that can reasonably be expected to have
toilets so that any owner hereafter required or wishing to
install a sewage treatment device can do so without en-
countering structural difficulties. Incidentally, the
American Boat and Yacht Council also has a standard on the
same subject.
-------
1675
s
At the time we first published our recooiMnded •
I
t
standard on this .subject, a Joint letter was sent by the \
i
Outboard Boating Club of America and the National Asaocia- f
tion of Engine and Boat Manufacturers to all known boat-
uuilders asking that they agree to leave the desired space.
There was no dissent. Consequently/ we believe you will
find that virtually all boat manufacturers now provide
adequate space for sewage treatment devices.
Today there are an increasing number of manu-
facturers interested in producing marine chlorinators. They,
too, are conscious of the need for standards so that their
products will be universally acceptable to the various state
agencies responsible for approving treatment devices.
Recently these manufacturers have taken steps to come
together and cooperate with recognized testing authorities
to develop acceptable standards and criteria. The U. S.
Public Health Service is also involved in this standard-
setting process.
We are pleased to report that boating law
administrators, too, have Jumped Into the fray to fight water
/
pollution. At the last annual meeting of the National
Association of State Boating Law Administrators in Novwnber,
1963, the group pledged its support to ant1-pollution
efforts by federal and state governments. The administrators
will seek to do all within their power to curtail any
-------
1676
pollution by recreational watereraft, but at the sane time,
they intend to see that boaters are not made the scapegoats
in particular pollution situations when the real culprits
and real causes are elsewhere.
The National Association of State Boating Law
Administrators has appointed a water pollution control
committee to Implement its aims and to serve as a liaison
with other agencies and groups likewise concerned with the
abatement of pollution. One of the committee members Is a
Minnesota man, Mr. Milton Johnson, Director of the Boet
and Water Safety Division in the Minnesota Conservation
Department.
In closing, let me emphasize once more that
recreational boatmen are acutely aware of the necessity
and desirability of keeping prime boating water like the
Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries pure and clean.
The future of boating in this area Is dependent upon it.
For this impelling reason, the boating sport and industry
by and large have been, are and will continue to be self-
pollcing in the anti-pollution measures they follow. It is
a minor contribution to the campaign against water pollution
we grant you, because pollution from recreational boats ie
a relatively minor problem. But if we may borrow fro» a
famous slogan to make a pun, "Every litter bit helpii"
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity of
taking part In this conference to express our views.
-------
MARINE
TOILET
INSTALLATION
O'stt'b'ottrd Industry Associations
1677
RECOMMENDED PRACTICE
DISCHARGE
SEACOCK
INTAKE
SEACOCK
SODIUM HYPOCHUORITI 5%
MAR/NE TOILET /NSTALLAT/ON
Provision should bo made for the installation of
marine toilets with sewage treatment devices on
outboard boats of size and design reasonably ex-
pected to use such equipment. •
The envelope of dimensions showr is that obtain-
ed b\ the judicious selection of marine toilets
\vhirh would be suitable in size and weight for
installation in outboard bo.its.
The several chlorinator type treatment devices
v,hi<'h are comnierciallv available may be used
Hith marine toilets ot other manufacturers. Var-
ious arrangements of intake and discharge plumb-
.ti(;, fittings and through hull connections are pos-
sible m the dimensioned volume as measured
from a flat cockpit floor.
Where toilets and treatment devices are of the
same manufacturer, these units may be assembled
in a somewhat smaller space.
The sewage treatment unit need not be located in
close proximity to the toilet as shown. However,
if the unit is so located, the dimensions given are
near minimum.
It is recommended that all through hull connec-
tions below the water line be fitted \Mth accessible
sea cock connections. Sea t oeks ire available
that will not increase space requirements for the
complete installation.
BOAT ENGINEERING COMMITTEE
-------
1678
MODEL ACT ON
&WAOE DISPOSAL
PBOM BOATS
OBC
OUTBOARD BOATING CLUB OP AMERICA
307 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago 1, Illinois
A UNIT OP THE OMNIBUS BOATING CODE
All those who are interested in pleasure boating
have a stake in keeping our waterways free of pollution.
i
Waters which are clean, clear and sparkling are the most
attractive and afford the greatest satisfaction.
Most pollution results from industrial waste and
municipal sewage which have been Inadequately treated (or
treated not at all). In the total picture, pollution from
the use of toilets on pleasure craft is almost an infinitesi-
mal factor. Yet we recognize that in areas of extreme
congestion, unregulated disposal of wastes from boats can
be annoying.
-------
1679
This problem ordinarily Is present only In busy
harbors, mooring areas immediately adjacent to swimming
beaches, and small lakes with many residences on the
perimeter. For such places there is a solution in the form
of a reasonable regulation. This model law is the suggested
form of suoh a regulation.
There are now available inexpensive devices which
can be attached to marine toilets which effectively prevent
pollution. These make unnecessary the adoption of the harsh
rule requiring the sealing of all boat toilets while in
certain areas.
The following model law is based substantially
upon an act passed by the state of New Hampshire in 1957
and which took effect December 31, 1958. This statute was
in turn endorsed by the Council of State Governments, a non-
partisan organization supported by all of the states devoted
i
to the improvement of state government. As an introduction
to the statute which was suggested be adopted by all of the
other states, the Council said:
"The popularity of cabin cruisers and house-
boats has shown a marked increase in recent years.
Such craft are capable of handling a number of
passengers and can lodge then with reasonable com-
fort for extended periods of time. This leads to
the creation of a sewage disposal problem, perhaps
-------
1680
"small when there :i"« few 'Doats on a large body
of water, but of -,.= .'Ch nore serious proportions
when the water area la a assail lake or if the
number of boats becomes
"In Borne of t;S;« states, rucreatlon and
vacation facilities; have kttiioiue a major industry.
Lakes and rivers rank aa primary attractions a«ong
such facilities. If polluted, they immediately lose
their attract iv@nea & ana become a positive menace.
Hence the need for early and effective action
against potential blight caused by careless sewage
disposal."
The New Hampshire statute upon which the followin
model is based also has the endorsement of the New England
Water Pollution Control Com«iasion.
TITLE
An Act relating to marine toilets and disposal
of sewage from boats.
The technical requirements of what must be
included in the tit).* vary fross state to state.
These requirements aiust be adhered to exactly or
the statute will be hald to bt invalid by the courts.
-------
1681
SECTION i
DEFINITIONS
The tern "watercraft" means any contrivance used
or designed for navigation on water.
The tern "sewage" means all human body wastes.
The term "marine toilet" means any toilet on
or within any watercraft.
The term "waters of this state" means all of the
waterways on which wateroraft shall be used or operated.
NOTE: In some states it may be desired to
Halt the application of this act to certain waters
only and thereby exempt large bodies of water where
there la no conceivable boat pollution problem.
The affected areas could be listed or the Commission
be authorized to make a finding that a particular
waterway should or should not be covered by the act.
The term "Commission" means the (here enumerate
the state agency which shall administer this act).
The choice of agency is of course a matter
for each state to decide for itself. It is recom-
mended, however, that consideration be given to
the state agency dealing with water pollution prob-
lems in general.
The term "Department" means the (here Insert
-------
1682
state agency which issues certificates of number for pleasure
boats ).
SECTION 2
MARINE TOILETS — RESTRICTIONS
No marine toilet on any watercraft operated upon waters
of this state shall be so constructed and operated as to
discharge any inadequately treated sewage into said waters
directly or indirectly. No watercraft shall be so equipped
as to permit discharge from or through its marine toilet,
or in any other Banner, of any Inadequately treated sewage
at any time into the waters of this state, nor shall any
container of such inadequately treated sewage be placed,
left, discharged or caused to be placed, left or discharged
in or near any waters of this state by any person at any
time, whether or not the owner, operator, guest or occupant
of a watercraft.
This section prohibits the discharge of any
untreated sewage.
SECTION 3
MARINE TOILETS — MANNER OP OPERATION
Any marine toilet located on or within any wateroraft
-------
1683
operated on waters of this state shall have securely affixed
to the interior discharge opening of such toilet a suitable
treatment device in operating condition, constructed and
fastened in accordance with regulations of the Commission,
or some other treatment facility or method authorized by
regulation of the Commission. All sewage passing into or
through such marine toilets shall pass solely through such
devices. The Commission shall have authority to carry out
the provisions of this act by appropriate regulations.
As previously noted, these treatment devices
are now available at very moderate cost. With
further improvements likely in the near future, it
is unwise to "freeze" any particular specifica-
tions for such a device in the statute. All tech-
nological changes can be readily incorporated into
rules and regulations. Note that the basic idea
behind these devices is not patentable.
SECTION 4
LOCAL REGULATIONS PROHIBITED
Through the passage of this act, the state fully
reserves to Itself the exclusive right to control the
discharge of sewage from marine toilets.
With this law on the statute books of the
-------
1684
state, there is no need for any additional or
differing local rules. The latter could only aerve
to confuse and harass the boating public.
SECTION 5
ENFORCEMENT
All watercraft located upon waters of this state shall
be subject to inspection by the Commission or any lawfully
designated agent or inspector thereof at any time for the
purpose of determining whether such watercraft is equipped
in compliance herewith.
SECTION. 6
CERTIFICATE OF NUMBER
The Department may require persons making application
for a certificate of number for* a watercraft pursuant to
(here give statutory citation to state Boat Numbering Act)
to disclose whether such watercraft has within or on it a
marine toilet, and if so, whether such marine toilet Is
adequately equipped with a treatment device securely
affixed thereto as required by this act. The Department
is further empowered to refuse to issue a certificate of
number or a renewal thereof if such treatment device has
-------
1685
not been affixed as required by this act,
SECTION 7
PENALTY
Any person who violates any of the provisions of this
act or regulations of the Commission promulgated hereunder
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction
shall be punished with a fine of not more than $100, or by
imprisonment of not more than 30 days, or by both such fine
and Imprisonment at the discretion to the court.
SECTION 8
FILING OP REQULATIONS
A copy of the regulations adopted pursuant to this
act, and any of the amendments thereto, shall be filed In
the office of the Commission and in the office of the
(official state record keeping agency). Rules and regula-
tions shall be published by the Cosnission In a convenient
form.
SECTION 9
SAVINGS CLAUSE
-------
1686
If any court shall find any section or sections of
this act to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, such
findings shall not affect the validity of any sections of
this act which can be given effect.
SECTION 10
EFFECTIVE DATE
The effective date of this act shall be
It is suggested that the effective date of
this act be delayed so that all persons affected
by its provisions will have a reasonable amount of
time to become acquainted with it and secure the
required treatment device.)
MR. SMITH: This is the extent of the reports, except
that the reporter has been instx^ucted to put some additional
information into the record which has been supplied to him.
MR. STEIN: Very well.
(The additional infornation requested to be
copied into the record la as followss
-------
1687 !
INDUSTRIAL WASTE DISPOSAL ON THE MINNESOTA RIVER j
North Star Concrete Products Company, Mankato
This company la engaged In the washing of aand
and gravel at a site on the Minnesota River. Some of the
material Is obtained by dredging in the river. Waste water
and tailings from the washing operations are treated in a
clarification basin which overflows to the river.
Archer Daniels Midland Company, Mankato
The company is engaged in soybean oil extraction
and refining. Cooling water and water conditioning wastes
are discharged to a ditch which drains to the Minnesota
River. The process wastes ar« discharged to the municipal
sanitary sewer after passing through an oil separator.
Blue Cross Rendering Company, Mankato
This plant is located on the east bank of the
Minnesota River in the northern part of Mankato. The plant
processes dead animals, meat scraps and animal offal to
produce non-edible fata and a high-protein feed additive.
The liquid wastes are discharged to tht river after treat men1
-------
1688
The treatment facilities consist of a grease trap for the
cooling water and condensate, and a biological filter plant
for the process wastes.
Gopher State Silica Company
The plant ia engaged in the washing and grading
of silica sand at a site near the Minnesota River a few
miles downstream from St. Peter in LeSueur County. Water
for plant operation is pumped from the pit and Cody Lake
and discharged together with tailings from th« washing and
grading operations to a clarification basin which overflows
to Cody Lake and the Minnesota River.
Green Giant Company, LeSueur
This plant is located adjacent to the Minnesota
River and is engaged In the canning and freezing of peas
and corn. Operation of the plant is seasonal. Liquid
wastes from the operation include cooling water, corn silage
stack liquor and water used for cleaning of the ptent and
equipment. The total waste flow is reportedly about 1 mgd,
The process wastes and silage liquor are disposed of by
means of a ridge and furrow irrigation field.
-------
1689
Minnesota Valley Ml Ik^Prpceaaing Cooperative Association,
Belle
The plant IB located on the right bank of the
Minnesota River. The principal activity is the drying of
non-fat milk for human consumption and it is one of the
largest plants of its kind in the state. Liquid wastes
consist of cooling and condensing water, losses from milk
drying, and tank truck washings as well as equipment and
floor washings. The cooling water is segregated from the
process wastes. The sanitary sewage is segregated from the
process wastes, and discharged to a septic tank followed by
a soil absorption field. The company is currently engaged
in making engineering studies for construction of process
waste treatment facilities.
Rahr Malting Company, Shakopee
This plant produces malt from barley. The processes
consist of steeping, germination, and drying. The wastes
produced consist of cooling and wash waters. The total waste
water flow amounts to about 3 mgd of which about 75# is clear
cooling water. Basket screens are located at points within
the plant to catch residual grain. No further treatment is
provided, but an allowance was made in the design of the citj
-------
1690
interceptor sewer to permit discharge of the process wastes
into the city system at some future date when additional
treatment facilities are provided by the city.
Owens -Illinois Glass Company, Scott County
This plant manufactures paper boxea and other
containers from paper stock. Processes consist of cutting,
forming and gluing. The major process waste consists of
residual starch and this is treated with sanitary stwage
in an activated sludge plant (package unit) which is
designed for a flow of about 0.015 »gd. The effluent Is
discharged to the Minnesota River via a ditch.
Cargill, Inc., Savage
This plant is located on the right bank of the
Minnesota River and is engaged in extracting and refining
soybean and linseed oil. Waste treatment facilities consist
of screens and an oil separator. Treated wastes are dis-
charged to the Credit River near its confluence with tht
Minnesota River.
Extensive storage facilities are provided st Port
Cargill in connection with barge shipment of vegetable oils
and soybeans.
-------
1691
Northern States Power Company, Black Dog Plant, Burnsvllle
Township, Dakota County
This steam electric generating plant is located
on the Minnesota River about 8 miles above the raouth. The
plant has a net capability of about 460,900 kilowatts and
under maximum capacity operation rejects about 2,460 x 10
BTU/hr. A condensing water reclrculation pond is used so
actual heat losses to the river are not known but are
estimated to be considerably lees than the plant rejection,
although this is to some degree dependent upon river levels
and water temperatures. Maximum cooling water flow is
about 300,000 gpm with recirculation dependent on river
levels..
Ashes are handled hydraullcally and used for
fill on the plant grounds. The ash flume water is clarified
by means of a settling pond.
Twin City Barge and Towing Company, BurnsvilieTownship,
Dakota County^
This company operates stationary barge cleaning
facilities on the right bank of the Minnesota River in
Burnsville Township. The facilities are operated during
the river shipping season only. In general, the operations
-------
1692
consist of cleaning coal barges so that they can be loaded
with grain. Wastes from the opas-ations Include «?oal and
grain mixed with wash water, most of which is discharged
directly into the river without treatment. The company
does not usually clean barges which have been used to trans-
port liquids, but occasionally will clean barges which have
been used to transport sulfur, phosphate rock, or similar
materials.
A study is being made by the company to determine
if the wet cleaning now done can be replaced by dry cleaning
methods.
Minnesota Harbor Service
The company is engaged in cleaning of barges on
the right bank of the Mississippi River upstream from the
High Bridge in St. Paul. The barges cleaned are mostly
coal and grain barges. Wastes from the operation consisting
of wash water containing some coal or grain are discharged
directly into the river without treatment. It la reported
that the company does not clean barges which have been
used to transport liquids, but occasionally will clean
barges which have been used to transport sulfur, phosphate
rock, or similar materials. These operations are seasonal.
Recommendations have been made to the company to Improve
-------
1693
their waste disposal practices but no information has yet
oeen received as to changes to be made.
Twin City Barge and Towing Company
The company operates mobile barge-cleaning
facilities on the Mississippi River in the Port at St. Paul, j
The facilities are operated during the river shipping season
only. In general, the operations consist of cleaning coal
barges so that they can be loaded with grain. Wastes from
the operations include coal and grain mixed with wash water,
most of which is discharged directly into the river without
treatment. It is reported that the company does not clean
barges which have been used to transport sulfur, phosphate
rock, or similar materials. Studies are underway by the
company to determine if dry cleaning methods can be substi-
tuted for the present method of wet cleaning of the barges.
Northern States P°wer Company, Proposed R. P. Pack Plant
This proposed steam electric generating plant
will be located on the Mississippi River at the south city
limits of St. Paul (between the Minneapolis-St. Paul Sanitarj
District sewage treatment plant and the South St. Paul
sewage treatment works). The Initial stage of construction
-------
1694
is scheduled for completion In 1968. It will product
500,000 kilowatts and have a heat rejection to the river
of about 2,100 x 106 BTU/hr in a cooling water flow of
about 250,000 gptn. Under these conditions, the condensing
waters would have about a 17°P rise in temperature.
J. L. Shiely Sand & Gravel Company
This company is engaged in washing sand and
gravel on Grey Cloud Island in Inver Grove Township,
Washington County. Waste water, together with tailings from
the washing operation, is discharged to clarification basins,
The effluent drains into the river.
Liquid Carbonic, Division of General Dynamic Corporation,
Dakota County
i
The wastes consist essentially of cooling
water and a email amount of process chemicals used in the
production of solid and liquid carbon dioxide from gas
supplied by St. Paul Amnionla Products, Inc. The waste it
pumped into the forcemaln which also carries the waste from
St. Paul Ammonia Products, Inc. Treatment consists of
reaction with the ammonia plant waste in the pipeline.
Reports are submitted monthly with the report of St. Paul
Ammonia Products, Inc.
-------
1695
Northwest Cooperative Ml lie. Inc. j>_ Dakota County.
The waste disposal facilities for this phosphoric
acid and ammonium phosphate fertilizer plant consist of a
gypsum storage lagoon, pumping station, and storm water
collection system with detention pond and conductivity
sensing system. The lagoon is designed for an average
waste flow of 4.32 mgd and is operated essentially aa a
closed system with the lagoon effluent being reused in the
plant. Qypsum is stored permanently in the lagoon. Plant
area run-off is monitored, and when found to be of unsetis-
i
factory quality, is diverted to an emergency detention pond, j
I
The company has recently found some small leaks j
from the gypsum pond to the river and corrective action is
underway to locate and seal the leaks.
D. H. Hudson Manufacturing Company
This plant is located upstream from the USH 61 j
i
bridge in Hastings. The company is engaged in the roanufacturfe
of spraying equipment. The wastes include paint scrubber j
water and metal finishing wastes, both of which are dis- j
t
!
charged to the Mississippi River. Waste treatment facilities!
consisting of chemical reduction and precipitation have been ;
provided, and studies are in progress in regard to facilities
-------
1696
for dispersion of the effluent.
Foot Tanning Company
This plant Is located In Red Wing on a ••All
creek a short distance from the Mississippi River, fte
company does both chrome and vegetable tanning. The waatt/a
are screened and discharged to a series of sedimentation
basins which overflow to the creek. The existing facilities
are considered the first stage of total waste treatment
facilities which may be required to avoid unsatisfactory
conditions.
Northern States Power Company, Red Wing Plant
This steam electric generating plant has a net
capability of 29,000 kilowatts and is located on the
Mississippi River at Red Wing. Heat rejection to the river
at maximum capacity is about 17^ x 10 BTU/hr. The ooollng
water flow la about 37.000 gpm when operating at maximum
capacity with the river temperature In excess of 70°F.
Under these conditions the temperature rise through the
condensers is about 9°F.
-------
1697
PRELIMINARY LIST OF LIQUID STORAGE
DEPOTS ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER*
(* Not Including those which are a part of a "wet" industry
which is listed as having a separate waste outlet.)
Western Oil and Fuel Company, Minneapolis
The company is located on the right bank of the
Mississippi River upstream from the Minneapolis municipal
dock. The company is engaged in the marketing of gasoline
and fuel oils which are received by barge, stored and shipped
by tank truck. The total storage capacity at this sit« i»
about 7- million gallons in 20 tanks. Dikes are provided
around all of the tanks and each dike reportedly provides
secondary containment capacity of about 120 per cent of the
Capacity of the tanks enclosed.
Industrial Molaasea Company, St. Paul
The company ia located on the left bank of the
river upstream from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Sanitary
District plant. The operation consists of receiving,
storing and shipping of industrial molasses. The company
has dock facilities on the river, and generally receiver the
-------
1698
molasses by barge or rail, and ships by truck or rail. No
dikes or other secondary containment structures are provided
around the molasses storage tanks and In the event of a
major tank rupture molasses could drain Into the river.)
* * #
MR. STEIN: This concludes the Minnesota presenta-
tion, I take It?
MR. SMITH: Yes.
MR. STEIN: In view of the time limitation, I
understand we may very well be out of power here literally.
DR. MARGRAVES: You were speaking about pressing
a button and finding no power.
-------
1699
i
Closing Statements ,
MR. STEIN: I think we may be able to combine
the summary and discussion In one. All of these statements
will be carefully considered and, as I see this, they will
be most helpful In formulating a solution.
Prom the expressions that I have heard, the
conferees may be rather close together. 1 would like to take
;"r. Hargrave a' statement. He says: \
i
"At the outset, It should be made clear
that no one denies the existence of pollution in
the stretch of river Immediately below the Twin
Cities or questions the need of Improvement."
The report of the Department of Health, Educa-
tion, and Welfare indicates that industrial, municipal and
Jtortri overflow sources have created what in their opinion
1s a pollution condition, which creates a health hazard for
those engaging in water contact sports, causes visual
nuisances, interferes with fish and fishing, causes sludge
banks which give off noxious odors and floating sludge, and
Interferes with bottom aquatic life and feeding and spawning
grounds for fish propagation.
The Minnesota group, which has the large bulk of
Industries and municipalities in this area, by virtue of
indicating their future plans, certainly believes that
adequate remedial facilities have not been constructed
-------
1700
Closing Statements
yet. As to the nature of the delay*, the delays, If any,
come from the very problems that you have in dealing with a
large, complicated metropolitan area. You may be very
much better than a lot of other metropolitan areas, but
this problem is indigenous to these large metropolitan areas
throughout the country.
It is pretty evident too that both State agencies
concerned have active and vigorous programs. All the people
who have participated here, the municipalities, the indus-
tries, the citizens' groups, all want a clean river.
The differences may lie in the factual basis of
what we mean by "a clean river" and "no pollution," and what
has to be done about it.
It is our conviction that given the faets and
the data, reasonable men can agree on what should be dene
in dealing with pollution or a measure of pollution. After
all, we are dealing with a physical measurement of a material
thing, and I think reasonable men can agree on this.
We have been anked here by the Governors of both
States on all aspects of the intra and Interstate aspects
of pollution. We are proposing that the Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare engage in an intensive
survey of the stretches of the river covered by the reports
here, and do this In conjunction with both State agencies.
-------
1701
Closing Statement
Let mm go back again to Dr. Hargraves1 report
for Minnesota. He says:
"The Commission welcome* the opportunity to Join
with the U. S. Public Health Service in their announced
study of river condition* in this area and suggests that
the Wisconsin Committee on Water pollution be Invited to
participate." — participate both on a technical level with
the group, and in an advisory and guidance capacity, so we
can arrive at agreement on methodology, and when the report
and study are completed it can be useful to all parties
concerned.
This report, as has been Indicated here, should
include but not be limited to municipal wastes, industrial
wastes, Federal installations, thermal sources of pollution,
agricultural sources, bulk storage areas, pipelines and
barges, to tributaries of the Mississippi River, collfora
bacteria, B.O.D.'s, suspended solids and sludge deposits,
oil, algae, tastes and odors, and pesticides. The studies
can be modified or expanded, as the technical committee will
request.
For the information of some of you, we already
have a resident group here as a nucleus. Mr. prince is our
Resident Director of the study, and he is headquartered in
the Twin City area. Ms are now staffing up for the study.
-------
1702
Closing Statements
We cordially ask both Minnesota and Wisconsin to join us in
this, in its technical and policy direction, and to provide
as much assistance as they can from their programs.
It ia our conviction that we are a public agency
doing public business in a public manner. We would not like
to go behind closed doors with the study. We would like to
report to the people from tine to time.
When the results of the study are completed, we
would suggest that we can then hopefully have agreement of
all parties concerned, that is, municipalities, Industries,
citizens' groups, and the State and Federal agencies. At
that time we can reconvene a session of the conference and
aee where we are going.
I should point out that in no way should this
study be construed as being Something superimposed on the
»
normal operations of the Minnesota or Wisconsin pollution
control authorities. The program they have for clean-up
obviously is the irreducible minimum that ia needed. No one
should think that the study is going to change this, or that
the State authority's programs should not go forward. The
point is that this is to augment that and supplement that,
but not be a substitute for the State programs.
The essential way to get pollution cleaned up is
still a Federal-local situation.
4
-------
1703
Closing Statements
MR. SMITH: I would like to ask, by "tributaries"
you »«an the tributaries as defined in tha call of the
conference?
MR. STEIN: As defined In Mr. Rademacher's
report.
MR. SMITH: Also, did you include low-flow
augmentation in the studies?
MR. STEIN: No. We did not include low-flow
augmentation* but I think that is appropriate to include in
the studies.
You have to understand here that on low-flow
augmentation, we have to act under our own statutory
authority on call of the Corps of Engineers or the Bureau of
Reclamation, Here it would be the Corps* but I don't think
there will be any problem in adjusting that.
MR. SMITH: I think it also should be understood
that this may curtail the State water pollution control
program, depending upon the extent to which it is necessary
for us to participate in this study with your people* over
and above what we normally would be doing.
MR. STEIN: I understand that.
Let me say this: we would welcome any assistance
we could get from either State. However, we are prepared
to underwrite all the technical staff work on the study*
-------
Closing Statements
completely, if we have to, but It is always better, if it It
possible, for State people to participate at any level.
If you can't participate on the operating level,
certainly we can have participation in technical advisory
groups and committees.
MR. SMITH: Yes.
MR. STEIN: Are there any other comments?
DR. HARORAVES: There Is Just one short state-
ment that I an going to give to you, but I will tell you the
sum and substance of it at the end.
Inasmuch as the Commission has gone on record
as favoring the Metropolitan Sanitary District, we are
just submitting this hope, if you will, that the coning
study and report can be planned and carried out so that
the features bearing on metropolitan sewage disposal will
be completed in time for reporting the findings'and recom-
mendations thereon by the opening of the next session of
the Legislature in January of 1965.
Otherwise, there is another good excuse to go
two more years before any accurate legislation may follow.
MR. STEIN: Wd will make every effort to get
those aspects of the study completed, which will fit the
exigencies of the State program.
The purpose of the study Is to assist the State
-------
1705
Closing Statements
program, not deter it. We have, In studies in the past,
given priority to those items that State water pollution
control agencies considered the most important ones. If
you think that item should be given priority, I am sure it
will be given, and, if it is humanly possible, the deadline
will be met.
DR. HARQRAVES: Aa I said before, we welcome the
survey of the Mississippi River to be made by the Public
Health Service because it will yield much valuable informa-
tion which we could not obtain with our limited funds and
manpower. However, we are concerned because this survey,
as announced, will not be completed until some time after
the 1965 session of the Minnesota legislature.
Important measures affecting the sewage disposal
of the Twin City metropolitan area and the pollution of
the Mississippi River below will undoubtedly come up for
consideration at that session. Some of them will be highly
controversial. The fact that a government survey of the
river is in progress will very likely be seized upon by
opponents of these measures at an argument for delaying
action thereon until after the survey is completed.
The most important measure In this category is
the proposal for creating a metropolitan sanitary district
to provide a unified sewage disposal system for the entire
-------
1706
Closing Statements
territory Including and surrounding the Twin Cities that
is likely to be developed for residential use In the fore-
seeable future. This would supersede the present
Minneapolis-St. Paul Sanitary District, which embraces only
those two cities and handles sewage from suburban units
under contracts. The Commission has supported the metro-
politan proposal as being the most effective and economical
means of sewage disposal for the entire area.
A bill to create a metropolitan sanitary
district was introduced at the 1961 session of the Legis-
lature, but failed to pass because of disagreements among
the affected municipalities over governmental and financial
problems. A revised bill was introduced at the 1963
session, but that too failed to pass, partly because it came
in late and partly because the Legislature had passed the
Roaenmeler bill and the Aschbaoh bill with the Idea that
some of the provisions of those bills would serve for
dealing with at least the most pressing metropolitan area
problems.
The Commission intends to make the fullest
possible use of these provisions. However, we have grave
doubts that they will be adequate for dealing with some
serious problems which will demand action in the near
future. Among these problems is the provision of adequate
-------
1707
Closing Statements
trunk or interceptor sewers of sufficient size to handle
the increased sewage flow from outlying areas which are
not yet developed, but which are bound to be developed
within the next ten, twenty, or thirty years. These are
costly long-range projects. Programs for their construc-
tion should be initiated soon so that they will be ready
in tine to avoid another serious situation of overloaded
facilities such as we now have.
The Commission believes that a metropolitan
sanitary district is needed to handle these and similar
Important problems which are beyond the capacity of
existing agencies, even under the provisions of the
Rosenmeler and Aschbach bills. If the proposal for creating
such a district la not acted on at the 1965 session of the
Legislature, it will mean another two years of delay.
i
We therefore hope that the coming river survey
can be planned and carried out so that the feature* bearing
on metropolitan sewage disposal problems will be completed
in tine for reporting the findings and recommendations
thereon by the opening of the next session of the Legis-
lature in January, 1965. Continuation of other aspects of
the survey thereafter may, of course, be necessary and
desirable.
MR. STEIN? Mr. Muegge?
-------
1708
Closing Statements
MR. MUEOQE: I prefer reading mine into the
record.
MR. STEIN: Yes.
MR. MUEOQE: Don't be alarmed. This is short,
but I read it because I am quite sure I can do that better
than the reporter can read my writing.
It appears that the Water Pollution Control
Agency of Wisconsin has had continuing programs to bring
about better stream conditions, said programs encompassing
the boundary waters of Wisconsin, Including the St. Crolx
and Mississippi Rivers.
In Wisconsin, while we do not claim perfection
for our statutes, those dealing with water pollution control
have generally proven adequate for the task, and no
shortage of personnel has handicapped Wisconsin's efforts
to abate and eliminate pollution of the interstate waters
under consideration here.
In Wisconsin, the combined agencies, the State
Board of Health and the Committee on Water Pollution,
operating generally on the river basin clean-up program,
have, up to January 1st, 1964, Issued orders on 1,125 pollu-
tion sources. Acceptable compliance has been gained In
some 890 cases, including some where legal proceeding* were
instituted. Usually the start of legal enforcement was
-------
1709
Closing Statements
sufficient to produce a start on planning and construction.
Conferences between owners of unsatisfactory
installations and representatives of the control agencies
have also been most effective in bringing about voluntary
compliance initially, or compliance without court action
where order compliance dates were not net.
In the region covered by this conference* orders
were, in some cases, necessary to start a sewage treatment
project on its way. Today, as previously indicated, all
sewered communities in the region have provided treatment
facilities. In fact, all sewered communities along our
Interstate boundary streams with Minnesota and Iowa have
such facilities, notwithstanding the large volume of dilu-
tion water that is available and which is utilized in the
lower reaches of the Mississippi River.
;
In closing, I wish to assure the conferees that
the pollution control agencies of Wisconsin will participate
in the proposed study project, Insofar as their interest
may appear, and in keeping with staff and fund limitations.
We would, however, suggest that the region under
study be extended up through St. Crolx Palls and Taylor
Falls community. Should this be done, the study will then
mesh with the proposed study for the upper clean water
reaches of the St. Croix River.
-------
1710
Closing Statements
MR. STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Muegge. I think we
have a consensus hare that It would be entirely appropriate
for the study to be extended to the areas you suggest. If
there is any objection, let me hear it.
DR. HARQRAVES: No. That is the finest stretch
of water we have between the two States.
MR. STEIN: All right. I have just one or two
small chores left.
First, I think we should indicate that the kind
of study we are engaged in is a study to come up with an
action program, not just a study to go on the shelf,
I an sure, seeing the two agencies here and the
people here, we can confidently expect an action program.
I think some of you may know our reputation too.
There should be a consensus on action.
I might also point out the kind of magnitude
of the study. For this fiscal year, we will have available
about $250,000 for that. If it has to go another fiscal
year, you never can predict what the Congress is going to
vote, but our intention is to continue it at the same rate.
I don't know, and we will have to hear from our technical
people how long this will take.
Just to make the report complete, I have a
letter here from a Miss — maybe it is not Miss —
-------
1711
Closing Statements
Elukaszewskl, 3713 York Avenue, Minneapolis, wherein she
says:
"Can the heavy dosage of big city streets
with salt be included in the Committee's con-
sideration of river pollution problems?"
I understand that is a problem here. Certainly,
the technical committee will consider that. I don't know
what oan be done about it.
I would like to thank you all for coming and
participating. I think we have achieved a program which
should lead to very productive results. While I recognize
all the views that I have heard from the audience and
others, and I am very sympathetic with them, I think both
States should be commended for the efforts they have made
in this area, considering the limitations of their personnel
and their funds. You have to consider these things.
I do think that if you went around the country
and saw how pollution problems were handled, you would
realize that in coping with a metropolitan problem, as is
presented by St. Paul and Minneapolis, your State agencies
have done a job — and I can say this after listening to
this for several days — which in my opinion hat been as
good as any State has done in dealing with this problem.
I would like to thank you all for coming and
-------
1712
Closing Statements
participating In this.
I want to say just one more thing — and this
Isn't like a Beethoven symphony; It Is going to end some-
time — I think the problem is so big in tbi» area that we
are going to need the concerted effort of all — the
citizens' groups, the industries, the municipalities, the
State agencies and the Federal Government — in order to
handle this problem. There is enough work for all of us
to do.
Thank you very much.
We stand adjourned.
(Whereupon, at !?:35 p.m., the Conference was
adjourned. )
-------
1713
REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
I, AL M. ZIMMER, do hereby c«rtlfy that I was
present at the time and place first hereinbefore set forth,
the aforementioned parties appearing) that I took down in
shorthand the entire proceedings had at said tl«e and place;
afterwards transcribed said shorthand notes; and that the
foregoing 1712 pages constitute a true, correct and complete
transcript of my said shorthand notes.
Al M. Zionar
March 6, 1964.
-------
1714
ADDENDUM
THE FOLLOWING WAS SUBMITTED POP, IMCLUSXON IN
THE RECORD AFTER COMPLETION OP THE RECORD:
STATE OP MINNESOTA
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL COMMISSION
MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OP HEALTH BUILDING
UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
MINNEAPOLIS
55*40
February 14, 1964
Mr. Murray Stein
Chief, Enforcement Branch
Department ;f Health, Education, and Welfare
Public Health Service
Washington 25, D. C.
Dear Mr. Stein:
We are enclosing a copy of a letter received from
C. David Loeks, Director., Twin Cities Metropolitan Planning
Commission, with a copy of a statement prepared for
-------
1715 •
presentation at the Conference held in St. Paul on February
7 and 8, 1964.
You will note that this statement is submitted for
the record.
Respectfully,
/s/ Robert N. Barr, M.D. :
Secretary ;
Enclosure ',
P. S. Also enclosed is a copy of a letter from Bonestroo, '
Poaene and Associates, for the Townships of Cottage Grove
and Woodbury. This letter is also submitted for the record.',
* # # j
TWIN CITIES METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSON
!
Griggs-Midway Building - University at Fairvlew - Saint Paul!
4, Minnesota, Midway 5-919**
February 11, 1964
Mr. Robert N. Barr, M.D., Secretary
Water Pollution Control Commission
-"tate of Minnesota
Minnesota Department of Health Building
>
University Campus
Minneapolis 14, Minnesota
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1716
ATTENTION: Mr. Lyle Smith
Dear Mr. Smith:
This Is to officially submit for the record two
coplea of a statement prepared for submission at laat Friday
and Saturday's Water Pollution Conference. As you know, Mr.
Dalglish did not have an opportunity to present this state-
ment In person. However, we would like this material to be
in the record.
us.
If you would like additional copies, please contact
Sincerely,
/s/ C. D. Locks
C. David Loeks, AIP
Director
Enclosures (2)
CDL/Js
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1717
STATEMENT OF JAMES J. DALGLISH, CHAIRMAN,
TWIN CITIES METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION
BEFORE THE INTERSTATE WATER POLLUTION CON-
FERENCE HELD FEBRUARY 1, 196^, IN THE STATE
OFFICE BUILDING, SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA
My name Is James J. Dalglish. I appear here as
Chairman of the Twir Cities Metropolitan Planning Commission
and would like to submit the following statement in,its
uehalf.
The Twin Cities Metropolitan Planning Com»l8sion
was established by an act of the 1957 Minnesota State
legislature (MSA 468), and provides advisory metropolitan
planning service for the area consisting of Anoka, Dakota,
Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington, Scott and Carver counties.
The Commission consists of 3O members who are broadly
representative of the civic and governmental Interest* of
the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. It speaks with the
interests of the Metropolitan Area as a whole in mind.
The Commission, in cooperation with other
government agencies, has studied the water pollution
problem as a component of the larger question of water
resource management. Its findings and conclusions have
been distributed widely in published reports. Since these
constitute the best record of the Commission's thinking
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1718
on this subject, I'd like to enter the following documents
into the record: <*ater report* parts I * II, sewer report,
parks report, and the policy atateaent on sewers..
In the Interest of brevity, I'll confine »y
statement to a summary of the present and future status of
the water pollution problem as seen from the metropolitan
vantage point. When I'm through I'll be happy to answer
your questions.
What is the present situation? Basically, It Is
this: people of the Metropolitan Area, through study and
community debate over the past several years, have arrived
at a general agreement that secondary sewage treatment for
all aieaa developed at urban density is necessary to the
protection of the Area's water resources and the public
health. Moreover, it also la generally agreed that a
metropolitan approach is needed to build and finance the
major collection and disposal facilities that will be
required. The Minnesota State Legislature has formalized
this consensus in two ways. Policies being implemented
under the "Rosenmeier Law" (which is state-wide in its
application) prohibit the discharge of sewage effluent
into a water course in this Area unless the sewage has
oeen given secondary treatment in a manner satisfactory
to the State Health Department and the Mater Pollution
Control Commission. Under the "Ashbaoh Law" the
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1719
Minneapolis-Saint Paul Sanitary District has been charged
with the responsibility of developing an area-wide plan
for the collection and treatment of sewage for that part of
the Metropolitan Area which can be served by a central plant\
\
Work on this plan is progressing and a report of its
findings and recommendations will be made to the 1965 Legis-
lature. £t the same time this plan is being developed,
the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Sanitary District is undertaking
a major expansion and conversion of its Pigs Eye Island
plant to secondary treatment. It is committed to a policy
of cooperation with suburban communities to see to It that
disposal service is provided for sewage collected by local
systems within its tributary area. The area embraced by
its study currently contains 70# of the Metropolitan Area's
1,600,000 people. By the year 1990 when this Area will
have over 3 million people, approximately 80# of th« Area's
population will be served by this central collection and
disposal facility. A major part of the rest of the Area
will be served by local or sub-metropolitan systems.
The future effect of current policies will bt
that the water in the Mississippi River leaving the Twin
Cities Metropolitan Area in the year 2000 will b« in
significantly better condition than It is today.
If I am correct in asserting that the Area is
well on its way to solving the sewage treatment aspects of
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1720
the water problem, what remains to be done? Basically,
we feel that there la a need for a better set of ground
rules within which the different users of water can compete
for the use of this resource. Certainly there must be a
way in which the water users and the various levels of goverji-
ment concerned can resolve their conflicts on the basis of
equity rather than on the basis of "who gets there first."
As mentioned earlier, we in this Metropolitan
Area look at waste disposal as but one aspect of the over-
all problem of water resource management. To illustrate,
in the Metropolitan Area we have the very real problem of
providing a safe supply of water for the 4 million people
who will be here by the year 2000. We are also concerned
with preserving the Area's beautiful lakes and rivers for
such recreational uses as boating, fishing, and swimming.
Moreover, the Area's rivera are important to our economy
as transportation arteries. Obviously, these related
uses Interact and in many instances compete for the use of
the Area's water resources. For example, using our rivers
for the disposal of sewage affects recreation and water
supply. The amount of water taken from the river for
domestic and industrial use affects the amount of water that
may be available downstream for the disposal of treated
sewage effluent. On the other hand, the amount of water
in the Mississippi River available for either consumption
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1721
I
or sewage disposal is affected by policies governing the
management of Its headwater reservoirs. And these policies
in turn must also be influenced by the recreation Interests
in those areas.
A major portion of the lower St. Croix River
Valley is bound to be affected by the location and character
of metropolitan growth. This not only concerns those who
reside in the St. Croix Valley area, but It will also
influence the tremendously Important role that the St.
Croix River playu as a major recreational resource for the
people of the entire region.
This situation Is not only functionally complex,
it is also organizationally complex. Part I of the Metro-
politan Planning Commission's water study revealed that at
the time the study was made, that in addition to the many
private interests there were over 124 organizations represenjt-
ing all levels of government that had a direct concern with
or influence on the use of water in the Metropolitan Area.
These are a few examples that dramatize what we
feel is a pressing need to develop a comprehensive set of
policies at the local, metropolitan, state and federal
levels to formally balance the competing Interests of the
various parties who use the Area's water.
The Twin Cities Metropolitan Planning Commission,
in collaboration with the Area's governmental units, is
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1722
mid-way In a three-year program to produce a comprehensive
plan for the future development of this Area. Policies
Concerning the future location and character of metropolitan
development which will be contained in this plan will
provide the basic framework for balancing these water-use
Interests within the Metropolitan Area. However, the water
resource problem cannot be dealt with effectively without
more specific policies at the state and federal levels
concerning the management of the Mississippi River headwater
retervoirs and policies concerning the standards of quality
that are to be maintained in the rivers flowing through and
out of the Metropolitan Area. In this connection, the
Metropolitan Planning Commission recognizes the Area's
responsibility to its downstream neighbors to establish
and maintain a higher quality of water in the Mississippi
River. On the other hand, it oust also be understood by all
concerned that a Metropolitan Area of 4 million people,
given the quantity of water available in the Mississippi
River, cannot,under today's sewage treatment technology, use
the river in such a way that its water is in the same con-
dition when it leaves the Area as it was when it entered it.
Also, we feel that more must be done to broaden partlcipatiojn
in the development of state and federal policies affecting
interstate use of waters. Presently these matters are
primarily the concern of the Corps of Engineers and the
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1723 .
environmental health divisions of the states of Minnesota
i
!
arsd Wisconsin. A formal means must be found whereby other j
]
ir.teres' s such as public and private recreation, industrial 1
i
development, residential interests, local government and :
i
j
i
others can more directly participate in the development of |
j
policies and programs affecting the interstate use of waters].
i
*
In summary, the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area is !
i
a^are of the pollution problem. At the direction of the
legislature it is in the process of taking action. We
think that there is a need for a working partnership of i
the different users of water and the local, state and
federal interests involved to develop a truly comprehensive j
and effective solution to the water resource problem. In
conclusion, it should be stated that we in the Metropolitan
£rea would like the opportunity to prove that we can carry
•>ut our responsibilities in this partnership before con-
sideration is given to solving the problem on our behalf at
a higher level.
Thank you.
» # #
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1724
(COPY)
February 6, 196$
Minnesota Department of Health
Water Pollution Control Commission
University of Minnesota Campus
Minneapolis 14, Minnesota
Re: Cottage drove & Woodbury Township*
Gentlemen:
We are submitting herewith a large scale map of
the Towns of Cottage Grovo and Woodbury. On this map are
designated boundary lines„ existing and proposed sanitary
interceptor sewera and the sanitary sewer district limits
as proposed by our firm and accepted by the Townships and
the City of St. Paul.
The map clearly shows that the vast majority of
area drains southerly towards the Mississippi River. There
is an existing sewage treatment plant at the Mississippi
River which is designed for 8,000 people.
Ultimately the combined Townships may have a
population of approximately 325,000 people. It is estimated
that 310,000 persons will connect to the contributory area
that drains southerly to the Mississippi River.
The Townships of Cottage Orove and Woodbury reques
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1725
that consideration of the potential development be given
by your Investigating committee for continued use of the
river by thle area.
Very truly your*,
BONESTROO, R03ENE & ASSOCIATES, INC.
/»/ Otto 0. Boneitroo
0GB: ae
* * *
GPO 878-449
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US Environmental Protection Agency
Region V, Library ^
230 South Dearborn Street ..,
Chicago, Illinois 60604 ..._—
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