Superior wants Minnesota to pull 1,400 barrels form lake

0 Comments | Milwaukee Journal, The, Jan 21, 1995

Associated Press

Superior, Wis. City officials, fearful of possible water pollution, want Minnesota to recover more than 1,400 barrels that were secretly dumped in Lake Superior more than 30 years ago.

The 55-gallon drums contain waste material. Officials in Superior, which shares the lake's westernmost harbor with Duluth, Minn., are not satisfied with assurances from Minnesota that the barrels are harmless.

The barrels rest near the Minnesota shore, but water contamination knows no boundaries, according to Robert Browne, a member of the Superior Common Council.

The steel barrels were dumped into the lake between Duluth and Two Harbors, Minn., between 1959 and 1962. They contain scrap munitions parts and were dumped to maintain military secrecy.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says the barrels are safe.

Nevertheless, sewer pipes and flooring in the building where the scrap material originated was shown on subsequent examination to contain high levels of dangerous toxins, Superior Mayor Herbert Bergson said.

The barrels are likely to leak eventually, Bergson said.

Businesses responsible for the dumping should pay for the retrieval, he said.

Bergson compared his demand for the removal to one placed on the city of Superior concerning the Arrowhead Refinery cleanup in Hermantown. Superior was ordered to pay $125,000 to clean up soil, even though it had no role in the pollution.

"I think the MPCA should force private industry to meet the same criteria," Bergson said.

The city council plans to vote Feb. 7 on a resolution about the barrels, addressed to governors, congressmen and state legislators in both Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The resolution also will go to the MPCA, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Save Lake Superior Association.