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Todd County approves comment letter asking MPCA to slow construction-and-demolition landfill rule changes
Summary
Todd County commissioners approved sending a comment letter to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency asking for more time, clarifications and edits to proposed construction-and-demolition landfill rule revisions, citing steep tax increases and transition challenges for local disposal programs.
TODD COUNTY, Minn. — Todd County commissioners voted Tuesday to send a comment letter to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency asking the state to revise and slow implementation of proposed construction-and-demolition (C&D) landfill rule changes.
The comment letter requests clarifications and a longer transition timeline for counties and operators to adjust to new regulatory and tax requirements. The county’s solid-waste presenter said the rules were published July 28 and that public comments are due Sept. 12.
Solid-waste staff member Chris told the board the draft rules would “cause an increase of up to 2,500% in the tax on C&D waste” as currently written and that the state had largely applied industrial/municipal rules to demolition waste without improving the language. “They need to be better written, and they need to give us some time to transition,” Chris said.
The county’s draft letter asks the MPCA for a staged timeline and clearer language. Under the published timeline cited by county staff, the MPCA could approve the rules in late 2026; the rules as presented would require counties to submit a transition schedule within one year and would allow up to two years for a decision about closing a demolition landfill, with some provisions permitting an extension out to a maximum of eight years. County staff noted Todd County’s current demolition landfill footprint and permitted design contain space projected to accept demolition wastes for “20 or 30 years” under the county’s plan.
County commissioners discussed the difficulty of siting and building lined regional landfills, noting their high cost and the typical need for regional cooperation or private hauling to larger facilities in nearby counties. Chris recommended the county request more time to plan whether to close the local demolition landfill or to join/create a regional solution.
Commissioners made a motion to approve the draft comment letter and the board voted in favor. No formal roll-call tally was recorded in the minutes; the chair announced “ayes have it.”
Why this matters: The proposed MPCA rules would change how demolition debris is regulated and taxed across Minnesota. For counties like Todd, tighter rules and higher taxes could force early closure of local C&D landfills, require long and expensive permitting and construction processes for lined regional landfills, or increase reliance on hauling to distant facilities.
Next steps: The county will transmit the approved comment letter to the MPCA before the Sept. 12 deadline for public input and monitor state rulemaking timelines. The county packet referenced the draft comment letter on page 38 of 47.
— Reported from the Todd County Board of Commissioners meeting.
