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Lawmakers hear plea for short‑term funds to investigate PFAS at Lake Superior College training center
Summary
Lake Superior College and Minnesota State officials told a Senate committee that preliminary investigations show PFAS contamination at the college’s Emergency Response Training Center near the St. Louis River and asked for $500,000 to pay for additional site testing and near‑term mitigation planning.
Senators heard testimony that Lake Superior College in Duluth faces multi‑year, multi‑million‑dollar environmental work after decades of training exercises that used firefighting foam containing PFAS.
College president Dr. Patricia Rogers and Brian Swanson, associate vice chancellor for facilities at Minnesota State, told the Senate Higher Education Committee that the college’s 100‑acre Emergency Response Training Center (ERTC) — including a heavily contaminated 7‑acre burn pit — was used for aircraft rescue and firefighting training from the 1990s through 2014 and that aqueous film‑forming foam (AFFF) containing per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contributed to soil and water contamination.
“The ERTC was commissioned in 1994,” Dr. Patricia Rogers said. “Between 2,000 to 3,000, sometimes even more than that, students and non‑students practice these hands‑on skills each year at the ERTC. Cleaning up a problem of this magnitude will likely cost many millions of dollars.”
Why it matters: PFAS are persistent in the environment, and state testing and evolving regulatory guidance mean the college must expand investigations now to design any long‑term cleanup. Minnesota State and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) are working with Lake Superior College; MPCA has invited LSC to enroll as a cooperating responsible party, which triggers formal investigation and mitigation obligations.
What speakers told the committee: Swanson said the college retained Barr Engineering to complete an initial investigation and that LSC spent almost $800,000 on preliminary work. He said MPCA recently returned comments on the initial investigation and tightened so‑called soil reference values, prompting a request for more comprehensive testing and some preliminary mitigation while a larger response plan is developed. “We are looking at what could be several million dollars of additional investigation and response action planning work before we even get to the major expense,” Swanson said.
Senators pressed on funding and timing. Senator Duckworth asked whether the request was a phased approach; committee members were told the current ask reflects available residual funds from a previously appropriated $500,000 that had not been drawn and that additional funding will likely be sought later. Bernie Owen of Minnesota State Colleges confirmed the earlier $500,000 appropriation remained available because campuses had not spent it.
Formal action: The committee laid Senate File 2,044 over for future consideration.
Details and constraints: Swanson and Rogers emphasized that remediation costs are currently unknowable because PFAS rules and reference values continue to evolve; the college must investigate on‑site and off‑site conditions and implement measures to stop PFAS‑impacted water from leaving the property. Possible long‑term actions discussed include excavation and disposal of contaminated soils, capping the burn pit, permanent water treatment, and ongoing monitoring. The MPCA’s enrollment of the college as a cooperating responsible party establishes the investigatory and response framework the college must follow.
Next steps: Committee members indicated support for seeking short‑term funds while continuing discussions with federal delegates and the MPCA about longer‑term resources.
