Minnesota senators consider ban on building new school facilities on old landfills

A Minnesota Senate committee on March 3 heard testimony on Senate File 1979, a bill to prohibit construction of new school facilities on former landfill or brownfield sites.

The measure, introduced by Senator Rarick, would prohibit siting new school buildings on closed landfill properties. Senator Rarick described the version before the committee as “a bit different than what we've seen in the past,” saying reporting requirements and a fiscal note from earlier iterations had been removed and that the current language is limited to a forward-looking prohibition.

Larry Lanoue, testifying as an individual and identified to the committee as an advocate who has worked on the issue for more than a decade, told the committee he first raised the issue after learning a family member had a compromised immune system. Lanoue said, “I first got involved after I received a phone…