Committee hears local bonding requests: PFAS mitigation in Hastings, Stillwater and Oak Park Heights; Litchfield dairy cooperative seeks pretreatment funds

Several members presented local bonding requests and informational briefings to the House Capital Investment Committee on Feb. 27. Committee members considered multiple PFAS mitigation requests from cities and a private cooperative’s request for pretreatment wastewater infrastructure after a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) compliance schedule.

Hastings (Representative Tom DePel / Mayor Mary Fassbender): Mayor Mary Fassbender told the committee Hastings seeks $16,600,000 in state bonding to address PFAS contamination and to fund improvements across three treatment plants. Fassbender said all six municipal wells contain PFAS and that the contamination affects veterans’ homes served by the local supply. She said Hastings is “shovel ready” and previously obtained other funding for parts of the project; without outside funding, the city projects steep rate increases for residents and operations costs. Representative Tom DePel said Hastings has pursued other funding avenues and that the bonding request would fund part of a larger $68.9 million total need.

Stillwater (Representative Josiah Hill / Mayor Ted Kislowski / City Administrator Joe Coleman): Stillwater requested $40,000,000 to design and construct treatment for multiple PFAS-impacted wells. Mayor Ted Kislowski said six of the city’s eight wells are impacted and three are near federal maximum contaminant levels. City Administrator Joe Coleman told the committee an estimated per-well treatment cost is about $10,000,000 and warned that borrowing $40,000,000 would strain the city’s borrowing capacity and public-safety capital needs; he said the city is open to phasing work and will contribute local dollars.

Oak Park Heights (Representative Hill / Council Member Mike Liljegren): Oak Park Heights requested $1,550,000 to support design and engineering of a PFAS water-treatment plant after detection of PFAS in municipal supply. Oak Park Heights officials said the city has secured a feasibility grant and now seeks the next-step design funds.

Litchfield and First District Association (Representative Scott Van Vinsbergen / First District CEO Bob Hoffman): Representative Scott Van Vinsbergen presented House File 919, which would authorize a $10,000,000 grant to the Public Facilities Authority for First District Association (a dairy cooperative in Litchfield) to construct a pretreatment wastewater facility on city-owned land. First District CEO Bob Hoffman said the company processes roughly 800,000 pounds of cheese per day and consumes about 7.5 million to 8.5 million pounds of milk daily from farmers in 40 counties. Hoffman said an expansion and new compliance schedule with the MPCA require a $50,000,000 pretreatment project; First District and its farmers previously invested about $46,000,000 in wastewater infrastructure and now need state assistance because general-obligation bond financing is not available for a privately owned cooperative project. Representative Van Vinsbergen said a companion GEO-financing bill for the city would be pursued for related infrastructure.

Committee context and process: Committee members asked about opt-in status for the 3M settlement and other funding sources; Hastings said it did not opt into the national class action and had received a settlement disbursement for one impacted well tied to a specific chemical. Members stressed phasing options and coordination with MPCA and the attorney general for settlement-related funds; the AG’s office staff were not present at this hearing but committee members said they would invite them to testify in a subsequent meeting.

Ending: Presenters were told to follow up with staff and committee members; the hearing was informational and no bonding approvals were made during the Feb. 27 session.