Minnesota Lead Pb Non-attainment Areas

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is recommending that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designate an area around Gopher Resources Corp. (GRC), a lead-processing facility in Eagan, as a federal "non-attainment" area for lead in ambient air. MPCA also requested that areas around three other facilities (Grede Foundries Inc. in St Cloud, Dotson Co. Inc. in Mankato, and Federal Cartridge Corp. in Anoka) be designated as unclassifiable, which means more monitoring is needed to make the determination.


In 2008, EPA lowered the national standard for lead in ambient air to protect at-risk groups. The new standard required the MPCA to review its monitoring data and recommend designations to the EPA within one year for any areas of the state that are out of compliance with the new, lower standard. EPA has up to two years to decide on final designation.

The request for the new federal classifications, for the most part, is not due to increases in emissions, but rather due to a 10-fold decrease in the national lead standard, promulgated in October 2008. MPCA requested special consideration for the GRC-area nonattainment designation due to significant measures undertaken by the facility to reduce air emissions in July and August 2009, as well as ongoing remediation of lead-contaminated soils at the site. MPCA also asked EPA to withhold final designation for one year because the current recommendation for nonattainment is based on data from the past three years and does not fully reflect the recent mitigation efforts.

Nonattainment designation triggers additional federal requirements for monitoring and mitigation. MPCA must then submit a plan to EPA to improve air quality in an area within 18 months of its designation as nonattainment.

Caltha LLP provides expert environmental consultant services in Minnesota to obtain air and wastewater permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs.

For further information, contact Caltha LLP at:
Email: info@calthacompany.com
Phone: (763) 208-6430
Website: http://www.calthacompany.com/
Two Minnesota offices - Minneapolis and Pine River