ST. PAUL - Ongoing work to clean up pollution in the St. Louis River in Duluth would receive $12.7 million in state money as part of a major water-quality initiative announced Thursday by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton.
If approved, the plan would see the state borrow nearly $220 million to improve the state's water through a wide range of local projects, including improvements to sewage treatment systems and water treatment plants in communities across Minnesota.
"Minnesotans are used to clean, safe, affordable, high-quality water for drinking, recreational purposes, businesses for their purposes," Dayton said. "It is no longer something we can take for granted."
While there are water quality issues all around the state, Dayton's proposal singled out the St. Louis River for special attention. Local, state, tribal and federal agencies are working to clean up contaminated sediment and industrial waste along the river after decades of industrial use.
Kris Eilers, executive director of the St. Louis River Alliance, said the $12.7 million state money would leverage another $47.5 million in federal Great Lakes cleanup funds to continue efforts to restore the river's estuary in the Twin Ports.
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"This is a great day for river advocates, and I want to thank Gov. Dayton for his support of this project," Eilers said. "With the federal money available, this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to clean up the river, and these state dollars are a necessary part of the solution."
"It will restore the St. Louis River estuary to a position of prominence," Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner John Linc Stine said of the proposed state money.
He predicted the area will become a "destination" for outdoor recreation for people from across the state.
Top priority
An MPCA survey indicates communities statewide need to spend $11 billion in the next two decades to fix water quality problems.
Dayton released a list of 84 projects around the state that could benefit from his proposal, including multi-million-dollar projects in Rice Lake, Scanlon, Chisholm, Keewatin, Ely, Deer River, Warba and Kabetogama. They include work to extend or replace water mains and sewer lines, and improve water or sewage treatment facilities.
The proposed spending will be part of a larger bonding bill expected to be too rich for Republican tastes. However, a key Republican did not dismiss Dayton's mostly rural water plan.
"I am appreciative that Gov. Dayton has given us some of his initial bonding priorities today and look forward to seeing the remainder of his proposal Friday," Rep. Chris Swedzinski of Ghent said Thursday. "Wastewater treatment plants and drinking water infrastructure are vital to cities throughout the state, and are expensive to build, upgrade and operate. The House Capital Investment Committee will take the necessary time to properly vet these projects during upcoming legislative session."
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Swedzinski is an assistant House majority leader and vice chairman of the investment committee, which will be the key stop for the bonding plan.
"I am setting the marker high," Dayton said. "I don't expect it will all get funded this session."
No matter how much money legislators agree to spend, he said, funding will need to continue for a couple of decades.
Dayton plans to reveal the rest of his public works proposal, funded by the state selling bonds, today.
The Democratic governor said that his water plan is one of his top four legislative priorities, along with education, targeted tax relief and transportation funding.
While the goal of the Dayton plan is to begin a process of cleaning the state's water, it also will save taxpayers of small, rural communities, he said.
Dayton and commissioners who joined him Thursday said that without state money, residents' water and sewer bills could double or triple in many small communities forced to improve water and sewage treatment facilities.
The Dayton plan would provide $167 million to improve aging water and sewer infrastructure, such as replacing Chisholm's wooden pipes, and take other steps to improve water quality.
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Another $53 million would be used to control water pollution, such as helping farmers and other landowners afford vegetative buffers that in the next few years they will be required to establish between cropland and water.
Health Commissioner Dr. Ed Ehlinger said that rural Minnesotans are especially hurt by water issues.
"People are paying in rural communities a lot more for safe water than in the metro area," he said.
Linc Stine said that while some water and sewer infrastructure is 100 or more years old, even some put in place 30 to 40 years ago are in need of replacement.
"These facilities are coming to the end of their lifecycle," he said.
News Tribune reporter John Myers contributed to this report.
