EPA proposes cleanup for decades old contamination

CASS LAKE -- Cass Lake-Bena Elementary School's gymnasium was a crowded site Wednesday evening as Environmental Protection Agency officials met with area residents.

The open hearing, allowing for both questions and comments, was focused on a section of land in Cass Lake with areas of contaminated soil that was once the site of a St. Regis Paper Co. facility. The company, later bought by Champion International Inc., now International Paper Co., used creosote and other chemicals to treat wood while it was open.

Since the 1980s, the EPA along with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, have been involved with the 125-acre site, located just south of the train tracks in Cass Lake. The location has been deemed a superfund site by the EPA as it contains hazardous substances and pollutants that could harm local ecosystems.

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/local/4092142-environment-epa-proposes-cleanup-decades-old-contamination