3M will pay $2.8 million fine for hazardous waste violations in Cottage Grove

3M Co. has agreed to pay a $2.8 million penalty for hazardous waste violations associated with its now-shuttered incinerator in Cottage Grove.

Since 1996, 3M repeatedly misidentified hazardous waste shipped to the incinerator as nonhazardous - one of a series of violations the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) discovered during a two-year investigation, the regulator said Thursday.

Nearly all the violations were at the hazardous waste storage and incineration site on the sprawling 3M complex on the Mississippi River. Other violations included failing to verify levels of mercury, lead, nickel, cadmium, arsenic and other hazardous materials in 1,800 waste streams from 2014 to 2020.

https://www.startribune.com/3m-will-pay-2-8-million-fine-for-hazardous-waste-violations-in-cottage-grove/600176737/