Legislation being authored by State Representative Tony Jurgens that gives local residents more control over testing the safety of their drinking water was heard in the Minnesota House Environment Finance Committee Tuesday.
Jurgens? bill allows people in Denmark Township, Cottage Grove, and other areas where water has been contaminated with perflurocarbons (PFC) to choose whether or not to have their wells tested for presence of the chemical. Currently, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency decides who gets their well tested and when,Jurgens said. His bill gives a little more control back to the residents who are concerned for the safety of their water. They should be allowed to make that request. It would also require the PCA to test a private well for per- and poly-fluorinated chemicals (PFCs) if requested by the owner or occupier of land in the east metropolitan area (defined as the cities of Afton, Cottage Grove, Lake Elmo, Newport, Oakdale, St. Paul Park, and Woodbury, the townships of Denmark, Grey Cloud Island, and Lakeland, and other areas added by the PCA).
If the testing measures PFC contamination at or above 50 percent of the health-based advisory value or health risk limit, the PCA is required to provide additional testing. The bill would require the money for the testing to come from the remediation fund that exists due to the State?s $850 million PFC contamination settlement with 3M. The PCA would also be required to report an annual summary of the testing results to the communities and post these results on the agency?s website, and requires the PCA to submit an annual report to the legislature as well. Jurgens said Senator Bigham is offering similar legislation in the Minnesota Senate. Representative Jurgens will be featured today on In Depth, heard several times on air and available for download at kdwa.com
