Senator Foung Hawj (DFL-St. Paul) said today that a key State environmental and natural resources panel has unanimously approved moving ahead with establishing a task force to clean-up the Pig’s Eye landfil on St. Paul’s East Side, a project that Sen. Hawj pushed through the State Legislature this year.
Sen. Hawj said the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) voted unanimously to advance the project and in the coming months will hire a task force coordinator, who will then lead the task force efforts to clean up the harmful contaminants in the landfill that are leaking into nearby waterways, including the Mississippi River, and threaten the people and wildlife in the area.
“I am very pleased that the LCCMR has unanimously approved this important task force so that we can get to work on cleaning up and restoring the Pig’s Eye Landfill site,” said Sen. Hawj. “For far too long, high levels of pollutants at the landfill – including metals, mercury and PFAS/PFOS – have impacted wildlife and threatened downstream communities that rely on the Mississippi River for their water supply. I am pleased that the task force is moving forward so that in the coming years, the community can turn it into a park that can be enjoyed by citizens.”
Sen. Hawj, whose legislation to establish the task force was signed into law by Governor Walz in May, said once the coordinator is hired in October, the task force will be officially established. It will be made up of representatives from city, county, state and federal agencies and other stakeholders who will have the resources to make the landfill cleanup a reality.
Sen. Hawj is a member of the LCCMR, which is made up of 17 members: 5 Senators, 5 Representatives, 5 citizens appointed by the governor, 1 citizen appointed by the Senate, and 1 citizen appointed by the House.
Under the new law, the task force must begin work by October 2022 and report annually on the the task force’s work, with a final report due February 2026.
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