Title
Restoring Ford's Area C.
Body
WHEREAS, Ford Motor Company’s Twin Cities assembly plant operated in St. Paul from 1925 to 2011;
WHEREAS, Ford Motor Company built its plant along the Mississippi River, benefiting tremendously from St. Paul’s land, labor force, riverfront transportation access, and hydropower;
WHEREAS, Ford Motor Company spent decades of the Twentieth Century dumping hazardous waste, including paint waste, solvents, and heavy metals, construction rubble, and contaminated soil on the river floodplain at what is now known as “Area C”;
WHEREAS, the Area C site remains in place despite a full environmental cleanup of the main assembly plant parcel which now stands as Highland Bridge;
WHEREAS, Area C poses an ongoing threat to the groundwater, soil, air, and the local ecological system of our city and region;
WHEREAS, a full cleanup of the Area C dump is the most comprehensive action to protect human, plant, and animal life, and environmental health as opposed to continued monitoring, testing and containment alternatives;
WHEREAS, a full cleanup can be completed safely and removed materials placed in a modern disposal facility designed to isolate hazardous waste;
WHEREAS, the city’s Hidden Falls Crosby Farm Regional Park Master Plan states that the city would like to add the Area C parcel to Hidden Falls Regional Park should the contamination be addressed;
WHEREAS, Ford Motor Company is the owner of the property, the responsible party for the hazardous waste disposal, and would benefit from a full cleanup of Area C;
WHEREAS, Ford Motor Company in its position as a global leader in the automobile industry has adequate resources to address a full cleanup of Area C;
WHEREAS, leaving the Area C hazardous waste in place leaves the public at risk of the maladies from environmental pollution;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the St. Paul City Council formally requests the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency select Alternative 6: Removal of All Wastes and Site Restoration, as the outcome of Ford’s Focused Feasibility Study for Area C and to require Ford to carry out a full cleanup of Area C as outlined in this option.