EPA Announces $22 Million to Help Restore St. Louis River in Minnesota
CHICAGO (Dec. 20, 2023) – Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the investment of $22,370,662 in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for its new partnership with Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and PotlatchDeltic to clean up contaminated sediment in the Thomson Reservoir on the St. Louis River in Carlton, Minnesota.
“Today’s funding marks a crucial step toward the delisting of the St. Louis River Area of Concern, and ultimately its restoration as a healthy ecosystem,” said EPA Great Lakes National Program Office Director Teresa Seidel. “Thanks to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, EPA is able to gain real ground on our longstanding commitment to environmental justice and clean water in Minnesota—and indeed throughout the Great Lakes Basin."
Cleanup at the 330-acre Thomson Reservoir will protect human health, wildlife and the environment from legacy contaminants left behind by historical activities. EPA, MPCA and PotlatchDeltic will work together under a Great Lakes Legacy Act voluntary partnership to apply a thin layer of activated carbon pellets over 225,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment. The activated carbon rapidly binds to contaminants in the sediment, preventing accumulation in bottom-dwelling organisms and safeguarding the aquatic food chain.
The project is part of the larger effort to restore and delist the St. Louis River as a Great Lakes Area of Concern (AOC). This is the seventh and final project agreement between MPCA and EPA to complete sediment remediation work in the St. Louis River AOC. Under the agreement, EPA is responsible for 62.5% of the total project cost of approximately $36 million. The other 37.5% will be funded by MPCA and PotlatchDeltic.
Today’s funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $1 billion investment to accelerate cleanup and restoration of the Great Lakes. EPA is leveraging this funding with annual Great Lakes Restoration Initiative appropriations and funding from other sources for partnership projects to finish cleanups at 22 of the 25 remaining AOCs. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding directly supports 11 of these cleanups including those in the St. Louis River AOC.
More information about the St. Louis River AOC is available on EPA’s webpage.