Minutes - Council - 06/25/1984 - Joint Public Hearing with Planning and Zoning Commission

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Erika Sitz (Continued) - All these things have to be done and it is not a plus that you are gaining anything. What are you buying in the agreement? There really isn't much in it for the City of Ramsey. First, liability indemnification -- and it's just indemnification, it's not any transfer because that can't happen under Super Fund. Why does Ramsey have liability now? In the Super Fund law, it is either the owner, the operator, the transporter or the generator; we are not the latter and we are currently not the owner or operator. Unless we buy ourselves a landfill, we are not in that chain of liability. I don't know why we want to buy a landfill; why don't we just drop that suit against Anoka. Anoka is in the chain of liability now; they are the owner and they do have a municipal cap so there is a limit to their liability and most of the liability will probably end up with the operator. Are you buying any remedial action that you would not get elsewhere? PCA can and will force remedial action if it is necessary and they are really not required by any law to ask Waste Management Incorporated if they can fill it with garbage in order to make the remedial action pay, which is what this agreement seems to say. PCA has acted in that manner in other cases and there is no reason that they would not act in the same way here and require the necessary remedial action. As far as environmental improvements, if you are going to make contour improvements on the North side for water infiltration as part of a remedial action, you can do that with dirt -- you do not have to extend the landfill in order to make better contours. Why aren't we worried about the slope on the West side; that looks pretty steep. Bringing in the parent company, Waste Management Incorporated, for $15,000,000 - the way this part of the contract is written, it almost looks like that's a cap on what Ramsey can ask for. Currently, Waste Management Inc. has no cap; there is a cap for municipalities. Waste Mangement Inc., the parent company being brought in, in addition to Waste Management of Minnesota -- in other actions in which remedial action has been required by PCA, if there is a parent company they can be traced back; You are not gaining anything you will not get under law now. The fifty year guarantee has a disclaimer which says nothing contained herein shall shall be a waiver of the termination of liability of permit holder with respect to closure, post closure and environmental response or costs associated therewith at such time as the permit holder is not liable under any Federal, State or County law or ordinance for closure, post closure or environmental response or costs associated therewith. The disclaimer says once there is another law they are not liable under, they are out from under this agreement. In the Waste Management Act amendments that passed this year, there was a 20 years after proper closure/post closure and financial responsibility according to rules the PCA is going to promulgate; so 50 years may not be 50 years. The environmental improvements, the liner and those things that are being required -- PCA has told the County in 1981, during the siting process, that any Anoka County Landfill, particularly this one, would have to have all this great technology. The money in the agreement, compensation dollars -- Metro Council will be seeking legislation for money to compensate communities that host waste facilities, as it was recommended in a report prepared for them by their Advisory Council which contained Council/P & Z Public Hearing Page 14 of 23