Counterpoint: Sports complex proposal for inactive Freeway Dump site is environmentally sound

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We are a team of four seasoned environmental and engineering consultants, with more than 80 years of combined experience at the Freeway Dump site and more than 150 years in the industry. Collectively, we have helped transform hundreds of brownfield and Superfund sites. We are dedicated to transforming this property into a vibrant community asset for Burnsville. In response to the May 18 Minnesota Star Tribune article “Landowner, state at odds over dump plans,” we wish to clarify misconceptions and share our vision for a $40 million state-of-the-art golf, pickleball and entertainment complex.

Supported by Burnsville’s City Council, Chamber of Commerce, and Convention and Visitors Bureau, this project promises significant economic and environmental benefits, enhancing the quality of life for residents while prioritizing the safety of our drinking water. We welcome open dialogue with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the community to ensure that this development meets the highest standards of environmental responsibility and public benefit.

The article may have suggested that the conflict between Freeway Dump’s owners and the MPCA pits sound environmental science against business interests. This is inaccurate. The MPCA’s position lacks transparency and scientific accountability, hindering a project that we, with decades of expertise, can confirm poses no reasonable risk to Burnsville’s drinking water. Burnsville’s civic leaders rightfully seek economic development that generates business, enhances community life and strengthens the tax base. Equally important, the proposed development offers immediate environmental benefits, which the MPCA has overlooked.

Here are essential facts not covered in the recent story:

• The MPCA has not shared a public analysis to support its claim of an “alarming” threat to Burnsville’s drinking water. Without a factual, risk-based assessment considering contributions from nearby sites, this claim lacks substantiation. Such assertions should not obstruct a project that would enhance Burnsville’s quality of life.

• The groundwater the MPCA claims is at risk from 55-year-old waste is kept low by the nearby Kraemer Quarry’s pumping operations. The MPCA suggests that if Kraemer were to cease operations, the water table could rise, creating a quarry lake. However, Kraemer recently received permits to extend its quarrying and a 40-year extension to continue pumping, making this scenario unlikely.

• The natural groundwater flow is northward, away from Burnsville’s drinking water supply. Even if pumping ceased entirely (highly improbable) and contaminants were as hazardous as the MPCA suggests (they are not), there would still be no credible threat to the city’s water. The MPCA also overlooks a simple, cost-effective solution: lowering the final quarry lake level, which would eliminate all theoretical risks.

• For three decades, the MPCA’s own consultants have concluded that the site poses no threat to human health or the environment. Yet, the MPCA emphasizes samples taken from within the waste itself, presenting a worst-case scenario. Standard practice is to monitor samples from the landfill’s perimeter, which would reveal what, if anything, is leaching outward.

• The article stated that “the Freeway Landfill stopped taking in trash in 1990, but the McGowan family,” which owns the land, “continues to accept construction materials at the site, hiring a trucking firm to haul the debris to locations in Minnesota and Iowa,” implying a connection between the two operations. In fact, the Freeway Landfill closed in 1990, and the Freeway Transfer station, opened in 1991, is a separate business. Freeway Transfer station allows haulers from the Twin Cities metro area to temporarily deposit municipal solid waste and construction debris, which is sorted and transported to landfills outside the metro. This service benefits the region and improves energy efficiency for haulers.

• The article quoted an MPCA official claiming the agency asked Michael McGowan to join the Closed Landfill Program but received no response. This is untrue. The Freeway team has held at least six meetings with the MPCA over the past two years to discuss remediation options. The MPCA focused solely on the Closed Landfill Program, which is ill-suited for Freeway’s prime real estate in a major metro area, unlike other program participants in remote locations.

• The MPCA’s preferred solutions, “dig and line” or “dig and haul,” would cost hundreds of millions of dollars — funds the state lacks. Given Minnesota’s fiscal constraints and the need to address sites with greater environmental risks, allocating such sums to a low-risk site is unjustifiable. The MPCA’s apparent plan is to let the land sit idle until funding appears, which is no solution. The current development plan includes immediate remedial measures that deliver significant environmental gains at no taxpayer cost. Doing something is clearly better than doing nothing.

Our team has repeatedly sought collaboration with the MPCA, requesting mediated talks, which the agency has ignored. We requested a personal meeting with the MPCA commissioner, were declined once, and are awaiting a response to a second request. Meanwhile, the MPCA has requested access for additional testing over the next year, likely costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. The McGowans have consistently granted access to the MPCA and its consultants over decades, contrary to the agency’s implications.

We invite the community to join us in urging the MPCA to engage in mediated discussions to resolve this impasse and move forward with a project that benefits Burnsville. Readers can contact the MPCA at 651-296-6300 or via the agency’s website at pca.state.mn.us to advocate for transparent, collaborative solutions that prioritize our community’s future.

All the while, a $40 million community-focused complex that would benefit Burnsville and the region remains in limbo. We remain committed to working with all stakeholders to bring this vision to life responsibly.

Mark Olson has been an environmental consultant for Freeway Properties for 40 years; John Lichter, also for 40 years, and Bryan Murdock and John Hink, for two years each.