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County considers pipeline from landfill to Trus Joist
Senior Reporter Crow Wing County is continuing to explore a proposal to run a $1.5 million pipeline from the county landfill to Trus Joist in Deerwood as part of a Recirculation-to-Energy program to sell methane from the landfill to the business.
Doug Morris, solid waste coordinator, said the county may need additional insurance for the project after talking with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. The proposal calls for a six-mile gas line that includes construction within the railway's right-of-way.
In other business, the board:
* Appointed Joseph Hampl, Merrifield, to the Thirty Lakes Watershed Board.
* Approved the 2005 land sale with 49 percent of parcels proposed in Breezy Point, from 33 proposed tracts, with an appraised value of land and timber at $329,435. Pelican Township had the largest land and timber value, at $372,475, for 10 proposed tracts. The total value for the land sale was $850,726.
* Accepted the environmental impact statement for the proposed Peace Haven plat along Inglewood Drive as complete allowing the proposal to move forward with the planning commission.
* Heard a proposed sanitary sewer district update. Commissioner Gary Walters said attendees at the Friday information session were a little more negative than those attending Thursday. But he said responses convinced him the district was needed. Walters said one attendee proposed waiting to act until his neighbor's drinking water was polluted.
The board is expected to decide on a sewer district in July. Reed Larson, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency manager in Baxter, said if the county's proposal goes through he expects it will be a model in the state.
* Agreed to accept contaminated soil from Aitkin County at the landfill. The soil is contaminated with petroleum. The Minnesota Avenue road reconstruction project in Aitkin is discovering the remains of 13 gas stations that once existed on the city's main street. The primary contamination is hydrocarbon, which the county needs to address rising nitrogen concentrations. The charge will be $8.08 per cubic yard instead of triple that rate because of the cooperative venture between counties.
* Heard state legislation that calls for income calculation of both parents when determining child support will create significant increased demands on the county's child support staff. The change will start in 2007. Currently only a non-custodial parent's income is considered when determining child support amounts.
* Heard road project update for Riverside Drive, or County State Aid Highway 20, which is in its final phase. This phase affects Ahren's hill. A public meeting with a landscape architect is expected. The basic road design has not changed. The road width around the hill remains 28 feet.
* Learned the traffic study for the CSAH 48 extension/Cypress Drive proposal is complete, but the board expressed concern it has not received the study even though it paid 42 percent of the costs. A joint meeting with Baxter is expected June 1 to discuss the report.
"You kind of get the opinion that the decision has already been made," said Commissioner Ed Larsen.
RENEE RICHARDSON can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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