UMore Cleanup Efforts Detailed for Rosemount Citizens

Someday soon, University of Minnesota officials hope to start transforming Rosemount’s 5,000-acre “UMore” site into a model community – a city of 30,000 that incorporates the latest innovations in renewable energy, wellness and sustainability.

First, though, they have to figure out if the location is hazardous to human health.

The university’s plan to determine what sort of toxic chemicals lurk in UMore’s soil and ground water was detailed at a Thursday night gathering attended by about two dozen Rosemount residents and public officials.

A team of researchers will be “looking for evidence of chemical use … most every hazardous substance you can think of,” said Allan Gebhard, senior vice president of Barr Engineering, which will be conducting the site survey.

The area to be studied – the northeast quadrant of the site – is about 3,500 acres in size, so “we want to sample smart,” Gebhard said. “We want to get as much bang as we can for our samples.”

The research team has already conducted an exhaustive search of documents and aerial photographs, trying to determine which areas are most likely to have leftover chemicals from the days when the area was used by the military, and by companies handling toxic materials. Researchers have also walked the site to document areas of obvious concern.

Soil samples and ground water testing are expected to begin next month; the plan is currently being reviewed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Gebhard said.

During the 1940s, part of the site was known as the Gopher Ordinance Works, where the federal government manufactured smokeless gunpowder. That’s an obvious source of concern, but it’s not the only one, said Janet Dalgleish, project director for the university.

“We want to conduct a comprehensive remedial investigation that looks (not only) at the Gopher Ordinance Works,” but also at the post-war years, when private companies operated on the site, Dalgleish said. For example, one company operation on the site extracted metal from old batteries – the sort of work that might very well have left dangerous amounts of toxic material in the soil or ground water.

Myron Napper, who attended the event at the , said he’s delighted to see the beginnings of activity at the site.

“I’ve been here more than 60 years,” Napper said, and over that period, public officials have made promises about a soon-to-be-conducted cleanup that haven’t been kept. Seeing that the study has actually begun is “a load off,” he said.

A public report outlining the level and extent of toxic chemicals in the soil and water is expected by the end of this year, at which point officials can determine what sort of remedies can be employed to make the area livable.

UMore stands for the University of Minnesota Outreach, Research and Education. In 2008, university officials unveiled a master plan that includes 13,000 houses, plus multi-family dwellings, an eco-industrial park for research and development-oriented companies and an “office and wellness” complex.

More information can be obtained at the university’s public information repository, in the UMore Park Administration Building at 1605 160th St. W. in Rosemount.