Interagency Pollution Prevention Advisory Team
MEETING MINUTES
February 26, 2015
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, St. Paul, MN
Introductions
The meeting opened with introductions.
Agenda and Minutes
The agenda was approved. The minutes from November 20, 2014, were also approved.
Welcome and announcements
Brian Timerson welcomed attendees and reviewed the agenda.
Member Updates
Mike Nevala, MCES
· Met Council is now recycling and composting at the downtown St.Paul building and plans on expanding the same techniques to the Met Council transit facility in Minneapolis.
· There is a system currently operating that collects rainwater and snow melt from the roof of the light rail building and distributes it to the St. Paul Saints ball park.
· Previously Met Council used polypropylene spheres to increase evaporation in their scrubbers to remove sulfur compounds and odors from wastewater treatment facilities, they have now changed over to a system that uses compost to filter or “scrub” out odors.
Additional Updates
Emily Barker, MPCA – Agency recycling reports and due on March 1st. Sites outside the metro area will now also need to report their recycling information. For questions and assistance contact Emily at .
Presentation – Winter Salt Application, Maintainence, Training, and Purchasing, Brooke Asleson, Al Innes, MPCA
A question arose at the IPPAT meeting in response to the following slide.
Snow Removal Contracts:
• S-682 Capitol Complex
• S-1004 DEED N & S Mpls locations
• S-1021 Bureau of Criminal Apprehension – Bemidji
• S-687 MN Perpich Center for Arts Education
• S-868 Dept of Revenue – Ely
• S-944 MnDOT Office of Aeronautics
Question (and related ones):
Are these contracts “must-use” for any agencies or facilities in these areas? Could they be used by others outside those areas? Could agencies within those areas seek other contractors who might sign onto use of best salt application practices, where the existing contracts don’t call them out?
Response from Chris Marquette of Admin: All of those contracts are agency specific and they must be used by those agencies. The contracts don’t allow for other agencies to use them.
The Capitol Complex contract gives Plant Management a little more freedom as to when they use the contract vendor (the contract vendor is intended to be a “fill in” for when Plant Management cannot handle the locations themselves), but for this service, they must use the contract vendor.
Presentation – Microbeads Issues and Impacts, Glenn Skuta, MPCA
Glenn discussed the issue of microbeads, sand-sized pieces of plastic that are in exfoliating scrubs and personal cleansing products. These particles are not removed by waste water treatment facilities and are collecting in water bodies like the great lakes and disrupting ecosystems. Bills have been introduced to ban the sale or purchase of these microbeads and IPPAT could consider adopting a ban on the purchase of products containing microbeads if the bills do not pass.
Presentation – Executive Order 11-13 – Possible Updates, Rick Patraw, MPCA
Rick discussed the possibility of updating the executive order to address several issues.
q Fleets Area – Reduce dependence on petroleum based fuels used in transportation.
q New targets from 2 years ago
q Microbeads
q Update our existing goals?
q Waste reduction and recycling area
q Different Plan Cycle?
The MPCA will be sending out a summary of these issues for members to discuss internally prior to the next meeting.
Note:
Ken Auer suggested the August 27th 2015 IPPAT meeting be held at Normandale Community College because of the outdoor gardens, the suggestion was well received.
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Attending
Auer, Ken, MnSCU
Babcock, Laura, MnTAP
Barker, Emily, MPCA
Becker, Tony, MDA
Everson, Christine, MPCA
Johnson, Steven, DEED
LaMere, Carey, MMCD
Nevala, Mike, MCES
Patraw, Rick, MPCA (Chair)
Paulsen, Mark, MDVA
Pennington, Josh, DMA
Schafer, Samuel, MDVA
Silver, Laura, Commerce/Energy
Timerson, Brian, MPCA
Vogel, Mark, MnDOT
White, Stacey, UMN
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