I have always felt that our community’s exposure to harmful chemicals because of violations on behalf of Water Gremlin was part of some bigger picture—that it should be the fuel that fires significant change. My hope is that this OLA report published on Thursday 2/11/21 will help that happen and that it will be a case study that not only makes things better here in White Bear, but in other communities around Minnesota and possibly beyond.
What can you do: Read the document (or at least part of it). The more people that know and understand what happened, the more likely we can identify what needs to change so it does not happen again. This report a much easier to read than the stipulation agreement. In fact, just by reading the cover letter and 1.5 page summary at the beginning of the document you get a really good idea of the significance.
Another option is to watch the presentation by the auditor to the MN House of Representatives. The report found significant weaknesses in both MPCA’s permitting and enforcement activities from 1995-2019We want our state agencies to do better moving forward. We want our elected officials to be engaged in making that happen.
But….never forget, that the actual wrong-doing in this case was by the serial violator—Water Gremlin. Report available at: https://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/.
White Bear Area Neighborhood Concerned Citizens Group 