Cottage Grove, Lake Elmo among several applicants toward 3M's environmental lawsuit settlement

The applications are being collected by the Minnesota Pollution Control and the Department of Natural Resources.

The two agencies are distributing the settlement funds from the environmental damage lawsuit. In February 2018, 3M paid $850 million after the attorney general sued for environmental damage caused by chemicals manufactured by 3M.

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Legal expenses caused the amount to reduce to $720 million. Officials stated the money must be spent to improve water quality and natural resources.

These applications requested money for hookups to city water systems:

• Cottage Grove applied for $7.1 million for River Acres, a road along the Mississippi River; and $2 million along Granada Avenue.
• Lake Elmo applied for $3.6 million in the Stonegate development; $1.7 million at Hamlet on Sunfish Lake; and $459,000 for properties at 31st Street and Stillwater Boulevard.
• Lake Elmo resident James Blackford applied for $37,000 for the Blackford Municipal Water Service, and $110,000 for city hook-ups to his home.
• Woodbury requested $5.4 million for the Salem Meadows development and Erin Court.
• The Woodbury Church of Christ is asking for $380,000, and Julie and Gary LaValle, 9810 Dale Road, are applying for $35,000.
• $5 million to St. Croix Water Solutions, Woodbury, for a "whole-premises water filtration system."
• $150,000 for a Washington County well maintenance project.
• $143,000 in Oakdale for a study of different approaches to water treatment.
• $100,000 in Woodbury for a study of how to ease the impact of the 3M chemicals, and $569,000 for a program involving water filters.
• $53,000 to the Prairie Island Indian Community for a well feasibility study on its property at Interstate 94 and Manning Avenue in West Lakeland Township.
• $33,000 for a new well at the St. Croix Montessori School in Stillwater. 

In total, the value of the applications was $2 million more than the $25 million allotted for the projects. The money will be distributed to the projects in several months.

For a the full application document, click here.