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Published February 12, 2010

Our View: Thank the public for incinerator decision chat

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Cheri A.
02/17/2010 4:11 PM

All these statistics on what causes pollution and how it compares to the spewing incinerator; which would be in addition to pollution from staying warm in your homes and back yards. Lawns can be mowed by other means besides gas powered mowers and the trash can be burned somewhere else. If there is a job loss, the employees can commute like people who don't work for 3M. Clean up the town and more people will move there, more will stay and larger businesses will survive and make up for those taxes and benefits that may be lost.

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Chris R.
Cottage Grove, MN     02/17/2010 4:03 PM

The threat to pull out of CG is laughable. There is no where else in the country they could build a similar plant and get away with the same environmental issues. Less than a quarter of the people that work at the plant live in CG and not even half of them shop or eat in CG. I am not for them pulling out of CG, but imagine if they did. While redevelopment of that site would be incredibly expensive, the benefits would be enormous. Imagine a regional shopping center on the banks of the Mississippi, or an office complex - what an incredible business attraction for the area! Instead we have an incinerator that spews toxins as part of the bermuda triangle of pollution (Ashland and Koch make the other points).

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john s.
02/17/2010 2:49 PM

To the uninformed backyard environmentalists, be careful what you wish for. If pushed far enough, 3M will just pull out of CG and we'll lose all of the jobs, taxes and benefits the company provides. The 3M incinerator has always been under close environmental scrutiny and it operates under all safety guidelines. Our old lawnmowers, outboard motors, firepits, fireplaces, etc... are bigger polluters.

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Tom D.
02/17/2010 11:43 AM

Eric, What do you think about this? - "seven fireplaces burning a half cord of oak over the winter emit the same amount of particulate matter and 800 times the amount of VOCs the incinerator will discharge by burning non-3M waste instead of natural gas and oil. One gas lawnmower can produce 20 pounds of VOCs in one year, 10 times the increase in VOCs that 3M would burn. "

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Eric J.
02/15/2010 9:13 PM

I concur. The citizens were actually represented. Unfortunately the planning commission did not support this measure. I don’t fault the entire commission since it wasn’t unanimous. Citizens spent their own money to conduct an independent survey conducted by a company 3M hired themselves in the recent past. I would assume the council would like to be in sync with their appointed commissions. However this time the council is clearly in sync with the people they represent.

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