Operation Save A Duck AND THE LEGACY OF ’S 1962–63 OIL SPILLS

Stephen J. Lee A canvasback duck immobilized by soybean oil near Hastings; thick oil trails in the near South St. Paul, April 1, 1963.

Catastrophes often trigger Duck. These events spurred some of workers left for the evening, they advances in environmental protec- the state’s earliest legislative debate neglected to close the valve between tion. This was true in Minnesota in on controlling pollution to protect the pipeline and a large aboveground the winter of 1962–63, when more the environment. storage tank. They also forgot to than three million gallons of soybean The winter of 1962–63 was cold. open steam lines that kept the oil in oil spilled in Mankato and flowed On Friday, December 7, 1962, work- the pipeline warm and flowing.1 down the Minnesota River to join ers at the Richards Oil Company During the weekend, when even - more than one million gallons of plant on the Minnesota River in ing temperatures dipped below zero, industrial oil spilled in Savage. The Savage pumped “cutter” oil from rail the uninsulated, unheated pipe con- gooey mess killed an estimated cars into a storage tank through a tracted and broke in three places. 10,000 ducks near Red Wing and long, 10-inch-diameter steel pipe - Some one million gallons of oil, the Hastings and prompted Governor line. (Cutter oil is thin, like kerosene entire contents of the tank, drained Karl Rolvaag to activate the National or diesel fuel, and used to make from the broken pipeline over 30 Guard in the futile Operation Save a heavy oils pumpable.) When the acres of ground.2

105 Because the family-owned Agency or a state Pollution Control powerful force of escaping oil Richards plant was unstaffed during Agency, it was the Department of pushed the hull of the big tank back- the weekend, the spill was not dis- Health’s Water Pollution Control ward into five smaller tanks contain- covered until Monday morning. By Commission that requested ing another .5 million gallons of then, the oil was draining onto the Richards to halt the continuing oil salad oil. When the piping to these ice of the Minnesota River through drainage into the river. This was tanks broke, their contents amplified a culvert that pierced a dike built done after some delay, but by late the spill to about 3 million gallons.7 between the plant and the river. The March the ice had gone out and the Cars, homes, and businesses were culvert had a one-way flap valve that bulk of the oil had already moved surrounded by the pool. Several city prevented river water from flooding down the Minnesota River into the blocks flooded three feet deep in oil. the plant but allowed storm-water Mississippi.5 When the tank failed, Herbert Kurth, runoff—or oil—to pass through to Meanwhile, back in January, the boss of one group of employees the river. Oil spread downstream on another cold spell had settled over eating lunch huddled around a stove top of and under the ice.3 the Minnesota River valley. Over - in a nearby brick building, went to By the end of December, there night lows fell to -25° F. in Mankato, the door to investigate the bang that were numerous sightings of oil on home of Honeymead Products Com - sounded like rail cars coupling at too top of river ice. The downstream pany, the largest soybean-processing great a speed. He saw a 40- or 50- power plant at Black Dog reported plant in the world. Honeymead foot-tall storage tank riding toward that oily water was interfering with stored its soybean oil, which has the him on a wave of oil. Running to the its turbine condensers. Fresh snow- consistency of cooking oil, at a tem- back of the building, he kicked out a falls and poor access to the river perature of 50°–70° F. in large, window to enable employees to made it difficult to assess the scope aboveground storage tanks. One of escape. (He was reportedly cranky of the oiling, but a stretch of ice these steel tanks had been bought afterwards, because the employees three-to-four miles long contained a used in Texas, disassembled, and dove out the window first, leaving pool of oil. Game wardens and state reconstructed in Mankato. This 40- him behind in two feet of oil.) It was health-department staff tracked the foot-high, 100-foot-diameter, 3.4 “every man for himself,” recalled oil back to the Richards property.4 million-gallon-capacity tank had employee Edward Ward.8 Richards employees and owners been further modified by welding an Harvey (Choppy) Fortney was repeatedly denied any problems at 8-by-8-foot steel panel near its bot- driv ing a truck through the yard the plant beyond drips from leaking tom for entry and cleaning.6 when the tank burst. He saw the 30- pumps and routine, minor spillage. In severe cold, a phenomenon foot-high wave of yellow oil coming For a time, state officials were ex - called brittle fracture can cause the toward him and thought it was fire. pelled from the site. It was not until sudden collapse of steel tanks. In Propelled through the air above the March 18, 1963, that a plant owner addition, inserting a flat panel in the oil was a tank trailer that, along with admitted the million-gallon Decem - curved circumference creates mech - the oil, slammed Harvey’s truck into ber spill. He said that attempts to anical strains on the steel and welds. a pile of beams. The terrified, semi- pump up the oil had been made, but On the cold morning of January 23, conscious, and oily Fortney slipped only 2,000–10,000 gallons had been Honeymead’s reconstructed storage from rescuers’ grasps twice while he recovered. In this time before the tank failed, “unzipping” from the was being extricated from his truck.9 federal Environmental Protection upper corner of the square plate to Standing in the path of the oil the top of the tank. A tidal wave of wave were 300 to 400 barrels of 2.5 million gallons of crude soybean lecithin and other products. Harold oil washed over nearby tanks and Hartwell outran the oil but got hit by Stephen Lee is the emergency response supervisor of the Minnesota Pollution railroad tracks, flooding several a flying barrel. David Wilmes had Control Agency. blocks of southwest Mankato. The just left his post when it was deluged

106 Minnesota History Aerial view before the spill of Honeymead Products Company, the largest soybean-processing company in the world in 1963. The large tank at lower right ruptured, and its oil gushed into Mankato and the .

Summer 2002 107 by a wave of oil that piled barrels onto his work station. Co-workers frantically pulled barrels off the pile looking for Wilmes’s body until he reported in from the lab. Gerald Erkel and others were in the extraction building when the oil ripped off the doors and flooded it. Men climbed stairs and ladders to escape the churning wave, some of which came in through windows and stained rafters six stories above ground. Evelyn Herman watched from the window of her home near the plant as two loaded railcars, estimated to weigh 80 to 90 tons each, washed off the tracks, traveled about 300 feet, and plunged into the Blue Earth River. One railcar broke though the ice, allowing oil to drain directly into the water. Her house was surrounded by the oil, which quickly cooled to a (Above) The crumpled shell of a Honeymead tank with a damaged tank behind it; gooey, lardlike consistency. She and (below) lecithin drums and one of the railroad cars (at right) tossed by the tidal wave her children were ma rooned in the of oil toward the Minnesota River. house for several days. At the Man- kato sewage-treatment plant, em- ployees discharged raw sewage direct- ly into the Minne sota River to prevent oil from gumming the works.10 About half of the 3.5 million gallons of oil spilled directly into the Blue Earth River. As for the rest, on the first day employees used graders and loaders to push oil off roads into ditches, so that it could eventually flow into the river. That practice was quickly halted by request of the De - partment of Health. Over the next few weeks Honeymead and city em - ployees continued to scrape, pump, and push the sticky mass of oil and debris. An estimated 700,000 to 800,000 gallons were recovered and pumped into railway tanker cars. Following common practice in the

108 Minnesota History Oil that spilled at Richards Oil Company in December 1962 and Honeymead Products Company in January 1963 flowed down the Minnesota River and into the Mississippi.

1960s, a large amount was carted off 22 and 28 discovered continuing As temperatures rose, oil in the and dumped in a ravine two miles dis charges of oil. On March 29 ob - debris Honeymead had dumped east of Rapidan, Minnesota, along servers reported the first oil-covered began to flow to the , the Le Sueur River. Some recovered dead ducks south of St. Paul.12 then to the Blue Earth River, passing oil was fed to hogs.11 As serious spill problems became the Honeymead plant where it had apparent late in March, Minnesota’s originated, and finally to the Minne - About a month after the Water Pollution Control Com mis - sota River. In response, the company Honeymead spill, and almost three sion and Department of Conser va - dispatched bulldozers to dike the months after the Richards spill, the tion and the U.S. Army Corps of upstream ravine.14 ice went out on the Minnesota River, Engineers pressured Richards and From St. Paul, the Mississippi releasing more oil into the water at Honeymead to stop further pollution flows rapidly south then turns east- both sites. It moved quickly down- by constructing berms, excavating ward in the Pine Bend area that in - stream into the Mississippi River, dirt, and burning pooled oil. Richards cludes extensive backwaters such as where, on March 25, it was seen personnel and the local fire depart- Spring Lake, largely formed by the between St. Paul and Newport. In - ment began open burning of oil from construction of the Hastings lock spectors visiting the plants on March the ditch on their property.13 and dam in the 1930s. Past Hast -

Summer 2002 109 ings, just south of Red Wing, the called newspapers and television sta- beavers, geese, and muskrats were channel widens to create Lake Pepin. tions, making a plea for volunteers, also found. Each day the death toll In late March, unmelted ice at the boats, and governmental action. At for ducks mounted.17 head of Lake Pepin dammed up the first, federal fish and wildlife officers Conservation officers attributed floating oil, which backed up to Red threatened to arrest him for han- most of the duck mortality to the Wing and Hastings. This coincided dling wild birds, but soon they is - soybean oil. Being more volatile and with the peak of waterfowl migration.15 sued capture permits and joined the buoyant, the petroleum oil both It was on March 28 that 16-year- rescue operation.16 evaporated and moved more rapidly old John Serbesku first noticed Oiled ducks die from drowning downstream. The soybean oil, which “dark blobs struggling in the murky (because coated feathers lose buoy- began as “thick, orange-colored waters” of the Mississippi near Pine ancy), from exposure (because body slicks,” changed to sticky, “pliable Bend. They were ducks caught in heat is lost through oiled feathers), grayish and somewhat rubbery float- floating oil. He, his father, George, from starvation and predation ing masses.” Blown to shore, it sank and his mother, Dorothy, decided to (because mobility is reduced), from in quiet-water areas or weathered to rescue as many ducks as they could. intestinal lesions and acute oil toxic- a taffylike material.18 By midnight they had hand washed ity, and from suffocation (when oil 38 in their basement. Then George lodges in nostrils and throats). On The November 1962 race for Serbesku, a stockyard livestock- Saturday March 31, rescuers found governor had been a cliffhanger. It weigher, carried two bushel-baskets 172 oil-soaked dead ducks in the was not until March 25, 1963, that full of dead and oily ducks to the river near Hastings. Another 300 Karl Rolvaag was sworn in after a state capitol and asked for help. He were caught and washed. Dead series of recounts. On April 1 he ordered state agencies to try rescu- ing and rehabilitating the oiled Citizen duck rescuers L. W. Rollins and George Serbesku show St. Paul legislator ducks. Wardens were called in from William L. Shovell some oiled ducks on the steps of the Capitol as far as 200 miles away. “Duck laundries” were set up at the Como Zoo in St. Paul and Carlos Avery Game Farm.19 The Department of Conservation made intensive duck-rescue attempts in the first days of April. Some 88 Game and Fish employees and 15 U.S. Fish and Wildlife workers labored at the duck laundries. By hand, they washed Duz-brand deter- gent into feathers of birds covered with oil that had set to a shellac-like consistency. (Dawn is the current duck-washing detergent of choice). They followed this with a several- minute soak in a solution of trisodi- um phosphate and Calgon water softener and then a clean-water rinse. After washing, the 1,369 res- cued ducks were housed until the fall

110 Minnesota History when they molted and grew new feathers. Some 350 survived and flew away.20 On April 3 State Health commis- sioner Robert N. Barr discussed the emergency with the governor’s office. He described the need for legislation giving a state agency the authority to prevent such disastrous events instead of merely reacting to them. That same day Rolvaag toured the wildlife area and stated: “We will find the funds to care for the prob- lem. Certainly a society as affluent as ours can spare a buck to save a duck.” The governor appointed Michael Casey, a regional game manager, to take charge of operations. When con cerns rose about the threat to 600–1,000 swans in the Weaver Bottoms backwater below Wabasha in Lake Pepin once the ice dam broke, the governor continued, “This demonstrates the need for stronger water pollution control legislation. I will throw my weight behind it.” Rolvaag was joining the state’s on - going, contentious debate sparked by deteriorating river quality and changing expectations about the use of natural resources.21 Strong public and editorial opin- ion erupted after the duck devasta- tion became known. Writers for and to the Red Wing Republican Eagle were especially outspoken: “The silent death now floating down the Mississippi calls for strong action.” “No one who has seen the vast de - struction carved by these floating George Serbesku shows Governor Karl Rolvaag the spills’s effects on ducks at Spring sheets of oil could possibly oppose Lake on the Mississippi River, April 2 legislation to prevent such carnage in the future.” An April 12 editorial urged: “What’s needed is to give a state commission, possibly the water

Summer 2002 111 pollution control unit, the power to goo or “mousse,” which is very hard Lake, North Lake, Spring Lake, and require industries and communities to recover. With continued weather- Weaver Bottoms.25 to take adequate safeguards against ing, this oil can sink or be stranded An April 12 letter from National such examples of pollution.” The in a band along shorelines. Over Guard Sgt. Stanley J. Hille to Rol - next day, the paper continued, “The months or years, the action of natur- vaag described the frustration of State is like a toothless old sow with al microbes will eventually degrade guardsmen who were assigned to a hard ear of corn.” Many Minne - most oils. recover oil that had already done its sotans began sending money to the In 1963 little was known about damage and gone downriver. He rec- governor’s “Buck for a Duck” fund. how to respond to oil spills, so ommended that they be pulled off Donors included schoolchildren and American ingenuity was called into “Operation Quack Quack” and a woman who mailed $5.00 previ- play. National Guardsmen and vol- allowed to return to their jobs. The ously earmarked for an Easter bon- unteers tried fashioning contain- guard deactivated on April 16.26 net. She said she could not enjoy the ment booms by tying together logs Follow-up studies showed that the hat while thinking of the dying ducks.22 and poles. They chained together oil eventually moved as far down- Amid the heated rhetoric, Gov - floating oil drums and hung burlap stream as La Crosse, Wisconsin, ernor Rolvaag on April 4 issued the from the chains to absorb and de - approximately 250 river miles from first executive order of his new admin- flect the floating oil. They spread Mankato. Dissolved soybean oil was istration. It activated the Nation al straw on water to sop up oil and detected at Rock Island, Illinois. Guard to rescue ducks and recover stuffed straw into wire netting to Among the most heavily oiled areas oil, capping expenses at $14,000. make sorbent booms. They pumped were the Red Wing Boat Marina and Fifty men of Northfield’s Company oil from the water using small port - the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin, D of the 682nd Engineers Battalion able pumps on shore or in boats, where winds blew oil to shore.27 were mobilized under Lt. Col. Don - temporarily storing oil in drums or Some 2,745 dead ducks had been ald Crowe, who said, “We’re playing in metal culverts suspended vertical- removed from the water: Two-thirds it by ear, no one has written a book ly in the water. Crews tried industri- were lesser scaup, one-sixth ring- on it yet.” On April 6, another 75 al detergents to disperse oil. They necked ducks, and one-tenth coots men from Company A, as well as hazed waterfowl with airplanes and and grebes. The total of dead ducks members of the Coast Guard, joined gunshots and dropped corn in clean “seen but not collected” was 8,003. them. Eventually 24 officers and 124 areas to move them away from oily More than 10,000 waterfowl proba- enlisted men were brought in for oil spots. They tried burning off the oil, bly were killed, along with 26 beaver, and duck operations.23 including on-land burning at the 177 muskrats, and turtles, songbirds, Richards plant. A proposal to sus- and fish.28 Oil spilled on water floats, pend a natural-gas-fired jet over the As April continued, oil moved on, hence the saying, “Oil and water river to burn oil as it floated past was sank, or became less sticky, and don’t mix.” But over time, some considered but rejected.24 waterfowl mortality waned. Overall floating oil dissolves into water—and By the weekend of April 6–7, how- costs of the state’s response to the the most toxic constituents of petro- ever, only a few days after Rolvaag’s spills eventually totaled $35,000. leum oil are generally the most solu- executive order, the National Guard The conservation department set the ble. The most volatile constituents concluded that it had been called in number of provable duck deaths at evaporate, sometimes creating a fire too late and was having no apprecia- 3,211. Using a federal “duck value” of hazard and leaving gummier oil ble success at removing oil from the $12, the provable wildlife damage behind. Oil will also emulsify into main channel of the Mississippi totaled $38,532.29 water, especially in wind or over River or at saving birds. Thereafter, rapids or a dam. This turbulence it concentrated on keeping oil out of Pollution laws today require creates a semifloating, gelatinous backwater nesting areas in Sturgeon companies to take steps to prevent

112 Minnesota History spills and to be prepared to deal with It was several months after the apply either, since no drinking- them, both by reporting the spills Richards and Honeymead spills, water supply was affected. Criminal immediately and by recovering the then, that the state’s Water Pollution statutes related to harming wild ani- spilled material. Most aboveground Control Commission (WPCC) met mals or creating a public nuisance storage tanks are now surrounded by on March 28 to consider possible required proof that some person dikes that prevent liquids from run- action against the companies. Legal knowingly caused the discharge of ning to water or seeping into soil counsel for the commission and the oil. WPCC commissioners were also and groundwater. In 1963, however, Department of Conservation advised reluctant to enforce any action for there were no regulations for spill that Minnesota’s Water Pollution fear that the companies would halt prevention or protection. There was Control Act of 1945 did not apply, the modest voluntary measures they no requirement that spills be report- since the spills were an accidental ed to health or pollution authorities, loss of a valuable commodity, not a or even cleaned up unless there were continuing discharge of industrial an immediate public-health threat. waste. Public-health laws did not

National Guardsmen fashion collection booms from barrels and burlap bags, April 7

Summer 2002 113 were now taking to prevent acciden- Health and the state’s first water- 3 million cubic yards in volume in tal oil spills. Walter Mondale, Min - pollution legislation in 1885. Still, 1928. Most river species cannot tol- nesota’s attorney general who would sawdust from mills erate gross pollution, but some be elected U.S. senator that year, clogged landings and impeded navi- thrive on it. That year an estimated later recalled that the obvious lack gation in St. Paul and farther down- quarter-million tubificid worms per of pollution laws and programs stream. By the late 1880s Minne - square yard inhabited the septic demonstrated to him the need for apolis and St. Paul were each dump- sludges above the Ford dam; few strong federal water-pollution legis- ing 500 or more tons of garbage into other species tolerated the toxic, lation.30 the Mississippi River each day.32 oxygen-poor water of the metropoli- At the time, federal laws were as Four decades later, the Twin Cities tan river. Farther upstream near the weak as state laws. The 1899 River were discharging raw sewage from Washington and Franklin Avenue and Harbor Act, commonly called about 680,000 people directly into bridges, even these species were the Refuse Act, was intended to pre- the Mississippi. Industrial wastes absent, apparently killed by waste vent the dumping of material into and offal from slaughterhouses in from the coal gasification plant just streams where it might impede navi- South St. Paul increased river pollu- upstream (near the current Inter - gation. It remained largely unen- tion. Nevertheless, as late as 1928, state 35W crossing).35 forced until the mid-1960s, when state sanitation engineers and health The metropolitan area’s sole major activists began to press for federal officials declared: “One of the impor- treatment facility was completed in pollution prosecutions.31 tant uses of a stream is to care for 1938 at Pigs Eye Lake south of St. The death of 10,000 ducks re - the liquid wastes of a community Paul. By 1945 only one-fifth of vealed the weakness of Minnesota’s and it is only natural that the larger Minnesota’s population was served laws to a public whose expectations cities and industries are located on by sewage-treatment works with sec- of environmental quality were rapid- the banks of streams so that their ondary treatment (considered basic ly changing. Rachel Carson’s Silent wastes may be disposed of in the today). Just one-third of 700 indus- Spring, an exposé of the pesticide most economical manner.”33 trial plants in the state that dumped poisoning of the water supply and Ironically, during the first decades waste directly into surface waters bird population, had jolted the of the century a public-health victory had any treatment.36 nation’s ecological consciousness in postponed progress in pollution con- In 1945 the legislature passed the 1962. Sweeping changes in environ- trol. Improved techniques of purify- Water Pollution Control Act that mental regulation—in part triggered ing drinking water by filtration and created the Department of Health’s by these two spills and the dying chlorination dramatically reduced Water Pollution Control Commis - ducks—were clearly in the cards. waterborne disease. In effect, this sion (WPCC). Authorized to review lessened the urgency of aggressively plans and issue permits for sewage Throughout the nineteenth regulating waste disposal into or waste-disposal systems and orders century, much of Minnesota’s sew - rivers.34 for pollution abatement, the com- age, garbage, and industrial waste Exacerbating the Twin Cities’ pol- mission worked on an “informal and had been dumped directly into the lution problem were the locks and ad hoc basis,” staffed at the begin- ground or into streams and rivers to dams on the Mississippi River. ning by four professionals and one make it “go away.” Privies, cesspools, Locks and Dam #1 built in 1914 near clerical from the health department.37 night-soil carts, and dumping in the St. Paul’s Ford plant created a pool gutters, however, caused sickness, of water that backed up as far as In the first half of the century, noxious odors, and polluted wells. downtown Minneapolis. Sewage dis- when public-health officials and san- A number of severe waterborne epi- charged into this quiet water settled itary engineers had sought only to demics in Minnesota led to the cre- out in massive sludge deposits 15 or eliminate waterborne disease and ation in 1872 of the State Board of more feet deep and estimated to be treat sewage so that water could be

114 Minnesota History Constructing sewers, a link to the Twin Cities’ treatment plant at Pig’s Eye, 1937–38, under the railroad tracks near downtown St. Paul

disinfected for drinking, little thought treatment plant, a burgeoning popu- were “infused with a professional or value was given to protecting lation and industrial operations led ethic that characterized pollution as waterways for their own sake. As to worsening conditions in Minne - a technological matter best resolved living standards increased, the grow- sota’s rivers. The metropolitan Mis - by quiet mediation over a period of ing outdoor-recreation movement sis sippi River was still a stinking time.” They believed, as Chester broadened the desired uses of streams stream devoid of fish, with floating Wilson, former commissioner of to include fishing, camping, and sludge mats, bottom sludge several conservation and attorney for the pleasure boating. Conservation and feet deep, and gasses rising to the WPCC, opined, “An ounce of cooper- sportsmens’ groups such as the Izaak surface. Inadequate septic tanks pol- ation is worth a pound of compul- Walton League (formed in 1922) luted shallow wells. Not surprisingly, sion.” Considering its tiny size and began to press for tougher pollution the WPCC came under increasing the daunting challenges, the WPCC regulation to support hunting and criticism for failure to stem pollution, staff probably did yeoman’s work in fishing while still permitting indus- especially in the Twin Cities where a difficult situation.40 trial uses of waterways such as paper its treatment plant had reached vol- Among the commission’s harshest milling.38 ume capacity.39 critics were Senator Gordon Rosen - By the 1950s, however, even with In addition, writes historian meier of Little Falls and Repre sent a - interceptor sewers and the Pigs Eye Thomas Huffman, WPCC officials tive Donald Wozniak of St. Paul.

Summer 2002 115 Rosenmeier, a conservative conser- “It precludes any more stalling. . . . vationist, was a highly influential The Commission will have no room member of the legislature. Wozniak for alibis for inaction.”44 was the attorney for the Minneapolis- It was at this point in the debate St. Paul Sanitary District. The legis- that ducks began to die, but Senator lators’ efforts to create a metropolitan- Rosenmeier did not seem imme - wide sewer authority and to build diately to grasp the opportunity the strength of the WPCC had fal- handed him by the Honeymead and tered in 1961. Rosenmeier was espe- Richards spills. On April 3, Rosen - cially frustrated by the WPCC’s lack meier replied to Rolvaag’s inquiry of aggressive action.41 about whether his bill could prevent Two years of hearings in the state “situations like that which occurred Senate followed the legislature’s the other day when a burst pipeline 1961 failure to strengthen water- caused extensive damage to water pollution-control laws. Differences and wildlife” by saying, “Accidents between urban and growing subur- which cannot reasonably be foreseen ban interests were stalling consen- Gordon Rosenmeier, the state senator are not within the focus of the bill sus. According to the Minneapolis from Little Falls whose pollution-control even though pollution might result.” Star, on one occasion, committee bill became law Rosenmeier believed his bill “went members exploring a bill came out about as far as practicable” but in - of the hearings vited the governor to suggest ways to industrial wastes. If a municipality strengthen it.45 awed by the sort of suburban devel- failed to comply, the commission Public opinion seemed to disagree opment that had been permitted to could secure a court order or the with Rosenmeier’s limited assess- take place and by the failure of . . . state could take over the city’s sewage- ment. A WTCN television editorial state health authorities and the local treatment function. The state would decried the oil pollution, while not- governments to prevent the near- then design facilities, levy local taxes ing that sewage pollution was “less crisis that had been reached . . . with and assessments, acquire property, spectacular but more dangerous.” It tens of millions of dollars invested and supervise construction of the urged passage of the “vitally needed” in utterly inadequate on-site facili- needed facilities. The bill contained Rosenmeier bill. The Red Wing ties, and with some 300,000 people provisions on waste-water discharge Wildlife Protective League praised trying at the same time to bury their to protect the recreational use of the the Rosenmeier bill and asked the sewage in their back yards and to waters, included groundwater pro- legislature to go even further in “get- draw their water from increasingly tections for the first time, and made tough” legislation to curb pollution. polluted shallow wells. it possible to revoke permits. Despite The Grand Rapids Herald observed the Richards spill one month earlier, that Minnesota had “weak laws gov- Almost half of 63,000 wells sampled however, the bill did not mention erning pollution,” while the Swift in the unsewered areas of the Twin safeguards for storage tanks, spill County News proclaimed, “Perhaps Cities in 1960 were contaminated by reporting, or spill cleanup.43 the dead ducks along the Mississippi sewage.42 Charles Horn’s Minnesota Emer - will bring action on the continuing On January 30, 1963, Rosen - gency Conservation Committee, a pollution problem that is a shame meier’s pollution-control bill was private initiative, persistently criti- shared by everyone in the State.” A formally introduced as Senate File cized the state’s weak water pollution- Mankato Free Press article head- 243. It authorized the WPCC to control programs. It later described lined “Death of Ducks ‘Blessing in order the abatement of sewage and the draft Rosenmeier bill favorably: Disguise’” quoted Representative

116 Minnesota History Arlen I. Erdahl as saying: “Perhaps the legislature will now pass a pollu- tion bill with some teeth in it.”46 Agitating for stronger state guide- lines, citizens criticized government and industry. An editorial in the Wabasha Herald declared that the people who are responsible “should be here running our ‘duck laundries’ and cleaning up our shorelines. Aren’t the oil tank farms responsible for letting this stuff get away?” The Red Wing Republican Eagle pushed further, observing: “What’s needed is to give a state commission. . . . the power to require industries and com - munities to take adequate safeguards against such examples of pollution.”47 Governor Rolvaag received many letters supporting pollution-control programs, including petitions from seventh-grade classes. One letter Representative Donald D. Wozniak (with Rep. Richard W. O’Dea, standing), leader of writer claimed, “We wait until disas- the fight for pollution-control legislation in the House ter strikes to become alarmed. This is the Atomic bomb for wildlife and we allowed it to happen.” Rolvaag would be liable jointly to the state require safeguards at liquid-storage responded to one Red Wing writer for expenses incurred to remove pol- sites. The amendment authorized that state agencies were powerless to luting substances from waters or to the commission to issue orders prevent these disasters but that “new confine the area of pollution. While “prohibiting the storage of any liquid legislation should ideally change this these bills did not get out of their in a manner which does not reason- situation completely.”48 first committee meetings, their ably assure proper retention against On April 5, 1963, the Rosenmeier assign ment of liability to owners of entry into any waters of the state.”51 bill passed the Senate for the first substances and facilities presaged Concerns about the state usurping time without language covering the federal and state “Superfund” the power of local sewer authorities spills or spill prevention, but new cleanup laws by some 17 years.49 continued, and an amendment limit- bills introduced on April 22 and 23 On May 2, Representative Woz - ing the Rosenmeier bill to Ramsey, squarely addressed prevention and niak introduced HF 1969, a bill with Hennepin, St. Louis, and contiguous responsibility for spills. HF 1907 similar features that required a per- counties was introduced but failed. authored by Samuel R. Barr of mit for storing more than 25,000 On May 22, 1963, Rosenmeier’s bill Ortonville and SF 1783 authored by gallons of liquid. It likewise did not became law, passing the Senate by a Benjamin B. Patterson of Deer River pass out of committee.50 resounding 59 to 1 and the House by declared a stored polluting substance The next day Wozniak offered a 83 to 44. The final law contained the to be a “dangerous instrumentality” successful amendment to the requirements for liquid-storage safe- and provided that the owner of the House’s version of Rosenmeier’s guards. It also included the conten - substance and the storage facility Senate bill authorizing the WPCC to tious municipal sewage-treatment

Summer 2002 117 takeover provisions and expanded arranged for volunteers to survey face waters or municipal drinking- the definition of state waters to in - storage-tank facilities in order to water intakes.53 clude underground waters. Accord - pressure the commission to enact ing to one press release, “There were aggressive regulations that carried The state legislature frequently determined efforts to amend the bill out the intent of the new law. His passes laws that create a basic regu- to death, but the calamitous oil pol- volunteer crew found a number of latory framework, allowing depart- lution disaster in the Minnesota and sites along the river in St. Paul with ments to conduct hearings and write Mississippi Rivers made it top must no dikes or with inadequate diking, the details into rules. In the months legislation.”52 and a commission field survey of that followed passage of the law, Even after passage of the new law, aboveground storage facilities across stakeholders in the debate continued Wozniak remained skeptical of the the state showed that 93 percent to lobby for their interests. The Min - WPCC’s willingness and ability to lacked diking. While the largest were nesota Petroleum Council, for exam- regulate potential pollution sources. more likely to be diked, many of ple, urged that industry be permitted During the summer of 1963 he those without dikes were near sur- to set its own storage-tank standards.

Doing business in the Senate chamber, mid-1960s

118 Minnesota History MODERN OIL-SPILL STRATEGIES

The WPCC declined this proposal ment of the substance” when pollu- ■ Floating plastic booms made of and, instead, after meeting with tion of any state waters might result. long sections of plastic-wrapped various industrial and agricultural Facility owners were required to float chained together. A “skirt” hangs down from the float into interests, drafted detailed rules for obtain a permit from the WPCC, the water to contain the oil. liquid-storage safeguards. Further, and minimum safeguards were to at a St. Paul rule-making hearing include a continuous dike or wall ■ Skimming devices, including vacuum trucks (like a giant shop on April 8, 1964, the commission enclosing an area sufficient to con- vacuum) or floating weirs. described potential surface-water tain the largest tank’s contents and pollution from uncontained spills “a reasonably impervious bottom” ■ Oleophilic (oil-loving) sorbent and also noted that rules protecting under the entire site. While the regu- plastics fabricated into floating pads, sausage-shaped booms, or groundwater from seepage of spills lation was silent on the construction pillows that soak up oil. might be even more important than and operation of tanks, it re quired those protecting lakes and streams.54 the owner of a liquid-storage facility ■ Dispersants, or detergents that dissolve floating oil in ocean The citizens’ organization Clear to notify the WPCC of “any loss of water. This is an extreme last Air—Clear Water Unlimited, once stored liquids either by accident or resort in bodies of fresh water, very critical, now complimented the otherwise” if the substance would be many of which are used for commission on its draft liquid-storage likely to enter any state waters.57 drinking. rules. The City of St. Paul testified in The value of aboveground storage- ■ Intentionally set fires that favor, while the St. Paul Port Author - tank diking was soon demonstrated. quickly remove large amounts ity, which managed the city’s river- In December 1964, heavy rain fell in of oil from water but create air front, opposed the rules. Railroad and St. Paul. Water collected in the diked pollution and leave a sticky, agricultural interests also challenged area surrounding a 4-million-gallon difficult-to-manage residue. them, indicating concern about cost diesel-oil tank at the Mobil Oil tank and the effectiveness of dikes.55 farm off Seventh Street. In the The Petroleum Council, represent- Cleanup worker lifting stringy oil ing operators of large storage and accumulation, Mississippi River transportation facilities, touted the “near perfect record maintained by the petroleum industry” in prevent- ing water pollution in Minnesota and elsewhere. The council testified that because the state fire marshal’s flammable-liquids code required dikes and because other industry practices designed to prevent tanks from leaking were more appropriate and effective, there was a “complete lack of need for the sealing of diked areas.”56 On June 26, 1964, the WPCC nonetheless adopted a set of rules, known as Regulation WPC4. It pro- hibited storage of liquid material “without reasonable safeguards ade- quate to prevent the escape or move-

Summer 2002 119 MINNESOTA’S BIG SPILLS

The damage ultimately caused by a bitter cold that followed on Decem - for implementation by the existing spill is a unique combination of ber 16, a 20-foot crack developed in unaggressive Water Pollution Com - material and amount spilled, loca- the tank, and its entire contents mission.” Commissioner Chester tion, and good or bad luck. gushed out. The dikes held, however, Wilson himself described it as hav- preventing a flood of oil from run- ing “drastic provisions, but meager ■ A 1964 spill at the Mobil Oil ning into the Mississippi River. The appropriations.” In November 1963 tank farm in St. Paul that dis- ice that coated the diked area pre- the Upper Mississippi Pollution charged 4 million gallons into a vented the oil from immediately Control Committee, a citizens’ group diked area appears to have been seeping into the ground. Experts with the motto “We Can’t All Live the largest, but it created far less paddled a boat on the oil pool and Upstream,” organized a meeting in damage than the Richards and waded through chest-deep oil to in - Wabasha, Minnesota, attended by Honeymead spills of 1962–63. vestigate the cause of the leak. Emer- 150 citizens and state and federal ■ In 1986 the Williams Pipeline gency responders set up portable officials. The group found “an appal - leaked 22,000 gallons of gaso- pumps that, over four days, pumped ling lack of a program” and conclud- line in a residential section of the the oil into intact tanks. Thus, what ed that there was need for a “state Twin Cities suburb of Mounds was probably the largest oil spill in pollution control agency whose full- View. The gasoline ignited, kill - Minnesota created little immediate time staff people are dedicated cru- ing two people, injuring several environmental damage.58 saders for clean water.”59 others, and causing extensive In the years following the rule’s By the end of 1963, Governors property damage. adoption, most large operators pro- John W. Reynolds of Wisconsin and vided big aboveground storage tanks Rolvaag of Minnesota were, in fact, ■ In 1991, 1.7 million gallons of with dikes constructed of nearby requesting federal help in evaluating crude oil flowed out of the Lake - soil. These native-soil dikes did not and cleaning the upper Mississippi head Pipeline in Grand Rapids. offer much protection against seep- River. A Minnesota-Wisconsin- Occurring between a community age, however. Inadequate seals under - federal pollution conference held college and an apartment build- neath the tanks often allowed oil to in St. Paul in 1964 was followed by ing, this break had tremendous drain into the ground undetected. the formation of the Minnesota- potential for loss of life and envi- Most new tanks constructed after Wisconsin Boundary Area Com mis - ronmental disaster, but little 1964 had dikes that provided a sion to coordinate water-pollution long-lasting damage resulted. sealed containment area made of programs and plans. In December ■ In 1992, 27,000 gallons of vola - concrete or clay soils brought to the 1964 an internal governor’s office tile chemicals spilled in a train site. Poor maintenance and the memo lamented the “continuing wreck in Superior, Wisconsin. inherent shortcomings of earthen inadequacies of the Minnesota This caused the evacuation of dikes often meant that even these WPCC and its administrative arm, Superior and Duluth, surely the facilities eventually became contami- the Minnesota Department of most disruptive spill in Min ne - nated. Few state staff were consis- Health under Dr. Barr.”60 sota’s history. tently assigned to enforce the rule or During the 1965 session, legisla- permit requirements. tors debated a bill to create an inde- Under the 1963 Rosenmeier Act, pendent pollution-control agency. the WPCC had been given broad Although vigorously opposed by Source: Minnesota Pollution new powers to compel municipali- the health department and several Control Agency, Emergency ties to act and to usurp local sewage- others, it passed both houses. Ulti - Response Team files. treatment control, if necessary. mate ly, though, the bill failed in the Rosenmeier soon concluded that the session’s final midnight hour as Rep - law was “too strong and too broad re sentative Wozniak and Senator

120 Minnesota History Rosenmeier could not agree on ened water-pollution provisions, and public affairs that cost much money whether the state’s conservation authorized programs to control air is seldom taken unless the people commissioner would serve on the pollution. Representative France and and their representatives . . . are new pollution-control board and other House members worried that stirred to move by some heavy loss whether former WPCC staff would authorized salary levels might not or calamity. . . . If the loss of a few be part of the new agency.61 attract an adequate staff but noted thousand ducks should result in In 1967, the fight over the fate of that the proposed $1 million two-year impelling the the WPCC resumed. In defense of the budget would be more than three to put up what it takes for a really commission, Chester Wilson argued times the amount appropriated to the effective water pollution control that it was “an outrageous injustice” WPCC. Although some, including program, it will be a very small to blame the commission when Rosenmeier, were disappointed when price to pay for such a momentous things went wrong because the legis- the staff from the old WPCC was achievement.63 lature “won’t provide adequate funds” transferred to the new PCA, the and because it “tries to cover up its authorities and staffing for the new Individual incidents producing short-comings by reorganizing.” After agency far exceeded those ever pub lic outrage have triggered most four months of hearings and meet- accorded the WPCC.62 broad state and federal environmen- ings, the legislature on May 18 passed tal-protection programs. Such was SF 845, creating the Minnesota Pol- The summer after the failed the case with the Minnesota legisla- lution Control Agency (PCA). Votes Operation Save a Duck, WPCC ture’s response to oiled ducks on the tallied at 129-0 in the House, where it Commissioner Wilson reflected: Mississippi River. Although the was sponsored by conservative Alfred Richards and Honeymead spills of France of Duluth, and 63-0 in the Oil made a nasty mess while it the cold winter of 1962–63 are now Senate, sponsored by Rosenmeier. lasted, but it was soon up and soon largely forgotten, they played a large The bill severed the connection of over. . . . However, there is a highly role in framing the structure of the health department from the new significant lesson to be drawn from environ ment al protection in pollution-control agency, strength- these events. It is that . . . action on Minnesota today. ;

Notes 1. Information on the Richards spill is “Richards Oil Company Pollution Prob - 6. Information on the Honeymead spill from: Minnesota Dept. of Health, Environ - lem,” Apr. 10, 1963 [hereinafter, Apr. 10 is from MDH Oil Pollution, 2–6, and App. mental Sanitation Div., “Oil Pollution of Richards memo], Water Pollution Control 2; Moosbrugger to Mondale, “Collapse of Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers During Commission (WPCC) folder, Subject Files: Honeymead Products Inc. soybean oil stor- the Winter of 1962 and Spring of 1963,” 1962–63, Minnesota Attorney General, age tank at Mankato, Minnesota,” Apr. 19, Apr. 17, 1963 [hereinafter, MDH Oil Pol - State Archives; U. S. Dept. of Health, Edu - 1963 [hereinafter, Apr. 19 Honeymead lution], 1–4, and Appendix 2, Exhibit 9B— cation and Welfare, “Report on Oil Spills memo], Duck Rescue folder, Rolvaag both in “Water Pollution Control-4 Liquid Affecting the Minnesota and Mississippi papers; HEW Report on Oil Spills, 4–6; Storage, Apr. 15, 1964” folder, Hearing files Rivers, Winter of 1962–63” [hereinafter, Mankato Free Press, Jan. 23, 1963, p. 1, 2, [hereinafter, WPC-4 hearing], Minnesota HEW Report on Oil Spills], 2—4, Exhibit 19; Edward Ward, interview by author, Pollution Control Agency (PCA), Water 9D, WPC-4 hearing. May 9 (telephone), June 1, 2000, Mankato. Quality Div., State Archives, Minnesota 2. MDH Oil Pollution, 1; HEW Report Harvest States still operates the Honey - Historical Society (MHS), St. Paul; Gordon on Oil Spills, 3. mead plant. C. Moosbrugger to Walter F. Mondale, 3. MDH Oil Pollution, 2; HEW Report 7. Paul Andersen, University of Minne - “Chronology of Richards Oil Company on Oil Spills, 3; Apr. 19 Richards memo; sota Institute of Technology, to Moos brug - Pollution”, Apr. 19, 1963 [hereinafter, Apr. Apr. 10 Richards memo. ger, Apr. 24, 1963, in Duck Rescue folder, 19 Richards memo], “Water Pollution— 4. MDH Oil Pollution, 2; HEW Report Rolvaag papers; Ward interviews; HEW Operation Duck Rescue” folder [herein - on Oil Spills, 4; Apr. 19 Richards memo, Report on Oil Spills, 5; Apr. 19 Honeymead after, Duck Rescue folder], Conservation 1–3; Apr. 10 Richards memo. memo. Dept., 1963, Gov. Karl F. Rolvaag Papers, 5. MDH Oil Pollution, 2–4, and 8. Ward interviews. State Archives; Moosbrugger to Mondale, Appendix 2; Apr. 10 Richards memo. 9. Gerald Erkel, interview by author,

Summer 2002 121 Apr. 24 (telephone), June 1, 2000, North National Guard, “Final Report to Governor cisco: San Francisco Study Center, 1989), Mankato. Rolvaag” and “After Action Report of Lt. copy in Dept. of Natural Resources library, 10. Erkel interview; Evelyn Herman, Col. Donald Crowe,” Apr. 24, 1963, [here- St. Paul; Terence Kehoe, Cleaning Up the telephone interview by author, May 9, inafter, Military Affairs Reports], Exh. 2A, Great Lakes—From Cooperation to Con - 2000; Mankato Free Press, Jan. 23, 1963, WPC-4 hearing. frontation (DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois p. 1. 24. See Minneapolis Tribune, Apr. 2, University Press, 1997), 18–19; PCA, Min- 11. MDH Oil Pollution, 4, 5; HEW 1963, p. 1B, Apr. 3, 1963, p. 1, 10, Apr. 4, nesota Pollution Control Agency, 1967–76 Report on Oil Spills, 6; Apr. 19 Honeymead 1963, p. 1, 8, Apr. 6, 1963, p. 5, Apr. 7, (St. Paul: MPCA, 1977), 1, copy in PCA memo; Mankato Free Press, Jan. 23, 1963, 1963, p. 18; Mankato Free Press, Apr. 4, library, St. Paul; Minneapolis Star Tribune, p. 1, and Jan. 24, 1963, p. 1. 1963, p. 1; Military Affairs Reports; Peller, Apr. 5, 1999, p. A8; WPCC, “Long-range 12. Information on the duck rescue and “Operation Duck Rescue,” 365–67; HEW plan and program to be submitted to the mortality is from HEW Report on Oil Report on Oil Spills, 8–9; proposal, Duck 1965 Legislature,” 1963, p. 1 [hereinafter, Spills, 30–36; MDH Oil Pollution, 4–10, Rescue folder, Rolvaag papers. “Long-range Plan”], preliminary draft, and App. 2; Minnesota Dept. of Conser va - 25. Military Affairs Reports. Exh. 9G, WPC-4 hearing. tion, Game and Fish Div., “Report on 26. Stanley Hille to Governor Rolvaag, 33. Minnesota State Board of Health, Waterfowl Mortality Caused by Oil Pollu - Apr. 12, 1963, and Governor’s Office, press “Report of the Investigation of the Pollu - tion of the Minnesota and Mississippi release, Apr. 16, 1963, in Duck Rescue fold- tion of the Mississippi River, 1928” [here- Rivers in 1963,” Jan. 1, 1964 [hereinafter, er, Rolvaag papers. Even today, a recovery inafter, “Report of Pollution, 1928”], 9–10, Waterfowl Mortality report], 1–2, “Pollu - rate of less than 20 percent is common. in Metropolitan Drainage Commission of tion (2)” folder, Dept. of Conservation, 27. HEW Report on Oil Spills, 13–22; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Second Annual State Archives. Mankato Free Press, Apr. 4, 1963, p. 1; Report, 1928, Metropolitan Waste Control 13. Apr. 19 Richards memo, 3; Minne- Minneapolis Tribune, Apr. 7, 1963, p. 1B; Commission, Annual and Biennial Reports, apolis Tribune, Apr. 1, 1963, p. 1; MDH Oil Military Affairs Reports. State Archives. Pollution, App. 2. 28. Waterfowl Mortality report, 5; 34. Kehoe, Cleaning Up the Great 14. Mankato Free Press, Apr. 1, 1963, p. Peller, “Operation Duck Rescue,” 365–67. Lakes, 18–19. 19; MDH Oil Pollution, 6–7; HEW Report 29. Military Affairs Reports; Clear Air 35. “Report of Pollution, 1928,” 31, 66, 68. on Oil Spills, 5, 31; Apr. 19 Honeymead Clear Water Unlimited Newsletter (South 36. MPCA 1967–1976, p. 2; WPCC, memo, 2. St. Paul), Feb. 1964, in “Pollution (2)” fold- “Long-range plan,” 5–6, Exh. 9G, WPC-4 15. Mike Korneskie, interview by er, Dept. of Conservation. hearing. author, Oct. 13, 2000, Hastings; HEW 30. WPCC, Statement for Conference 37. Lovell Richie, telephone interview Report on Oil Spills, vi. on Interstate Pollution of the Mississippi by author, Jan. 24, 2000. 16. Edith Peller, “Operation Duck Res - River, Minnesota Dept. of Health, Feb. 6, 38. Thomas R. Huffman, Protectors of cue,” Audubon Magazine 65 (Nov. 1963): 1964, Water Pollution folder, Legislative the Land and Water: Environmentalism in 365–67; George Serbesku, telephone inter- files, 1963, Gordon Rosenmeier papers, Wisconsin, 1961–68 (Chapel Hill: Univer - view, Aug. 31, 2000. Serbesku related that MHS; WPCC, “Long Range Water Pollu - sity of North Carolina Press, 1994), 7–8; Governor Rolvaag said he had come to tion Control Plan and Program, 1963,” Exh. Kehoe, Cleaning Up the Great Lakes, observe the rescue operation to “see who 9G, WPC-4 hearing; Apr. 19 Richards 18–19. had pushed him off of the front pages.” memo; Apr. 10 Richards memo. 39. WPCC, Statement for Conference 17. HEW Report on Oil Spills, 9; According to Richards’ family lore, on Interstate Pollution, Rosenmeier Mankato Free Press, Apr. 1, 1963, p. 19. when Mondale visited the Richards site in papers; WPCC, “Long-range Plan,” 11–14, 18. Waterfowl Mortality report, p. 2 the spring of 1964 to observe the cleanup, 17, Exh. 9G, WPC-4 hearing. 19. Mankato Free Press, Mar. 22, 1963, he was “cold-cocked” (knocked out) by one 40. Huffman, Protectors of Land and p. 11, and Mar. 25, 1963, p. 1; Minneapolis of the Richards brothers for loudly criticiz- Water, 66; Water Pollution—Old Bills fold- Tribune, Apr. 2, 1963, p. 1; MDH Oil Pol - ing the company. Mondale does not recall er, Chester S. Wilson Papers, MHS. Wilson lution, 4–6, and App. 2; HEW Report on visiting the site or being the victim of an was Minnesota’s first commissioner of con- Oil Spills, 4–6; Waterfowl Mortality report, assault. Jeff Richards, telephone interview, servation (1943–55) and chairman of the 1–2; Peller, “Operation Duck Rescue,” Feb. 28, 2000; Walter Mondale, telephone WPCC (1945–52); his papers are invaluable 365–67. interview, May 9, 2000. for studying the 20. Waterfowl Mortality report, 1–5; 31. Although several Refuse Act prose- water-pollution control. Peller, “Operation Duck Rescue,” 365–67. cutions around the country succeeded, the 41. MPCA 1967–76; WPCC, Statement Controversy continues about whether problems of implementing the act led to for the Conference on Interstate Pollution, cleaning and rehabilitating oiled ducks and passage of the federal Water Pollution Feb. 7, 1964; Mankato Free Press, Mar. 1, wildlife is worth the cost, effort, and suffer- Control Act of 1972, which represented a 1963, p. 1; Donald Wozniak, telephone ing. Only a minority survives. In Canada broad expansion of federal powers. Minne - interview by author, Apr. 22, 2000. euthanasia is routinely practiced. sota Congressman John Blatnik is consid- 42. Minneapolis Star, undated clipping, 21. Duck Rescue folder, Rolvaag papers; ered the “father” of the federal act in the “Water Pollution—1963(1)” folder, Rosen - Peller, “Operation Duck Rescue,” 365–67; House. See Harvey Lieber, Federalism and meier papers; Frank L. Woodward, Frank - Minneapolis Tribune, Apr. 3, 1963, p. 1. Clean Waters (Lexington MA: D.C. Heath, lin J. Kilpatrick, and Paul B. Johnson, 22. Red Wing Republican Eagle, Apr. 1, 1975), 24; Joan C. Kovalic, The Clean “Experiences with Ground Water Contam i - 1963, p. 1, Apr. 4, 1963, p. 1, Apr. 12, 1963, Water Act of 1987 (Alexandria, VA: Water nation in Unsewered Areas in Minnesota,” p. 1; Waterfowl Mortality report, 5. Pollution Control Federation, 1987), 9. Ground Water Contamination 1960 folder, 23. Minneapolis Tribune, Apr. 4, 1963, 32. Joseph Petrula, Environmental Wilson papers. p. 1; Dept. of Military Affairs, Minnesota Protection in the (San Fran - 43. Minnesota, Jour nal of the Senate,

122 Minnesota History 1963, SF 243, p. 2515; Minnesota, Journal vation Committee, press release, June 11, papers; “Pollution Control—1963” folder, of the House, 1963, HF 481, p. 2802; 1963, O. L. Kaupanger, Sec., “Water Pollu - Wilson papers; Upper Mississippi Pollu - “Water Pollution—1963” folder, Rosen - tion—1963(2)” folder, Rosenmeier papers. tion Control Committee, undated press meier papers. 53. Wozniak to WPCC, Oct. 4, 1963, release, “Water Pollution—1963” folder, 44. Minnesota Emergency Conservation and “Summary of Inspection Reports,” Legislative files, Rolvaag papers. Committee, press release, June 11, 1963, Exh. 9I, both WPC-4 hearing; St. Paul 60. “Mike” to Governor, memo, Apr. 20, “Water Pollution—1963(2)” folder, Rosen - Dispatch, Apr. 15, 1964, p. 16. 1964, Duck Rescue folder, Rolvaag papers; meier papers. Charles Horn, president of 54. Lyle Smith, Statement of Need, Chester Wilson, undated defense of WPCC, the Federal Cartridge Corporation, formed WPC-4 hearing. “Water Pollution(1)” folder, Rosenmeier this small committee in 1940 after becom- 55. Testimony, William Soules, papers; “Pollution Control—1963” folder, ing frustrated by lack of leadership in the Minnesota Petroleum Council, Exh. F, Wilson papers. conservation movement. WPC-4 hearing. Clear Air-Clear Water 61. Senate Journal, 1965, SF 1963, p. 45. Office memo, Apr. 3, 1963, Duck Unlimited, founded by Tom Savage, Mrs. 2818; House Journal, 1965, HF 2192, p. Rescue folder, Rolvaag papers; Rosenmeier Pearson, and George Serbesku, “agitated” 3318; Minnesota Legislature, House, Civil to Rolvaag, Apr. 3, 1963, “Water Pollu - for pollution control; Serbesku interview. Administration Committee, records, 1965, tion—1963(1)” folder, Rosenmeier papers. 56. Soules testimony, Exh. F, WPC-4 and Legislature, Senate, Record of Bills, 46. WTCN editorial, “Water Pollution— hearing. In the 1990s, many large, 1950s- 1965, both State Archives; Minneapolis 1963(1)” folder, Rosenmeier papers; Red era, aboveground storage-tank facilities Tribune, May 27, 1965, p. 14B; Elizabeth Wing Republican Eagle, Apr. 4, 1963, p. 1, (including the area’s two refineries and sev- H. Haskell and Victoria S. Price, State 4, 12; Minneapolis Tribune, Apr. 8, 1963, eral pipeline terminals) were checked and Environmental Management: Case Studies p. 6, including quote from Grand Rapids found to have significant soil and ground- of Nine States (New York: Praeger Publish - Herald and Swift County News; Mankato water contamination from spills, overfills, ers, 1973), 46. Free Press, Apr. 10, 1963, p. 11. leaks through tank floors, and leaks in 62. St. Paul Pioneer Press, Mar. 1, 1967, 47. Red Wing Republican Eagle, Apr. 6, pipes and valves. p. 13, May 19, 1967, p. 13; Senate Journal, 1963, p. 1, quoting Wabasha Herald, Apr. 57. Exh. 2, WPC-4 hearing. While the 1967, p. 540, 2417; House Journal, 1967, p. 2, 1963. 1964 rules required owners to report spills 2988, Minneapolis Tribune, May 19, 1967, 48. Wallace H. Jagusch to Gov. Rolvaag, from tanks, they did not address spills from p. 17. Senator Rosenmeier wrote Governor Apr. 1, 1963, and Rolvaag to M. Davis, Red other sources such as trucks or pipelines. Harold LeVander that the legislature did Wing, Apr. 5, 1963, Water Pollution folder, In 1969 the legislature passed HF 2312/SF not intend for the PCA to have a staff “foist- Legislative files, Rolvaag papers. 2023 as Minnesota Stat. Sec. 115.061, ed on them”; Rosenmeier to LeVander, Aug. 49. Senate Journal, 1963, SF 1783, p. which closed that legal gap, covering spills 15, 1967, “Pollution 1967–68” folder, 2710; House Journal, 1963, HF 1907, v. 2, from trucks, trains, pipelines, barrels, or Rosenmeier papers. p. 2967. other containers. Sec. 115.061 also required Today, PCA’s roles have expanded to 50. House Journal, 1963, HF 1969, p. prompt cleanup, closing another gap made include wastewater-treatment enforcement, 2975. apparent by the Richards spill. air-pollution control, hazardous- and solid- 51. House Journal, 1963, SF 243, p. 58. Jim Determan, interview by author, waste management, and spill and past-dis- 2045; draft legislation, “Water Pollution— Apr. 27 (telephone), Apr. 29, 1999, Fridley; posals cleanup. PCA also provides education 1963(2)” folder, Rosenmeier papers; Laws Department of Conservation memo, Dec. and assistance on pollution prevention. of Minnesota, 1963, Chap. 874, SF 243, p. 22, 1964, in author’s MPCA files; St. Paul 63. Chester S. Wilson to Upper Mis - 1643–44. Pioneer Press, Dec. 19, 1964, p. 13. sissippi Pollution Control Committee, 52. House Journal, 1963, SF 243, p. 59. “The Legislative Interest in Our Red Wing, Feb. 3, 1964, “Water Pollution, 2720–23; Senate Journal, 1963, SF 243, p. Lakes,” n.d., 43–48, Subject Files, Pollu - 1963” folder, Legislative files, Rosenmeier 2443–47; Minnesota Emergency Con ser - tion, 1968–72, Legislative files, Rosenmeier papers.

The aerial view on p. 107 is from the Blue Earth County Historical Society, Mankato. The photos on p. 108 are by Gerald Erkel, North Mankato. The map is by Matt Kania, St. Paul. The following photos are from the MHS collections: p. 119 from the U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, St. Paul; p. 105 (by TAS), p. 110 (by Sully), and p. 111 (by Buzz), in the St. Paul Dispatch-Pioneer Press News Negative Collection; p. 105 (by Kimball), and p.113 (by Seubert), in the Minneapolis Star—Tribune News Negative Collection; p. 115 in the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission records, State Archives. The photo on p. 117 is by Jerome Liebling.

Summer 2002 123 Copyright of Minnesota History is the property of the Minnesota Historical Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission. Users may print, download, or email articles, however, for individual use.

To request permission for educational or commercial use, contact us.

www.mnhs.org/mnhistory