Why are we not cleaning up the gasoline in the Misssissppi River?
November 23, 2010
I sent out the following email to a stakeholder in what happens to Father Hennepin Park (Cordelia Pierson, Minneapolis Riverfront Corporation) and Patrick Hanlon (City of Minneapolis Emergency Response). I have not heard anything back yet.
Hello Cordelia Pierson (Minneapolis Riverfront Corporation) and Patrick Hanlon (City of Minneapolis Emergency Response),
My question Cordelia is have you actually walked the gasoline-laden stream in Father Hennepin Park? Because everyone that I take down there knows by the spell and gas in the water that this has to be cleaned up. There is a constant source of dangerous toxins that I have seen for 27 months.
Secondly Patrick and Cordelia once you smell and see the poison in Father Hennepin Park, but repeated tests are claiming this is “not actionable” why are the tests not questioned as standards? They are endangering the public health.
Patrick I have not heard back from your office about my request to get a copy of the latest test results and information on the origin of the criteria being used in the tests. How long ago were they formed?
When are the Minneapolis Riverfront Corporation, the City of Minneapolis, the Park Board, MPCA and Excel Energy going to act on behalf of the water quality of the Mississippi River and for the good of the public’s health? How can any project to pretty up the park not be put on hold until we take responsibility for the health of the Big River’s ecosystem that sustains us?
As a fellow River advocate I do no understand how the tests and their assumptions are not being questioned? My 27 months of “tests” and witnessing this crime against the Mississippi River sure tell any sensible human being that this needs to be cleaned up. Again the standards being used are endangering our health not to mention the health of the critters, plants, and water.
The painting above was done with mud from Father Hennepin Park (plus buckthorn berry juice found in FHP). It is also the work that when I was painting it here at the studio the mud I brought back that day was so gasoline-laden I had to take it to Ramsey County Hazardous Waste. They, while wearing a mask, knew it was Hazardous and took it into their system as such. I kept a sample to add to my collection. It is well sealed. If you look in the background in the water of this documentation photo of my work taken in FHP you can see the gasoline on the water surface.
I would like to know what the Minneapolis Riverfront Corporation and the Cities plans are going forward to addressing the gasoline in the Mississippi River in Father Hennepin Park? Are the the testing standards being questioned? When is the point source pollution that is affecting the drinking water of 18,000,000 Americans going to be really seen as a danger to the water quality and ecosystem of the Big River we all love.
thanks, peter
“I AM ANGRY. I AM OUTRAGED. And I am in love with this beautiful, blue planet we call home.” Terry Tempest Williams
