Hug it out…

The AP delivers a preview of the 3M/MPCA negotiations over how to proceed with cleanup of three former 3M dump sites. Much of the article focuses on Brad Moore, the new head of MCPA, and reveals that he likes the environment and would like to protect it, and little else.

St. Paul, Minn. — (AP) – Brad Moore, the state’s top pollution regulator, knows the public will be watching as he tries to resolve one of the most contentious issues before the state’s Pollution Control Agency: the cleanup of sites contaminated by chemicals once used by 3M Co.

Over the next few weeks, Moore and a team of negotiators will sit across the table from 3M officials and try to reach a deal over the cost and scope of cleaning up the sites in Woodbury, Cottage Grove and Oakdale, where 3M waste was buried years ago.

“I think the next step, in terms of two to six months, will have a lot to say about how the public receives both 3M’s work and the work of the Pollution Control Agency,” he said.