$75 Million to Clean Up St. Louis River

EPA and U.S. Steel Decide to Devote Funds and Time to Clearing Sediment

DULUTH,Minn.- Next year a $75 million cleanup project will begin at U.S. Steel’s former Duluth site on the St. Louis river.

The EPA and U.S. steel made that announcement today as they reached an agreement on cleaning up and restoring the Spirit Lake site near the Morgan Park neighborhood.

U.S. Steel is planning to pay 55 percent of the cost, while the EPA will pay for the rest.

The project involves dredging 700,ooo cubic yards of contaminated sediment and building three on–site disposal facilities.

“A lot of people in the community have been watching these projects for many, many years,” said Kris Eilers. She’s the Executive Director of the St. Louis River Alliance. ”

“They grew up on the river in a really degraded environment where they couldn’t go in the river. They’re probably very, very grateful and happy that this work is finally going to be done after so many years.”

Design work is expected to be done this December, with construction sometime next year.