THEIR NAME SAYS IT ALL

Here in MN we want jobs, granted our unemployment isn't as high as, say, Chicago, but the farther you get from the metro area the tougher it is ... so when Water Gremlins decided to open their doors the people of White Beat Lake were excited!!

Water Gremlin makes battery terminals (looks like for car batteries but I'm not really sure) and fishing sinkers which -if you fish - chances are you HAVE used.
It seemed like a very Minnesotan business -- what's more Minnesotan than fishing equipment, after all were the Land of 10,000 Lakes??

Well several years ago they were found to have been releasing the chemical TCE into the air (see the map for the area of concern) for 15 YEARS ... TCE has been linked to a rise in CANCER.
In February 2019, they were fined $7 MILLION and put into place special emission filters which were supposed to stop all the TCE from getting intolerant  the air ... it only captures about 25% of the emissions when it was suppos d to be much higher
Q
Well the Pollution Control Agency went back in to do routine Follow-up tests ...

They found:
• the emission filters do NOTwork
• Lead
• DCE in vapors UNDER the plant

So now that they've been polluting the air, they've decided to start polluting the soil as well ...

Needless to say, the PCA wants to CLOSE THEM at least VOLUNTARILY so they can do more extensive tests to see how bad the soil pollution is.

It sounds like White Bear Lake township has an increased factor of cancer compared to other cities ... so the city population is up in arms over these results.

Water Gremlin say they DISAGREE with several of the PCAs findings so they are REFUSING to close, even if only temporarily ... even though the majority of the vapors from the DCE appears to be concentrated where worker do their jobs.

It actually sounds like the company used the TCE & DCE to clean the battery terminals they produced ... made the switch to DCE without checking if there was any issue with it ... and now is putting up a stink.

The second map is one the company HAD TO put out to the public showing the area of concern .... the white dot is Water Gremlins plant, the black dot is the neighbor's house who had received the letter.

The area effected has at least 7 lakes, 3 parks, and an ELEMENTARY school