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Now that St. Paul knows the Lowertown Ballpark would need an 

additional $6.2 million in environmental remediation

Critics of the Metrodome site have long suggested that there might be something expensive lurking under the site -- something that might cost a lot of money to clean up. It was one of the charges Ramsey County commissioner Tony Bennett made when he pitched the Arden Hills site: at least everybody knew what was in the ground at the old ammo production site.

Well, there IS something under the Metrodome site, says Michele Kelm-Helgen, chair of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority. She said today that environmental studies for the new stadium also have found a limited amount of contaminated soil.

Kelm-Helgen says a warehouse once stood in what is now the back parking lot of the Dome, near 11th Street. That led to some testing, looking for industrial residue in the soil. Kelm-Helgen says the environmental study being wrapped up by the MSFA found the pollution.

She says there's no indication of a big-ticket cleanup, as there is under the Diamond Products site in St. Paul's Lowertown neighborhood.

Tim Nelson

Author

Now that St. Paul knows the Lowertown Ballpark would need an additional $6.2 million in environmental remediation, what about Minneapolis? Critics of the Metrodome site have long suggested that there might be something expensive lurking under the site — something that might cost a lot of money to clean up. It was one of the…

Vikings stadium site may not hold pollution surprises of St. Paul’s ballpark location

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