Company's Bankruptcy Could Stick St. Louis Park with Bill

St. Louis Park invests about $500,000 per year into ensuring the ongoing safety of both the water and the soil at the former Reilly Tar plant. The bankruptcy of the company’s successor could bring additional costs to the city.

According to the city, from 1917 until 1972, Reilly Industries operated Republic Creosoting Company, a coal tar distillation and creosote wood preserving plant, on an 80-acre site in St. Louis Park. Today, the site near Louisiana Avenue and Walker Street is home to condos and townhouses, a restaurant and bowling alley, an office building and a recreational park with athletic fields, walking paths, recreation center, pond and playground.

The journey from industrial site to its current, useable state was a long and complex one.

From 1917 until 1939, wastes containing coal tar and its distillation byproducts were discharged directly into a ditch that ran the length of the site. These wastes then flowed into a peat bog on the southern portion of the site. An oil-water separator was installed in 1940, but Republic Creosoting Company continued to discharge contaminated waste into the peat bog for the duration of the company's operations at the site, according to the city.

The Sun Sailor reported that the bankruptcy of Vertellus, the successor of Reilly Industries, could leave St. Louis Park responsible for any future response costs:

During a Dec. 12 council work session, lawyers with the firm discussed potential impacts to the city as a result of Reilly’s successor declaring bankruptcy. Vertellus, the company that succeeded Reilly, has been responsible for some of the cost of the ongoing environmental efforts associated with the former factory.
“Most significantly, Vertellus would be responsible for the construction and operating costs of new water treatment equipment if EPA and the (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency) were to require treatment of the drinking water in neighboring communities,” states the city staff report, which names Edina as an example. “While we do not anticipate that such treatment will be necessary, the potential costs would run in the millions.” The bankruptcy of Vertellus could leave St. Louis Park responsible for any future response costs, the city staff report states. “For now, determination of liability remains an open question that would need to be resolved by the courts,” the staff report says.

Read much more at Sun Sailor.

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