Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Information about the Hi-lex Company and their request for a Conditional Use Permit. - 3/11/1996Fo ‘-bER
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ear of pOssible'diasterleads
'City Councillo .nix .
chemical ;storage plan ,‘:(vti,1&„ •
By BRENDA HAUGEN .facility. .1 710
At present, about 450 trucks
Recent traini'4.:derailments '1,.per year bring raw materials to
around the counY3i'and: fear of ,',':: Hi-lex's - Eagan Site at:i990
what such anevent : could ' Apollo Road:, accord,t
mean to the city of Eagan led H'
the City Cou1 to unani,
mously deny a conditional use
permit (CUP) for Hi-lex Corpo-
ration for chemical storage in
rail cars adjacent to the Eagan
•-• • .....
a .,
ex. representative. The CUP :1
would; alloW the company to ;.
change from. the 450 trucks to
18 tank cars, which "is done
(See Chemicals, p. 7A)
(Continued from front page) •
universally in the industry," he
said.
Hi-lex Corporation's present
facility Was build in 1972. Ac-
cording to the city staff's re-
port, the Purex Corporation re- p
ceived City Council approval r
of a CUP for the exterior stor-
age of chlorine and sodium by-' iv
droxide in 1986. Similar to the tr
present case, the 1986 CUP
was for storage of chlorine in a st
rail car on the railroad spur ad-,
jacent to the facility, and so- m
dim hydroxide' in a 75,000
gallon•tank at the south end of
the building. The conditional
use was never exercised,
• though, and the CUP expired
in 1987. •
The Hi-lex Corporation came
to Eagan site in 1988 from St.
Paul. Hi-lex currently receives
chemicals by•truck in .a diluted . W�
form. The chemicals are stored ' sev
in two 9,S00-gallon and three . "I
6,500-gallon holding . tanks in wo
the facility until the batching rail
., process occurs, according : to said
the staff report. Products pro- " Acc
duced by Hi-lex at the Eagan . W
site: have included liquid abou
bleach, fabric softener, ammo- coul
nia, farm and dairy . sanitizer, adde
windshield washer solvent, "(I
wood and deck cleaner and RV ter,"(
marine anti -freeze, according " Co
to the report.
While the City Council did c
ee
approve a CUP, in 1986, much needs
hasgan. in the - today
, changed in Eawhen
Chemicals
last 10 years, said Mayor Tor
Egan. More is known about er
vironmental impacts, and mor
people' live and work near th
Hi-lex :facility, he said. '
A representative of We.
ublishing pointed out that th
ail cars would contain pur
chlorine, not the 85 percer
ater solution that comes in o
ucks.
"Chlorine is a very, toxicsut
ance," he said.
West Publishing is within
ile of the Hi-lex facility, ' and
if West — a seven -day -a
week, 24-hour-a-day operatic')
— needed to be evacuated, i
would lose customers who ex
pect service at their, fingertips
he said.
Council Member .Shawn
,Hunter said there was a train
derailment in his hometown
sconsin recently as, well a
eral others nationally. .•
am deathly afraid •of whr
uld happen in Eagan" if
accident. were 'to occur,. h
. "1 am concerned about i
idents do happen.". -
ith Eagan's population
t 56,000, such an accider.
d be devastating,. . Hunte
d. . • • ,•
t) would be a major disas
he said.:
uncil . Member • Te(
hter . said the . counci.
to look at the situation
,.not that of 10 years agc
the•, first. CUP Iwas. ap-
...................
n proved for this site. And --though
I-. no derailments have happened
e in Eagan, that doesn't mean it
e . never will happen, Wachter
said.
;t "The. possibility is still
e there," he said.
e Council Member Pat Awada i'
it said the'potential for . disaster
n is much greater with the rail
cars than with the trucks. With
�- the rail , cars, several times
more chemicals will be on -site
a than are found there now, she
said.
"You'd have to evacuate
huge sections of Eagan,"t .
Awada said if there were an
accident with a rail car carry_
•, ing the chemicals.
Fo‘z efk
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