In St. Paul’s Highland Park, a polluted leftover portion of the former Twin Cities Assembly Plant remains owned by the Ford Motor Co., and state pollution control officials are still pondering with the auto company what to do about the contaminated dump site.
Dubbed “Area C,” the 22-acre land parcel sits capped at the base of the river bluff adjacent to Hidden Falls Regional Park, between Mississippi River Boulevard and the river, and is currently used as a parking lot.
The St. Paul City Council recently came to the unanimous conclusion that the time for pollution monitoring and other containment measures is over, and the state’s preferred alternative — an $8.8 million partial cleanup, mostly along its southern slope — while less costly, won’t go far enough to protect the river…