Marshall, Minn. -- An open house at the new location of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency office in Marshall will be held 3-6 p.m. Thursday, April 21. Staff will serve refreshments and be available to talk about state environmental programs.
The office is now located on the second floor of the Lyon County Public Works Building, 504 Fairgrounds Rd. Since 1999, it had been located in the Market Street Mall at 1420 E. College Dr. The MPCA first opened an office in Marshall in 1976.
The Marshall and Willmar MPCA offices serve 18 counties in southwestern Minnesota (listed below). Regional staff provide citizens and businesses with information to help them protect the environment, and help ensure that permit requirements are met.
Primary programs with regional office staff include municipal wastewater, feedlots and solid waste. Other programs with regional or St. Paul-based staff assigned to the region include stormwater, tanks, emergency response, hazardous waste, public information and impaired waters. More information about the MPCA can be found at: http://www.pca.state.mn.us.
“We’ve done a good job of trying to protect and improve water quality, but with continued pressure from development and other land uses, our regional offices keep very busy with a multitude of programs to make sure that we continue to have a healthy natural environment,” says Randy Hukriede, MPCA Southwest Region manager.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency was created by the state legislature in 1967 to clean up and protect the state’s land, air and water resources. Decades ago, work focused primarily on “point sources” of pollution, such as urban wastewater and industrial waste. Today, there is much emphasis on “non-point sources,” such as stormwater runoff and motor vehicle emissions.
The Marshall office is one of seven regional offices of the MPCA outside the Twin Cities metro area. Along with the Willmar MPCA office, counties served include: Big Stone, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Meeker, McLeod, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Renville, Rock, Swift, and Yellow Medicine.
