Bend over a little more to da left, will ya?

And take anudder one fer da team!

Andy points us to this story (I also heard it this morning on the way to work) in which we not only get to buy land twice that we already own, but as a bonus we get to pay for a new Gopher stadium, as well as to clean up the supposedly pristine, priceless parcel that we already owned in the first place...

...What hasn't been discussed is the land's toxic legacy, a World War II-era gunpowder plant that created a chemical blight that could be costly to clean up and might restrict the site's future use.

Even as leading lawmakers were saying that approval for a new on-campus football stadium is likely this year, school officials met privately with the Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, D.C., to discuss the 60-year old pollution problem.

It dates to the two-year lifespan of the Gopher Ordnance Works, which was owned by the War Department and operated by DuPont. It flushed millions of gallons of wastewater into two settling basins that were located directly on the site the university owns, according to a report in Sunday's Star Tribune.

Three years ago, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency found a suspected cancer-causing mixture of dinitrotoluene, or DNT, a gunpowder ingredient, in soil samples taken from the area of the primary settling basin.

The tests also found chemical pollutants in a separate area of UMore Park that's north of the settling basins, where more than 800 Gopher Ordnance production and storage basins were located. That area is larger and separate from the 2,840-acre parcel being used to sweeten the stadium deal.

Under that proposal, the state would pay a stadium subsidy of $235 million over 25 years before the university would transfer the land to the DNR. The bill would prohibit the state from suing the university for pollution on the site that is attributable to the operations of Gopher Ordnance or to previous land uses.

In the meantime, the Superfund unit of the MPCA is pressuring the Army Corps of Engineers for a comprehensive pollution investigation. According to MPCA documents, the corps has resisted those efforts.

I'm still trying to figure out this one from John Kline:

..."The ultimate goal is to get the pollution cleaned up and to make sure the water is safe, the ground is safe," said U.S. Rep. John Kline, who has taken a lead role in the discussions about the land. "It needs to be resolved with or without this (stadium) transaction."

That may be, Mr. Kline; but why do we have to clean up the mess AND pay for a new stadium by selling polluted land (that we already own) back to ourselves? This shell game is so transparent that it makes a window look like a brick wall.

Several House members told the Star Tribune on Sunday that they did not think the pollution problems would derail the stadium proposal.

"In our negotiations it was our position that the federal government would acknowledge and take responsibility" for any cleanup costs, said Denny McNamara, R-Hastings, a co-author of the Gophers stadium bill.

"It is not our intent (for the state) to take over anybody's pollution liability," he said.

Err...ahem... the Federal government should acknowledge and take responsibility for any cleanup costs; and it's not your intent for the State of Minnesota to take over pollution liability? Okay, Denny McNamara-- just who the hell do you think helps fund Federal government cleanups? Do you think the Minnesota taxpayer just may fall somewhere in that mix???

And not only do we get to pay again for a piece of land that we already owned, and pay to clean the place up, but the folks who are supposedly selling land that we already owned back to us are maintaining control!

Rep. Jim Knoblach, R-St. Cloud, said he was troubled by a provision under which the university would retain the right to use some of the land for research. But he said he doubted the issue alone would keep the proposal from passing.

Mr. Knoblach--if not that issue alone, how about the issues regarding this deal that we need to buy land that we already owned a second time, pay to clean up the land that we were going to have to clean up anyway, and build a new Gopher Stadium, to boot??? How about the issue that this is a not-so-slick shell game that results in the Minnesota taxpayer having to take it up the arse on multiple accounts, and on so many levels??

Does it really take a rocket scientist to see this for the absolute sham and farce that it is?

(Filed under pass the pork)