By Sarah Light, staff writer

Members of the House Capital Investment Committee met with Albert Lea city officials Wednesday at Edgewater Park to discuss the city&8217;s hopes for almost $3 million in 2008 state bonding funds.

The funds would be used to clean up two of the city&8217;s former landfill sites.

The first, at the North Edgewater Park landfill, is one that the city has already been awarded $3.6 million from the state toward cleaning up.

However, because recent reports are estimating the cost of the project to be increased to as much as $6.1 million, the city put in a request for additional bonding funds from the state.

The 30-acre North Edgewater Park landfill site &8212; which was originally used as a sand and gravel mining operation &8212; served as the Albert Lea Dump from 1956 to 1972, accepting municipal solid waste including mixed commercial, industrial and residential wastes.

When the dump was in operation, borrow pits were filled with the waste and open burning was practiced. When operations of the dump ceased, however, the site was covered with lake sediments dredged from Fountain Lake and there was no formal engineered closure of the area. The area has since begun to produce vinyl chloride and other metals and started leaching into Fountain Lake.

If this funding is obtained for the project, the waste will be transferred from the former landfill site to a new 30-to 40-foot-deep lined cell to the west of the closed Albert Lea Sanitary landfill. This would prevent the waste from further leaching into the lake.

The city applied for the bonding funds for this project this year, but because the governor vetoed the state bonding bill, the funding did not come to fruition.

&8220;But now the same problem exists and it is getting worse,&8221; City Manager Victoria Simonsen explained to the committee members.

Edgewater Park is one of Albert Lea&8217;s feature parks that is used by community members for many purposes, including band performances, picnics and fishing, Simonsen said.

The city is also requesting bonding to clean out the demolition landfill at the Blazing Star Landing site. The waste removed from this site would be transferred to the same lined cell as the waste from the North Edgewater Park site. This is estimated at a cost of about $160,000.

The House Capital Investment Committee toured around the state Wednesday reviewing other requests for state bonding funds.

The Senate Capital Investment Committee is expected in Albert Lea this morning to hear the same request from city officials.