MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota officials said they don’t know where additional soil contamination from trichloroethylene and other chemicals found in east Minneapolis is coming from.

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency researchers found contamination this summer and are trying to locate the source by gaining access to buildings in the area.  TCE has been linked to an increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and can increase the risk of kidney cancer.

TCE contamination previously discovered in the area was linked to disposal at a General Mills facility decades ago. General Mills disposed of the industrial solvent in an “absorption pit” from 1947 to 1962.

The pit included three 55-gallon drums buried 10 to 12 feet underneath the surface. General Mills investigated the site in 1982 and found that the area’s groundwater and soil were contaminated by TCE.