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Variance Request to the City of Elk River Section 1. Introduction <br />June 30, 2025 <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />Section 1. Introduction <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Section 1.1 Waste Management Background <br /> <br />Elk River Landfill, Inc. (ERL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Waste Management (WM) of <br />Minnesota, Inc., owns and operates a mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill (Landfill) <br />under Minnesota Solid Waste Permit Number SW-74. The Landfill is located along U.S. TH <br />169 in the NW 1/4 of Section 3, T33N, R26W, and the SW 1/4 of Section 34, T34N, R26W, <br />Sherburne County, Minnesota. <br /> <br />The Landfill is permitted to accept MSW, construction and demolition debris, yard waste for <br />composting, and industrial waste in accordance with a MPCA-approved Industrial Solid Waste <br />Management Plan. ERL maintains a Solid Waste Facility (SWF) license and a conditional use <br />permit in accordance with City of Elk River (the City) requirements. <br /> <br /> <br />Section 1.2 MMPA Background <br /> <br />The Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA or Agency) is a municipal power agency <br />and political subdivision of the State of Minnesota engaged in the generation and transmission <br />of electrical power and energy to twelve municipally owned member utilities. MMPA currently <br />serves the Minnesota municipal utilities in Anoka, Arlington, Brownton, Buffalo, Chaska, East <br />Grand Forks, Elk River, Le Sueur, North St. Paul, Olivia, Shakopee, and Winthrop. The <br />member communities, including the City of Elk River, in turn deliver and sell the electricity to <br />residential and business customers in their communities. <br /> <br />MMPA’s mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced power to its members and to <br />create value for both the Agency and its members. MMPA’s power supply portfolio is a mix of <br />owned generation and power purchase agreements and a combination of conventional and <br />renewable resources. MMPA completed a renewable natural gas project in Le Sueur, MN and <br />plans to add further RNG projects to its portfolio, including this proposed project in Elk River. <br /> <br /> <br />Section 1.3 Proposed Project Summary <br /> <br />The proposed project is a landfill gas (LFG) to renewable natural gas (RNG) processing <br />facility. ERL and MMPA executed a contract for MMPA to build, own, and operate the LFG to <br />RNG facility at the Landfill. Under the agreement, ERL will deliver LFG to the MMPA plant <br />for processing and cleanup. MMPA will deliver the RNG to the Northern Natural Gas (NNG) <br />interstate pipeline. <br /> <br />The LFG to RNG cleanup process includes the removal of water vapor, carbon dioxide, <br />nitrogen, oxygen, and other impurities. The processed RNG will be delivered to the NNG <br />pipeline. Process byproducts will be returned to the ERL for disposal under existing permits. <br /> <br /> <br />Page 13 of 97