Coyote Station has 18 groundwater monitoring wells, 17 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between March 29, 2010 and October 08, 2012. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of sulfate, manganese, boron, nitrate, selenium, arsenic and lead.
Site descriptionCoyote Station maintains one active landfill and two ponds. There are also two closed landfills at the site. The North Dakota Department of Health (NDDH) ordered one of the ponds to be lined in the early 1980s to control seepage. The NDDH has expressed concern that baseline values for pollutant levels were affected by historic seepage and therefore current monitoring cannot adequately detect contamination. In response to an Environmental Protection Agency request for data in 2010, Otter Tail admitted that discharges from its facility contaminated groundwater in excess of federal standards for arsenic, manganese and sulfate.