Duluth pursuing study of toxic chemical after refinery blast

DULUTH (AP) — City leaders in Duluth, Minnesota, are taking steps to ensure that residents will be safe following the upcoming reconstruction of a refinery that exploded in neighboring Superior, Wisconsin.

The Husky Energy oil refinery in Superior was rocked last April by a huge blast and fire. The flying shrapnel narrowly missed a tank of hydrogen fluoride, a toxic chemical that can be deadly if inhaled.

Mel Duvall, a spokesman for Husky, noted in April that the rebuilt refinery will still use hydrogen fluoride after an examination determined that “alternatives were not commercially viable or introduced significant risks for the Superior Refinery.” The reconstruction will cost more than $400 million, Duvall said.

Duluth Mayor Emily Larson called Husky’s choice to proceed with the use of hydrogen fluoride “unacceptable,” although she recognized her lack of authority to stop the company from moving forward with its plans.

“I do have a way to help impact whether or not the industry is going to continue to be supported in making that choice,” she said.

Superior Mayor Jim Paine also rebuked Husky for its plan to still use hydrogen fluoride. Duluth and Superior lie adjacent to each other on the southwestern tip of Lake Superior, separated only by the mouth of the St. Louis River.

The Duluth City Council will vote Monday on a resolution that would ask the Environmental Protection Agency to examine hydrogen fluoride usage at the Husky refinery, the Minnesota Public Radio News reported.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board, the agency that investigated the Husky refinery blast, asked the EPA in April to update its last analysis of hydrogen fluoride usage, which was completed in 1993.

“People are afraid. They are afraid of this toxic chemical in their midst, afraid of the potential for it to be released,” said Kristen Kulinowski, the provisional executive authority of the safety board.

Industry and government, she added, “need to do everything that we can to ensure that people remain safe in the shadows of these dangerous refineries.”

The EPA has yet to respond to the safety board’s request.

Paine said he wants Husky to build the safest oil refinery possible.

“The refinery still remains an important part of the economy in the city of Superior, and a lot of us over here very much support its operation,” he said. “Safety is our first priority, but we still support an operating refinery as well.”

Shooting victim dies a day after being hit in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis police said the victim of a shooting has died a day after he was wounded.

Officers responded to a ShotSpotter activation Sunday about 2 p.m. and found an adult male who had suffered gunshot wounds. He was taken to North Memorial Medical Center. Police say the victim died at the hospital Monday morning.

The police department’s homicide unit has opened an investigation.

Couple survives crash with half-ton moose

DULUTH (AP) — A young couple remains hospitalized in Duluth after surviving a collision with a half-ton bull moose on a dark northern Minnesota highway.

Seventeen-year-old Amaya Nelson was behind the wheel July 7 and her 22-year-old boyfriend, Remington Dellinger, was in the seat beside her when they crashed into moose with their small car.

Amaya’s dad, Scott Nelson, said first responders told him it was a miracle the two survived the crash, which sent their car down an embankment.

Nelson told the Star Tribune his daughter had multiple skull fractures and numerous broken bones in her face, yet managed to crawl up the hill and call 911. He says she’s undergone facial reconstruction at a Duluth hospital where she remains in intensive care. Dellinger is in the same hospital with head, neck and arm injuries.

Coleman undergoing surgery to remove cancerous part of lung

ROCHESTER (AP) — Former U.S. Sen Norm Coleman of Minnesota is undergoing surgery at Mayo Clinic to remove the cancerous part of a lung.

Coleman posted on his Facebook page that his surgery scheduled for Monday would remove about a quarter of his lungs and cut his lung capacity by up to 20%.

Last August, Coleman said he was being treated for stage 4 lung cancer. He wrote that after “heavy doses of chemotherapy, the tumor was gone.”

But after he had five weeks of intensive radiation, a follow-up scan found a spot on his lungs, and a biopsy determined that cancer had returned.

Coleman, a Republican, lost a close race to Democrat Al Franken in 2008.

Omar reports big second quarter, nearly $950K in bank

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar raised nearly $614,000 in the second quarter and ended the period with nearly $950,000 in cash on hand.

Omar’s report Monday to the Federal Election Commission is a sign of financial strength just as the Minneapolis Democrat finds herself in another confrontation with President Donald Trump.

Omar and three other congressional newcomers — Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Michigan, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — were targets of Trump tweets over the weekend that they should “go back” to the countries where they came from.