# Elk River Station *Former power plant and waste-to-energy facility in Elk River, Minnesota.* Elk River Station is a former generating site in [[Elk River]], [[Minnesota]]. The at-issue record describes it as built for coal and oil in 1950, converted to a nuclear reactor in the 1960s, converted again in 1989 to burn garbage, and shut down in January 2019.[^1] The pack holds no statute, agency record, court filing or Wikipedia text for the site. Every fact below comes from two at-issue items drawn from one research brief, the *Sherburne Energy Brief*, and is attributed to that brief.[^1][^2] The same record states that Sherburne County was offered the plant for one dollar and declined.[^1] Both items are paired with a March 2025 presidential action, *Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse*. The pack does not show that the action refers to the plant; the pairing is the brief's.[^3] ## What - According to the brief, the plant was built in 1950 to burn coal and oil.[^1] - The brief states that the site was converted to a 22-megawatt nuclear reactor. It says the reactor ran from July 1964 to February 1968 and was among the first commercial reactors in the country to be fully dismantled.[^1] - The brief states that the site was converted again in 1989 to burn the Twin Cities' garbage and was shut down in January 2019.[^1] - The brief states that Sherburne County was offered the plant for one dollar and declined. The record gives no date for the offer and no reason for the refusal.[^1] ## Where - The brief places the plant in Elk River. It states that from 1989 to 2019 the garbage of Anoka, Benton, Hennepin, Sherburne and Stearns counties was burned there.[^2] - The brief states that the residual ash was landfilled in [[Becker]].[^2] ## In the at-issue record Two at-issue pairs name this subject. Both appear in section III of the brief, *The Tax Base Being Retired*.[^1][^2] Item AI-Sherburne-074 (rank 74) sets out the plant's sequence of fuels: coal and oil, then nuclear, then garbage. It also sets out the declined one-dollar offer. The item lists two underlying sources, on globalrenewablenews.com and wastedive.com.[^1] Item AI-Sherburne-075 (rank 75) covers the five-county waste flow and the ash disposal in Becker. Its only listed underlying source is on en.wikipedia.org.[^2] None of these underlying sources is among the pack's citable URLs. Each item's only attached URL is its presidential-action anchor. The record therefore does not establish the plant's dates, capacity, offer or waste flow from a primary source.[^1][^2][^3] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota wiki at-issue record, item AI-Sherburne-074, from the *Sherburne Energy Brief* (n.d.) — states the 1950 coal-and-oil construction, the 22-megawatt reactor of July 1964 to February 1968, the 1989 conversion to burn the Twin Cities' garbage, the January 2019 shutdown, and the one-dollar offer the county declined. The underlying sources listed are globalrenewablenews.com and wastedive.com, neither of which is citable here. The URL attached to the item is its anchor, not a source for these facts. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/protecting-americas-bank-account-against-fraud-waste-and-abuse/ [^2]: Minnesota wiki at-issue record, item AI-Sherburne-075, from the *Sherburne Energy Brief* (n.d.) — states that from 1989 to 2019 the garbage of five named counties was burned in Elk River and the ash was landfilled in Becker. The underlying source listed is en.wikipedia.org, which is not citable here. The URL attached to the item is its anchor. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/protecting-americas-bank-account-against-fraud-waste-and-abuse/ [^3]: The White House, *Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse* (March 2025) — the presidential action designated as the anchor for both at-issue items. The pack does not show that it mentions Elk River Station. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/protecting-americas-bank-account-against-fraud-waste-and-abuse/