Zebra mussels nabbed trying to hitch ride across Minnesota

A North Dakota company in the water-quality business finds that in Minnesota, zebra mussels are unwanted, dead or alive.

By Bill McAuliffe, Star Tribune

Last update: November 7, 2007 - 8:01 PM

A North Dakota company with a green business is red-faced after some of its equipment was found covered with zebra mussels at the Minnesota-Wisconsin border.

Officials at SolarBee Inc., a Dickinson-based firm that has won international environmental awards for its solar-powered water circulators, called the incident "unfortunate and embarrassing." They also vowed to step up vigilance on transportation equipment that might carry zebra mussels or other invasive species.

"We're one of the greenest companies around," said Willard Tormaschy, vice president of SolarBee, which makes circulators that are designed to reduce algae in ponds and lakes. "We try harder than anyone to make sure we're in compliance [with transportation laws]. This is a good thing; it's made us better."

SolarBee employees were driving to North Dakota on Oct. 27 in a pickup-trailer combination carrying three pumps that had been removed from a reservoir in Vermont. The pumps were being taken back to Dickinson for maintenance and storage.

But Minnesota inspectors at a weigh station on Interstate 94 at the Wisconsin border found the rig was 300 pounds overweight for its tires and wouldn't let it continue.

After the drivers agreed to unhitch the open-topped trailer and return two days later with a larger truck, inspectors spotted what they believed were several thousand zebra mussels on the pumps and called in Department of Natural Resources officers, who confirmed the finding.

The zebra mussel is a non-native, fast-spreading creature that can disrupt aquatic food chains, smother native mussels, clog water intakes and foul beaches. It is against Minnesota law to transport them, and boaters have long been asked to clean and dry their hulls before moving craft from one body of water to another.

Tormaschy said SolarBee has long followed what it believed to be the toughest strategy for transporting equipment with zebra mussels on it -- letting it dry in the air for at least five days. He said the pumps were out of water for 22 days before Minnesota inspectors found them and that the zebra mussels were certainly dead.

Tormaschy said the company didn't realize it was illegal to move even dead zebra mussels through Minnesota. He said he's expecting the company to be fined by the DNR.

"Those guys are heroes," he said. "This shows they have their eyes open and they're looking out for Minnesota. We didn't realize that in Minnesota a dead mussel is as dangerous as a live one."

Staff writer Tim Harlow contributed to this report. Bill McAuliffe • 612-673-7646

Bill McAuliffe • mcaul@ s tartribune.com

Recent Local + Metro stories

Sawyer County vehicle fire death was accident; no ID yet on victim - November 7, 2007

Sawyer County vehicle fire death was accident; no ID yet on victim - The death of a man found in a burning vehicle near Hayward, Wis., was accidental, the Sawyer County Sheriff's Office said on Thursday. More