Deal reached over Minnesota wild rice sulfate standards

[h2ofwlr]

The Associated Press
Posted: 05/15/2015 05:56:26 PM CDT | Updated: a day ago

Lawmakers have reached a compromise with Gov. Mark Dayton's administration that would temporarily prevent regulators from forcing mining companies to invest in new treatment technologies to protect wild rice from sulfate discharges.

The compromise will allow water permit renewals for iron mines, including U.S. Steel's Minntac operation, to go forward without complying with current sulfate limits until new rules are ready from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Rep. Carly Melin told Minnesota Public Radio on Thursday (http://bit.ly/1KRAp1C ). The MPCA would not force companies or wastewater treatment facilities to spend money to reduce sulfate discharges to qualify for permits in the meantime.

Once the new rules are in place, the compromise would allow the MPCA to reopen those water permits and enforce its new standards.

"All we're saying is, OK, let's take a breather over these next couple of years here and operate the same way we've operated for the previous 130 years until all the science is in, all the science is complete, all the rules are complete," said Melin, DFL-Hibbing.

A 1973 law limits sulfate discharges into waters that grow wild rice to 10 milligrams per liter, but the state hasn't tried to enforce that standard until recently. Responding to objections from mining companies and northern Minnesota lawmakers who say the rule is outdated, the MPCA in March proposed a new approach for sulfate rules, which involves looking at the conditions in individual lakes and rivers where wild rice grows. Those rules are still being developed.
Advertisement

Paula Maccabee, an attorney for the environmental group WaterLegacy that has been fighting to maintain the existing standard, said the deal gives the industry everything it wanted.

"I see no evidence of compromise other than that the quality of Minnesota waters will be compromised," she said.

But the deal lets mining companies delay major costs as they struggle with a worldwide drop in steel prices, said Rep. Tom Anzelc, DFL-Balsam Township.

"We're trying to help our mining industry survive," he said.