Legislators from northeastern Minnesota, including State Rep. Roger Skraba (R) of Ely, have united in support of the region’s taconite industry in an appeal to state regulators.
Skraba joined six other state lawmakers in submitting a two-page letter to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, urging the state agency to stop its proposed Keetac permit action and seek a solution that protects both wild rice and Minnesota’s mining industry.
The letter came on the heels of a well-attended public hearing earlier in the month in Virginia, at a public meeting on a Keetac preliminary sulfate standard variance request and a pair of draft permits.
In a preliminary decision, the MPCA denied Keetac’s variance request for the level of sulfate in wild rice protection waters.
That decision resulted in howls of protest, including from many of the audience of 500-plus at the MPCA public meeting held Sept. 3 at Virginia’s Iron Trail Motors Event Center.
At issue is the stance by the MPCA that Keetac, the Keewatin plant operated by U.S. Steel, must meet a 10 milligram per liter standard for wild rice production waters by 2030.
Implemented in the 1970s, the standard has never been strictly enforced.
Keetac’s current industrial wastewater permits permit limits the facility to 14 milligrams of sulfate per liter as a monthly average and 24 milligrams per liter as a monthly maximum.
Mining supporters say that the standard could cost Keetac more than $1.3 billion over 20 years, putting the plant in the red and adding $17.50 to every ton of iron ore pellets produced.
They also contend that the mining industry is being unfairly targeted and that if the sulfate standard is applied statewide, it would impact municipal wastewater plants, the agriculture, forest products and numerous other industries.
The letter signed by the legislators was part of an MPCA public comment period that closed Monday on the Keetac variance request and draft permits.
It’s signed by Skraba, State. Sen. Grant Hauschild (D-Hermantown), State Sen. Keri Heintzeman (R-Nisswa), State Rep. Cal Warwas (R-Clinton Township), State Rep. Spencer Igo (R-Wabana Township) and State Rep. Ben Davis (R-Merrifield).
They’ve asked the MPCA to revisit the standard, which some contend is based on “old science,” and there have been previous unsuccessful attempts to implement site-specific standards at Keetac.
Sulfate is naturally occurring in the taconite that’s mined at northeastern Minnesota taconite plants.
The amount of sulfate in the rock varies from mine-to-mine and can also vary from site-to-site within the same mine.
In the letter, legislators also point to state laws passed in 2011, 2015 and 2016 that directed the MPCA to update the sulfate standard. They’re also calling on Gov. Tim Walz to act and direct the MPCA to address the issue.
Public comments on the permit application have been received and will be reviewed by the MPCA, although there’s not timeline for a decision.
Barring a change, U.S. Steel must comply with the current standard by April 30, 2030.
The sulfate issue has captured the attention not only of the legislators but the Iron Range mining industry.
It’s expected that other northeastern Minnesota plans up for permit renewals will face similar issues related to sulfate standard compliance.
The legislators have cited the words of a previous DFL governor, Mark Dayton, in their appeal.
In the letter to the MPCA, they quote Dayton, who said: “If you have an impossibly low standard that doesn’t correlate to the problem that you’re trying to solve anyway ... you put the whole industry out of business. We don’t even know if it’s going to improve wild rice conditions, and it’s going to be catastrophic for life up in northeastern Minnesota.”
The legislators also wrote: “This is not a new problem, but the lack of action to update the standard— and the current proposal to enforce it—makes the matter urgent. State laws passed in 2011, 2015, and 2016 directed the MPCA to update the standard. The MPCA made one attempt, but that effort stalled in 2018, and nothing has been done since to revise it.”
Another portion of the letter says: “Because the cost of treating wastewater to remove sulfate is extremely high, it is reasonable and very important to minimize the possibility of applying a standard that is more stringent than necessary to protect the wild rice beneficial use... The MPCA standard is outdated, unproven, and the agency is under a legal obligation to update it. Since the MPCA has failed to act, it must use every tool available to avoid the potentially devastating consequences of strictly enforcing it.”
The legislators also contend that enforcing the standard would lead to “Billions of dollars drained from our communities, industries, and mines to comply with a standard that even the MPCA cannot confirm will improve wild rice. This is unacceptable.”
