Fond du Lac Band appeals Minntac Permit

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa filed an appeal with the Minnesota Court of Appeals last week, asking the court to reject the Minntac national pollution discharge and disposal system permit as drafted and to require the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to enforce all state water standards.

Band representatives called the MPCA permit “nearly toothless” in the filing.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the band noted that Minntac’s unlined, 12-square-mile tailings basin in Mountain Iron has long been acknowledged by owner U.S. Steel, the MPCA and tribal entities as “a source of pollution in surrounding surface water and groundwater, including wild rice waters in the Dark and Sand River watersheds.”

The permit issued by the MPCA in late November required Minntac to reduce pollutants — including sulfate — over time, but does not require Minntac to meet state standards now. Also appealing the permit on many of the same grounds is the nonprofit environmental organization, WaterLegacy.

Since 1973, Minnesota has had a federally approved water quality standard limiting sulfate to 10 mg per liter for wild rice waters to protect the health of the plant. According to the press release, monitoring in wild rice waters near Minntac has shown extreme exceedances of that limit. Sulfate levels ranging up to 40 times higher than the limit have greatly diminished the rice stands in these waters. In the legal filing, the Band also noted that Reservation waters are “hydrologically connected to Minntac’s operations.”

“We realize that the mining industry makes an important contribution to our area’s economy and people’s livelihoods,” said Fond du Lac Band chairman Kevin R. Dupuis Sr. “But we think it is only reasonable to expect companies profiting from the extraction of Minnesota’s mineral resources to comply with environmental laws and clean up any environmental damage caused by their operations.”

Minntac’s mining and processing operations are located within the western border of the 1854 Ceded Territory. The band retains off-reservation rights to hunt, fish and gather in the ceded territory.

According to the press release, the Band “undertakes this appeal as part of its commitment to preserving and protecting the irreplaceable natural resources of the 1854 Ceded Territory.”

For similar reasons, the Band last month appealed the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources issuance of insufficient Dam Safety and Mining Permits for the PolyMet Project outside Babbitt, Minnesota.