Contact: Ralph Pribble, 651-757-2657
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Citizens’ Board approved several permits needed for a northern Minnesota taconite production facility to expand on Tuesday, Oct. 25. The two water quality permits approved for the Keetac facility near Keewatin, Minn., along with the air quality permit the board approved last month, set new expectations for regulation of mining in Minnesota.
"These permits are complicated and deal with new issues at the edge of environmental regulation," said MPCA Commissioner Paul Aasen. "We're confident that the Keetac permits show a way forward to protecting the environment while still providing for needed economic expansion."
The Keetac water quality permits, which regulate the facility's discharge of wastewater, are the first mining permits developed under the MPCA's new strategy for controlling the amount of sulfates released to surface waters. Sulfates have become a hot-button issue in northern Minnesota because sulfate levels can affect the growth of wild rice which is of great interest to Minnesota’s Native American Tribes for whom gathering and consumption of wild rice is a sacred activity.
Minnesota has had a sulfate water quality standard on the books for decades. The Legislation in 2011 directed the agency to study whether a new sulfate standard is needed to protect wild rice. In the meantime, the MPCA has developed a new strategy to more closely monitor and control sulfates in mining discharges. That strategy is reflected in Keetac’s compliance schedule and final sulfate discharge limits of 14 mg/L, which are protective of wild rice stands in waters further downstream of the Keetac facility.
The facility's air quality permit, approved by the MPCA board in September, also breaks new ground. The permit is the first in Minnesota to address emissions of greenhouse gases (primarily carbon dioxide), which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency listed as a federally regulated pollutant in 2010. The permit also includes a requirement to reduce emissions of mercury from Keetac as well as the nearby Minntac facility at Mountain Iron. (Both facilities are owned and operated by U.S. Steel.)
Although Minnesota has a statewide plan to reduce mercury emissions from all sectors by 2025, this is the first mining permit to actually require mercury controls. The technology has not been used in the mining sector before, and U.S. Steel has agreed to what essentially is a pilot project that MPCA officials expect will point the way for other mining companies to reduce mercury emissions.
“This is all new," said David Thornton, the MPCA’s Assistant Commissioner for air policy. "There were no templates for reducing mercury from this sector; no one has ever tried it before. Now, we have a very promising model.”
Thornton credited U.S. Steel for stepping forward with an innovative proposal. “We think we'll get dramatic reductions in emissions from these U.S. Steel facilities, years ahead of schedule and bigger reductions than if they had not been proactive,” he said.
The Keetac air permit is also one of the first in the nation to address greenhouse gases. Under new regulations for greenhouse gases, Keetac was required to perform a BACT (Best Available Control Technology) analysis. The analysis showed that, in the absence of a technically feasible add-on control technology, the facility could still reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by using an improved energy-efficient furnace design and optimizing the mix of fuels used for combustion.
The result will be that under the new permit, Keetac will emit less greenhouse gases than it would have without the BACT analysis.
The Keetac facility still needs two more permits relating to wetlands, one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and one from the MPCA, before permitting for the facility is complete.
