Duluth, Minn. ― The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has come to an agreement with Magnetation LLC following an investigation into state air quality violations adjacent to its Keewatin, Minnesota mining facility. The company has agreed to create a plan to eliminate future excess dust emissions, conduct air quality monitoring, and determine whether the facility should obtain an air quality permit.
Magnetation will also pay a $40,000 penalty. The penalty is based on several factors, including how seriously the violation affected the environment, whether it was a first time or repeat violation and how promptly the violation was reported to appropriate authorities. The MPCA also attempts to recover the calculated economic benefit gained by failure to comply with environmental laws in a timely manner.
The agency determined that the Magnetation facility began to periodically violate Minnesota’s fugitive, or airborne, dust rule within three months of starting operations in February 2009. The rule requires that facilities take steps to control avoidable amounts of particulate matter (dust emissions) from sources such as mining, roads, ore handling and stockpiles, and prevent them from becoming airborne.
The MPCA issued the company a violation notice in July 2010 and required specific corrective actions to resolve excessive dust emissions originating at the Magnetation facility. The company complied within the required timeframe; however, the actions proved insufficient because tailings dust exceedances occurred again between October and December 2011. Dust emissions were documented by Keewatin residents’ complaints and photos, reports from the Keewatin police and MPCA site inspections in the fall of 2011. Dust samples collected in Keewatin by the inspector were analyzed and found to be from the same source as those he collected on the Magnetation property.
The company re-processes mine tailings from past mining operations on site and sells the resulting concentrated iron-bearing material for processing into iron and steel. In recent months, Magnetation staff have substantially increased their dust control activities to minimize future emissions and impacts.
For more information, visit the MPCA website.
