The U.S. Steel Keetac mine, a taconite mining and processing facility, proposed to reopen a processing line and expand its capacity by approximately 30%.  As part of this process, it underwent a renewal of its air and water permits.

Air permit

The proposed Keetac Air Permit presented two major areas of concern for MCEA. First, it was the first permit to be issued by MPCA under the EPA’s new Greenhouse Gas Best Available Control Technology (GHG BACT) rules.  These rules require a facility to analyze whether it is applying the best available technology to control its greenhouse gas emissions.  MCEA wanted to ensure that Keetac considered all of its control options and the permit process set a good precedent for future GHG BACT analyses.  Second, the permit included a major increase in mercury emissions from the Keetac facility – 75 pounds of new emissions.  Nearly all of northern Minnesota’s lakes and streams have so much mercury that they do not meet standards for fish consumption.  As a result, the state adopted a clean-up plan or Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), that is intended to reduce mercury emissions from all sources in Minnesota.  The taconite industry has agreed to steep reductions in its mercury emissions, and this expansion represents a substantial step in the wrong direction. 

MCEA and many others objected to the MPCA’s permitting a large increase in mercury emissions without requiring that the company find reductions elsewhere (offsets), as required by the TMDL.  Unfortunately, over MCEA’s objection, this permit was granted by the MPCA Citizens’ Board.

Water permit

MCEA requested on October 25, 2011 that the MPCA Citizens’ Board delay issuance of a water permit for Keetac’s proposed expansion at its taconite mining facility until the company supplied the Board and the public with a plan for how it’s going to clean up discharges that are violating Minnesota’s wild rice standard.  The wild rice standard protects native Minnesota habitat and wild rice harvesters from toxic exposures to sulfate, a pollution byproduct of taconite mining. The Board voted to grant the permit. 

The permit allows Keetac to continue the expansion but does not require Keetac’s pollution reduction “plan” until October 2012–this despite the fact that technologies exist to control Keetac’s water pollution and the company has been studying these technologies since 2007.  The permit also doesn’t impose a limit on sulfate levels calculated to protect wild rice from tailings basin discharges until 2019.  Sulfate levels in surrounding waters are already significantly above the wild rice standard due to decades of uncontrolled discharges.

MCEA is concerned with the MPCA’s practice of issuing permits to taconite facilities without firm, enforceable requirements and limits.  Last month, the MPCA issued an air permit for Keetac’s expansion that allowed for significant new mercury emissions without any publicly enforceable permit conditions requiring offsets or future reductions.  The MPCA, instead, has entered into side agreements with the mining company that grant considerable leeway and can always be re-negotiated.  Indeed, the history of such agreements shows that they are routinely modified without public notice or input.

The Clean Water Act did not set up a “permit and then plan” system.  Rather, the Act was intended to require that industrial discharges demonstrate how they will meet state water quality standards before permits are issued.   

MPCA’s “permit and then plan” approach, if it continues, could be devastating, especially as new sulfide mining proposals come to MPCA for approval. Sulfide mines have the potential to degrade surface waters for centuries. Acid mine drainage from sulfide mines can kill off aquatic species, make water unsafe to drink, and corrode man-made structures.  We certainly hope that plans for controlling water pollution from these new mines will be fully developed and understood before any permits are issued.

MCEA Documents

Comments on Draft Air Emissions Permit

Comments on Draft NPDES/SDS Permits

Outside documents

Keetac Draft NPDES/SDS Permit MN0031879

Keetac Draft NPDES/SDS Permit MN0055948

Keetac Draft Air Emissions Permit No.13700063- 004

EPA Letter to MPCA Identifying Issues with the Draft Permit

MPCA Response to EPA Letter

Statewide Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) 

Media

"MPCA Board Approves Keetac Expansion," Minnesota Public Radio, Oct. 25, 2011