August 2025 Trivia Answer

c) 100

A recent MPR article spelled out why mercury is a problem in northern Minnesota lakes: taconite processing plants from iron ore mining. Taconite production both directly emits mercury and causes sulfate pollution that can convert that mercury into a form that is even more dangerous to public health

In it they state, “Sulfate is also notorious for damaging wild rice beds. Since 1973, Minnesota has limited sulfate discharges into water bodies where wild rice grows. But research has found that sulfate even at levels below the state’s wild rice standard can produce harmful levels of mercury.”