In an apparent sea change, MPCA steps up to enforce the ‘Wild Rice Rule’. U.S. Steel pushes back.

Issue heading to the Minnesota Court of Appeals

In 1973, Minnesota established the “Wild Rice Rule”, one of many sweeping environmental protection rules and laws passed that decade. The rule caps wild rice-killing pollution from industrial wastewater.

The rule affects taconite mines in particular.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is responsible for enforcing the Wild Rice Rule, but it hadn’t been.

That seems to be changing.

Federal government requires MPCA to enforce wild rice protections, overriding state laws

The environmental group WaterLegacy and the Fond du Lac and Grand Portage Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa scored a major victory to enforce state water quality rules that protect wild rice.

It’s a huge ruling. It should affect the MPCA’s oversight of existing projects, such as the MinnTac Mine (which has never complied with wild rice water quality standards). It should affect the MPCA’s review of projects in the queue, such as the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine.