Opposing Legislation to Weaken or Repeal Wild Rice Protection

How has the Minnesota Legislature tried to weaken or repeal the wild rice sulfate standard?

Although the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) adopted Minnesota’s wild rice standard limiting sulfate pollution in wild rice waters to 10 parts per million (mg/L) in 1973, MPCA’s enforcement of this standard was weak and sporadic for decades.

In 2010, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told MPCA that the wild rice sulfate standard must be enforced under the federal Clean Water Act. This occurred as a result of EPA oversight of the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine and the U.S. Steel taconite mine expansion and due to the agency’s consultation with tribes.

Since, then, mining interests and their political supporters have repeatedly lobbied for Minnesota legislation to repeal or substantially weaken protection of wild rice. WaterLegacy has opposed this legislation to repeal or weaken the wild rice sulfate standard and has organized the public to protect the state’s natural stands of wild rice.

Photo from Forum News Service.

What’s the current status of wild rice sulfate standard legislation?

In 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2017, the Minnesota Legislature passed laws delaying or preventing the enforcement of the wild rice standard or the listing of wild rice waters impaired due to excessive sulfate. Most of these laws were geared to the Legislature’s effort directing MPCA to repeal or weaken the wild rice sulfate standard through rulemaking.
Learn More: Rulemaking

In 2018, the MPCA’s proposed wild rice rule was rejected by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and the Chief ALJ. After this decision, the Minnesota Legislature twice tried to enact laws to repeal the wild rice sulfate standard. However, both bills were vetoed by Governor Mark Dayton. No wild rice sulfate standard bills were adopted by the Minnesota Legislature in either 2019 or 2020.

Minnesota’s 1973 wild rice sulfate standard remains in effect and must be enforced under the Clean Water Act. WaterLegacy has argued in the Minnesota courts that sulfate limits based on the wild rice sulfate standard must be imposed by permits and enforced by MPCA.

Learn More: Litigation

What’s the history of wild rice sulfate standard legislation?

2011

Mining lobbyists sought repeal of Minnesota’s wild rice sulfate standard through legislation. The EPA wrote Minnesota legislators, stating that the wild rice sulfate standard must be enforced under the federal Clean Water Act and could only be changed based on science.

The Minnesota Legislature then passed a law appropriating $1.5 million for new scientific research and a task force run by the MPCA, anticipating that the rule would be amended to repeal or weaken the wild rice sulfate standard. The law also specified that until the adoption of a rule, MPCA would not require dischargers to spend money to control sulfate pollution, unless spending was required under the Clean Water Act.

Read the 2011 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency letter explaining that Minnesota’s wild rice sulfate standard must be enforced under the Clean Water Act (May 13, 2011)

Read the 2011 Minnesota Session Law setting up the process to change the wild rice sulfate rule and prevent enforcement until rulemaking was done.

2015

Despite testimony by WaterLegacy and our allies, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law preventing MPCA from requiring dischargers to spend money to treat or mitigate sulfate pollution whether or not treatment was required under the Clean Water Act. The law also prevented the listing of wild rice waters impaired due to sulfate until rulemaking to change the sulfate standard was completed on or before January 15, 2018.

WaterLegacy Advocacy Director, Paula Maccabee, testified at the Minnesota Legislature during February 2015 in favor of preserving the wild rice sulfate.

Read the 2015 Minnesota Session Law blocking enforcement of the wild rice sulfate standard.

Read WaterLegacy’s complete testimony and materials provided to Minnesota Senate Committee Members on March 27, 2015.

2016

The Minnesota Legislature passed a special law permanently invalidating limits on sulfate pollution set in U.S. Steel’s existing permits for the Keetac taconite mine.

Read the 2016 Minnesota Session Law.

2017

The Minnesota Legislature amended the session law passed in 2015 to extend the time for rulemaking to change the wild rice sulfate standard to January 15, 2019.

Read the 2017 Minnesota Session Law.

2018

After the MPCA had proposed and the Administrative Law Judge had disapproved repeal of the wild rice sulfate rule, the Minnesota Legislature adopted extreme session laws repealing the wild rice sulfate rule and blocking sulfate limits on most wild rice waters:

• The first bill, HF 3280, made legislative “findings” regarding the burden on regulated parties of controlling sulfate pollution and provided that the MPCA “must not apply the water quality standard for sulfate for wild-rice waters nullified in this act.”

• The second bill, HF 3422, attempted to restart a wild rice sulfate rulemaking process, while indefinitely precluding the enforcement of Minnesota’s existing wild rice sulfate standard, requirements for sulfate pollution control, or the listing of wild rice impaired waters.

Read the final version of HF 3280/SF 2983 adopted by the Minnesota Legislature on May 7, 2018.

Read the final Conference Report for HF 3422 adopted by the Minnesota Legislature on May 20, 2018.

WaterLegacy worked in collaboration with tribes, enlisted other environmental groups, and engaged thousands of citizens to contact the Governor requesting vetoes of these bills. The video below is the first of two presentations of “preserve wild rice postcards” to Governor Dayton’s staff.

Our voices were heard!

Governor Dayton vetoed both 2018 Minnesota Legislature bills that would have nullified wild rice sulfate standard!

Read Governor Mark Dayton’s wild rice veto letter of HF3280 (May 9, 2018).

Read Governor Mark Dayton’s second wild rice veto letter of HF 3422 (May 30, 2018).

Read WaterLegacy’s letter to Governor Dayton thanking him for his veto and proposing next steps to reduce sulfate pollution. (May 9, 2018).

Forum News Service quoted WaterLegacy explaining Governor Dayton’s veto:

Paula Maccabee, attorney for the group WaterLegacy, said the “veto is a huge victory for clean water! Preserving and implementing Minnesota’s law limiting sulfate pollution in wild rice waters is critical to protect wild rice and clean water and to protect the developing brains of Minnesota fetuses, infants and children.”

Maccabee said the state should focus on developing affordable ways to treat sulfate rather than relaxing laws for polluters saying the state is “counting on Minnesota leaders to make a commitment to require and support modern technology to control sulfate pollution.”

The Minnesota Legislature’s laws preventing MPCA from enforcing the wild rice sulfate standard were a significant factor in WaterLegacy’s submission of a petition to the EPA to remove MPCA authority under the Clean Water Act.
Learn More: Petition to EPA