Suspend Water-Protection Rules So Mining Can Thrive, Lawmaker Says

Water regulations need to be peeled back in order to safeguard the mining industry in Minnesota, according to a state lawmaker.

Rep. Carly Melin, D-Hibbing, has introduced legislation that would suspend rules that limit sulfate in water with rice to 10 milligrams, according to the Duluth News Tribune.

“The 10 standard will bring down our taconite industry," she said, per the report.

Passed in 1973, the 10 standard was largely unenforced until recent years, Associated Press reported.

"Representatives of the two largest mining companies in the state, the main electrical utility in northeastern Minnesota and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce testified [before state lawmakers] that enforcing it now would impose huge costs for new pollution controls. But environmentalists said the law is scientifically valid and protects a vital food resource," the report continued.

Environmentalists and a renowned Native American activist are fighting to keep the policy change.

"Activist Winona LaDuke, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and former Green Party vice presidential candidate, testified [before state lawmakers that] she still regularly harvests wild rice. But she said that as she drives through the north country, her elders and other relatives point out places where they used to harvest wild rice before those beds died out," TwinCities.com reported.

"For us it is our most sacred food. ... It is something that is served at all our ceremonies and feasts... So we do not view lightly any suggestion of limiting the ability of rice to sustain itself within the lakes of our territory," LaDuke said, per the AP.

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