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Northshore asbestos limits stay, judge rules
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A federal judge has washed his hands of a historic dispute between Northshore Mining Co. and state regulators over limiting emissions of asbestos fibers from its taconite plant in Silver Bay, Minn.
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson on Friday denied the company's motion for relief from a 1974 court-imposed regulation that says mineral-fiber levels in the air over that city can't be any higher than the levels over St. Paul.
Instead, the judge said the regulation -- an outgrowth of the 1970s legal battle over pollution by the former Reserve Mining Co. -- has been incorporated into Northshore's state emissions permit and no longer is enforceable as a federal court order.
The issue resurfaced last year when the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) resumed airborne asbestos testing in the two cities and found that fiber levels in Silver Bay's air, though down from decades ago, often exceeded St. Paul's.
Northshore has said it has the best pollution-control equipment available, and it has separately challenged the permit requirement in state courts.
The MPCA has said it plans to establish a science-based asbestos air standard. "We will continue to work with the company to further mitigate fiber levels, which have been a concern for citizens of the Silver Bay area -- and our agency -- for many years," agency Commissioner Brad Moore said in a prepared statement.
DAVID SHAFFER
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