March 25: New rules shift debate on wild rice, mining controversy

This has been a huge week of developments for those closely watching the debate about the intersection of industry and the environment as related to wild rice in Northern Minnesota. Yesterday, March 25, Gov. Mark Dayton said in an interview that the Minnesota wild rice sulfate standard of 10 parts per million was "outdated," arguably too strict and punitive to struggling Iron Range mines.

Probably not coincidentally, later that day the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) announced a sweeping new approach to how it plans to regulate the health of waters surrounding delicate wild rice plants, a staple of northern diets and sacred to native Ojibwa people in the region. Northern Minnesota's Iron Range region is home to several iron mines and nonferrous mining proposals, all of which produce the kind of run-off that can be damaging to fresh water and wild rice if not mitigated.

The Star Tribune's Josephine Marcotty wrote about the development thusly:

State Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township) gave a statement after the MPCA announcement. Anzelc is chair of the Iron Range legislative delegation. (Full disclosure, he's a friend of mine and I help him with his campaigns).

The "lake by lake" plan, however, begs the question: how will the understaffed MPCA be able to adequately review all the affected lakes in Minnesota comprehensively enough to ensure the safety of wild rice plants while remaining responsive enough to fast-moving municipal and industrial concerns? Anzelc raises this matter:

This is where environmentalists and the Ojibwa bands have a compelling argument that while this may sound like a working compromise to the wild rice issue, it risks becoming a de facto suspension of the wild rice sulfate rules for most waters in the state.

The effectiveness of this new policy proposal would be determined in its execution. It remains to be seen whether this MPCA gambit will tamp down the nullification and deregulating bills that quickly cropped up in the State House this year. One thing is certain: the debate has shifted dramatically.