Improve Minnesota's Water Quality: take politics out of pollution prevention

One aspect of Governor Dayton's efforts to improve Minnesota's water quality 25% by 2025 that might prove to be a very sensitive issue is the status of the current performance of some of the agencies within his administration meeting their responsibilities to protect and improve Minnesota's water resources. We are aware of at least three outstanding issues related to agency performance that raise concerns:

• The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is still under review by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for "failing to administer the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program in accordance with the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ( EPA’s ) regulations in connection with mining projects, including discharge from mine pits, mine waste rock piles and mine tailings waste facilities." The petition that triggered the review has been pending since July 2015.


• The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has recently been found, by a Minnesota judge, to be in violation of the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act and the "public trust doctrine" in regard to management of groundwater appropriation permits affecting White Bear Lake.


• That same Department of Natural Resources currently has under consideration two dam safety permits for the proposed PolyMet NorthMet mine, at least one of which requires that "The Permittee shall perpetually maintain the tailings basin and all of its components to ensure the integrity of all structures. Prior to the ultimate termination of the P ermittee ’s operation of the dam , the Commissioner may impose such requirements as may be necessary to ensure that the Permittee will remain financially responsible for carrying out the activities required for perpetual maintenance, and that adequate funding for perpetual maintenance continues to exist."

St. Louis River at Jay Cooke State Park, what would a tailings dam failure look like if it reached here?

Photo by J. Harrington

According to the Harvard Business Review, "The art of endurance is increasingly rare. Over the last 50 years, the average lifespan of S&P 500 companies has shrunk from around 60 years to closer to 18 years. For each company that has lasted more than a century, there are countless more that have failed. Recall the glory days of Polaroid, Kodak, and the F. W. Woolworth Company – companies that were once the best in their field but failed to untangle themselves from deeply embedded routines, and fatally flawed resource allocation processes."

Does the word "perpetual" appear in the article? Not that we noticed. We doubt there is, or ever will be, an entity such as a corporation with a "perpetual" life. Without such an entity, who would ultimately be responsible for cleaning up any mess created by an eventual tailings dam failure [dams are no more perpetual than corporations]? Minnesota tax payers? Might issuance of a dam permit requiring perpetual care then constitute another violation of the public trust doctrine and the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act?

St. Louis River at Duluth Harbor, could a tailings dam failure affect this far downstream?

Photo by J. Harrington

Should the solution be to undermine environmental protections to enable a project to proceed, as has been past practice due, perhaps, to political pressure? See the petition to withdraw NPDES authority, above, and the check the games the legislature and the Pollution Control Agency are currently playing with the standards to protect Minnesota's wild rice resources. If MPCA hasn't had staffing to reissue mining permits, where will they get resources to deal with a water quality standard as complex as that proposed for wild rice?

Is there any part of Minnesota's K - 12 core curriculum that emphasizes that we all depend on the natural environment? That we are all part of that environment? The 25 by 25 Tool Kits mention education from watershed associations. WHAT ABOUT HAVING EDUCATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS PROVIDED IN OUR SCHOOLS BY OUR SCHOOL DISTRICTS?

                     Perpetuum Mobile

By Marin Sorescu
Translated by Michael Hamburger

Between people’s

ideals

and their realization

there is always

a greater drop

than in the highest

of waterfalls.

This potential gradient

can be exploited

rationally,

if we build a sort of

power station above it.

The energy it supplies,

even if we use it only

to light our cigarettes,

is something

anyway;

for while one is smoking

one can very seriously

think up

ideals even crazier.

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