Star Tribune
U.S. Steel won’t get exception to pollution rules that protect wild rice, MPCA says
A U.S. Steel taconite mine in northeast Minnesota must reduce water pollution that threatens wild rice, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency decided, after considering the company’s request for an exemption.
U.S. Steel has since appealed the decision in court, and the decisions that stem from the case could have statewide relevance as Minnesota begins to enforce a pollution standard that’s been on the books since 1973.
“It’s a big test case,” Paula Maccabee, an attorney with the environmental nonprofit WaterLegacy, said of the appeal. The group seeks to intervene in the court case.
U.S. Steel had asked MPCA to allow sulfate levels about eight times higher than the standard of 10 parts per million in Hay Lake, downstream of the company’s Keetac plant in Keewatin. High levels of sulfate, a chemical released in the wastewater of taconite operations, are toxic to wild rice plants that grow in some Minnesota lakes and rivers.
MPCA responded in a February letter that U.S. Steel’s request for a looser standard was not “scientifically defensible.” Among the problems was that U.S. Steel did not have enough data over a continuous period to show whether rice was thriving in Hay Lake.
“Providing historical documentation of wild rice presence and articulating a general expectation that it will be present into the future does not, by itself, establish that [the plants are] protected,” the letter read.
U.S. Steel spokeswoman Amanda Malkowski wrote in an email that because the company will now likely have to install more water treatment equipment, “MPCA’s decision could result in increased environmental impact and less efficient operations, which would lead to increased costs that reduce our competitiveness in the marketplace.”
The denial of the exception U.S. Steel asked for, called a “site-specific standard,” is the first time MPCA has turned down such a request. The agency is only starting to enforce the 10 ppm standard.
For decades, the law was never enforced, and in more recent times, legislators had asked the agency more than once to alter the rule or drop it entirely.
Wild rice was central to the migration of Ojibwe people to the Great Lakes, hundreds of years ago, and is still a sacred crop. Tribes had been asking the MPCA to enforce the pollution rule for at least two decades.
The EPA ordered the state start enforcement in 2022. The federal agency would also have to approve any site specific standard granted in a stream or lake.
The U.S. Steel case is now pending in appeals court. MPCA had indicated in court filings it will defend its decision, but did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the legal challenge.
The agency has not yet made a decision on the other exception request, MPCA spokeswoman Andrea Cournoyer said. Cleveland Cliffs has asked for a sulfate limit more than 40 times the state standard for waters downstream of its United Taconite mine near Eveleth.
Richfield voters approved a half-cent sales tax to raise $65 million for a new community center, updates for Veterans Park, and a new educational facility at Wood Lake Nature Center.
But in Roseville, results were split: Voters approved a half-cent sales tax for one of two city projects on the ballot, saying yes to a $64.2 million facility for the public works and parks departments but no to a $12.7 million license and passport center.
Voters in Cottage Grove rejected a half-cent sales tax for 25 years that would have funded three projects: $17 million for improvements to Hamlet Park to include a new building, play equipment, a skateboard park and other amenities; $13 million for improvements to the 33.3-acre Mississippi Dunes Park; and $6 million for improvements to the River Oaks Golf Course and Event Center that would include pickleball courts, indoor multi-sports simulators a winter mountain biking course and other amenities.
Cottage Grove Mayor Myron Bailey said the city tried to make it clear that the half-cent sales tax would cover all three projects, but some voters may have thought that each required its own tax. The projects remain part of the city’s long-term capital improvement plans and may be picked off one by one as funding allows. The Hamlet Park skateboard park, for example, is planned for construction in three years, Bailey said.
The Mississippi Dunes riverfront park may be eligible for state or federal funding, so the city will start looking for other options to move that piece forward, he added.
Greta Kaul and Liz Navratil contributed to this story.
Star Tribune
No prison for man whose drunken Lake St. crash severely injured counterculture character who later died
Case suffered numerous injuries from the crash, among them: trauma to his brain, a shattered spleen and numerous broken bones.
Judge Burns explained in his verdict filing that Nieves was not charged with criminal vehicular homicide, because “it is unclear from the record as to whether the victim died as a result of this accident or other issues. The court notes that [Nieves] is charged with criminal vehicular operation as a result of the injuries sustained by the victim, not based on his death.”
As a hippie, he fully embraced a drugs, sex and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. His counterculture adventures and misadventures ranged from getting kicked out of the Army, painting water towers across the Midwest, riding a motorcycle across Europe, living in Copenhagen and driving across the country with a collection of old brass beds to sell in San Francisco.
After he sobered up, he even achieved a degree of respectability. His passion for going to concerts with a camera, talking his way backstage and hanging with the likes of the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead resulted in a book he co-authored and published in 2019: “When the Stones Came to Town: Rock ‘N’ Roll Photos from the 1970s.”
According to his online obituary, Case “never stopped collecting — vinyl records, vintage toys, metal signs, rock posters, you name it. Also collected were friends. Everywhere he went, Fred’s jovial nature, infectious sense of humor, and boundless font of fascinating stories drew people to him.”
Star Tribune
A judge put a Kandiyohi County sheriff’s deputy on probation for on-duty crash while drunk
A Kandiyohi County sheriff’s deputy has been put on probation for being drunk when he crashed his squad vehicle while on duty.
Christopher Todd Flatten, 40, of Atwater was sentenced Tuesday in District Court after pleading guilty to fourth-degree drunken driving in connection with the wreck on July 18 east of Willmar in Gennessee Township.
Judge Amy Doll’s sentence includes two years’ supervised probation and sets aside a 90-jail term. Flatten also was ordered to pay $415 in fines and fees.
The deputy, who joined the Sheriff’s Office in late April, was put on “critical incident leave” at the time of the crash, a statement from Sheriff Eric Tollefson read. There has been no follow-up from Tollefson about Flatten’s job status since he was sentenced.
According to the criminal complaint:
Two State Patrol troopers were sent to County Road 4 near the intersection with E. 1st Avenue and saw the squad SUV in a field and a uniformed Flatten unresponsive and behind the wheel. Flatten was removed from the squad and taken by air ambulance to St. Cloud Hospital.
Soon after the crash, a trooper went to the hospital with a court order to collect a sample of Flatten’s blood to test for drug or alcohol impairment. However, Flatten refused to allow the blood draw to occur. The trooper did detect an odor of alcohol coming from Flatten and noticed that the deputy’s speech was slurred, and his eyes were bloodshot and glassy.
