United States Steel Corp - Keetac - Wastewater Permit

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Comment From: Riley Reif

9/24/25 @ 11:55 AM

I am writing to oppose the variance in MN water quality standards for US Steel's wastewater. Minnesota must stop letting major polluters, including foreign owned mining companies like so called US Steel, have exemptions allowing them to poison our p...↓

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Comment From: Tess Dornfeld

9/23/25 @ 12:00 AM

The draft Keetac wastewater permit is a good start to finally bring U.S. Steel into compliance with the 10 mg/L sulfate standard, but after 15 years of delay since the water treatment study, it needs to be implemented now, not after another unnecessa...↓

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Comment From: Melissa Axelson

9/22/25 @ 11:58 PM

Mining is required to sustain life. Iron Rangers mine safely. We need to continue mining in Minnesota. Period.

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Comment From: Richard Libbey

9/22/25 @ 11:51 PM

Dear Sirs I would like to comment on the MPCA permit for Keetac. It is time to find a solution to this sulfate-mercury problem. There has been no enforcement for 15 years and the problem persists. The 2030 deadline hopefully will get the mines, polit...↓

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Comment From: Amy Okaya

9/22/25 @ 11:50 PM

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Comment From: Martha Minchak

9/22/25 @ 11:38 PM

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Comment From: Tom Moe

9/22/25 @ 11:38 PM

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Comment From: Jim Pauling

9/22/25 @ 11:30 PM

Comment on NPDES permits MN0055948 and MN0031879 for U.S. Steel Keetac

To whom it may concern my name is JIM PAULING.

I have proudly lived on the Iron Range for over 50 years. I've raised my children here, built a life rooted in the values of hard...↓

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Comment From: Shanai Matteson

9/22/25 @ 11:27 PM

My name is Shanai Matteson. I grew-up in northern Aitkin County, and I currently live and work in Itasca County.

My Grandpa Spolarich and his brothers all worked in the mines near Keewatin, and I grew-up with a few stories about how our way of life...↓

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Comment From: Maureen Johnson

9/22/25 @ 11:24 PM

Keetac tailings basin and mining area draft permits comments
Maureen Johnson
Stacy, MN

As a former MPCA Superfund project manager, I am encouraged by the inclusion of sulfate with a limit, but I continue to be disappointed in the MPCA's overall mi...↓ning permit quality. When this mining area is done, the mine, sold several times over, will bankrupt and the soils and water cleanup and stabilization will be left to be financed by the people of Minnesota under the state superfund, while the companies walk away with decades of profitability based on local people's lives and jobs. Mines are not innocuous. They continue to discharge solutes from leftover chemicals or from exposed rock that previously was sealed away. Tailings basins are not stable --they need maintenance. Tailings basins do not drain water alone. They drain everything that was put in, all the chemicals from extraction, scrubber waste water, and solutes from the surface area of every "sand" grain of mined mineral or other rock that was not high enough quality to go out for steel making, including mercury, sulfate, nitrates from explosives, the separation and treatment chemicals. Many other unnamed chemicals can be found if the analyses include them. If they don't analyze a discharge for an input chemical, for sure it won't be found in the discharge!

Keetac has very few limits, most are "monitor only" which does not encourage a company to improve its discharges. Sulfate is one of the few I am scientifically pleased to see begin – but it should begin with the permit term beginning, not after 3 more years on top of the past decades.

Except for the few parameters with actual limits, these permits basically means that Keetac can do whatever it wants with many chemicals and mining effects on water at any time with no consequences. If I am wrong, I surely did not see it in the permits.

Ground water flow and quality is ignored, against all reason for having ground water rules in the first place. The permits need sampling and physical measurements to assure ground water is not contaminated for downflow users.

Salts and ionic conditions expressed by specific conductance can be fatal to local fauna, just as sulfate can be fatal to wild rice. Keetac should be required to meet the MPCA's already determined local natural water concentrations and conditions after the allowed amount of dilution time/volume for each discharge to state waters, from the mining/plant area and from the tailings basin. Permit needs to mention the state waters and their current conditions affected by the discharges.

This permit's WET requirements ignore fact that mining companies change recipes for extraction and technologies over time. Mining companies often change their operations formulae to fit the ore components, for efficiency, for more profitability, to test new chemical options, various reasons. Although in some mining files, I have seen reporting of the changes, I have not seen MPCA analysis or followup questions as to effects on discharge concentrations -- just a standard form approval of the change.
What WET results are negative in the past may be positive for toxicity in a few weeks if the discharge changes significantly. Testing should always be quarterly, not yearly, to accommodate seasonal changes in tolerance to discharges.

"This permit does not include a chronic WET limit...shall begin chronic toxicity testing quarterly during year three of the permit. " Why no limit? Our rules are provided to protect the quality of our waters. Permits must have ability to enforce protection. That is MPCA's job too, as unpleasant as it is.

I agree with Water Legacy's comments.
MPCA's draft Keetac permits would not require compliance with Minnesota's sulfate standards until April 30, 2030. From 2011 through 2016, MPCA already went through a planning, study, and testing process for Keetac sulfate reduction water quality treatment. There is no need to start over. The U.S. EPA, in September 2024, told MPCA that more delay for compliance with the wild rice sulfate standard would not be appropriate. The new owner of U.S. Steel, Nippon Steel, has promised $11 billion in capital upgrades in order to increase U.S. Steel profits to $1.7 billion per year. Keetac sulfate treatment should be included in those upgrades.

MPCA's draft Keetac permits do not include protection of groundwater which is required under state law. The permits have no groundwater monitoring locations and don't disclose how much polluted wastewater is seeping into groundwater, particularly from the tailings basin.

MPCA's draft Keetac permits don't adequately protect aquatic life. MPCA permits let Keetac wait three years before even starting to test if its discharge is toxic to aquatic life. No justification is given for this delay. The permits only require biological assessments "once every five years" with no date to start the testing. Since there is no testing, there are also no limits on pollution (salts and ions) that kill sensitive aquatic life.

MPCA's draft Keetac permits add mercury monitoring at discharge points, but don't require monitoring for mercury in surface water. Downstream waters are impaired for mercury in fish. Sulfate pollution increases mercury released from sediments to water and mercury bioaccumulation in the food chain.

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Comment From: Jesse Amo

9/22/25 @ 11:15 PM

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the U.S. Steel Keetac Mine and Tailings Basin permits and U.S. Steel's application for a variance. I stand with the MPCA to protect and improve the environment and human health by protecting our water from ...↓causing known health impacts from sulfate reactions and the toxic metals impacted.

1) U.S. Steel permits should require, at a MINIMUM, compliance with Minnesota's wild rice sulfate standard of 10 parts per million (mg/L) at both the Keetac Mine and Tailings Basin. I understand that draft permit limits of 14 mg/L monthly average and 24 mg/L daily maximum are based on this standard. This is a minimum protective standard that can only be speculatively effective with cumulative impact elements like sulfate/sulfide.

2) U.S. Steel should be denied a variance from compliance with the sulfate standard. There are no grounds for a variance that is not necessitated and would degrade the environment and human health.

3) I support MPCA's requirement that U.S. Steel monitor waste streams at both the Keetac Mine and Tailings Basin for sulfate and other pollutants, further that the burden would be on U.S. Steel to fund the assessment and remediation of pollutant impacts on flora and fauna.

The permits should be strengthened in the following ways:

1) U.S. Steel needs to meet the sulfate standard now. Sulfate limits were set over a decade ago for this permit and are a minimum requirement. MPCA should demand full compliance with sulfate limits as swiftly as can be accomplished under real world conditions when all of U.S. Steel resources are allocated to do so. Nippon Steel must allocate budget and priority to meeting the sulfate standard including remediation and monitoring.

2) MPCA should revise the Keetac permits to require a sufficient number of groundwater monitoring wells to effectively monitor all groundwater potentially impacted by this site.

3) MPCA should require U.S. Steel to test wastewater discharge preemptively for all sulfate/sulfide related impacts to both water quality and flora/fauna. Assessments of both chemical parameters and impacts to aquatic life (flora/fauna) should be required following BMPs and financed by U.S. Steel. These assessments should extend to contiguous surface waters sufficient to monitor all site impacts.
I appreciate the MPCA holding U.S. Steel accountable to protective permit standards at Keetac Mine and Tailings Basin. I ask that MPCA revise the draft permits immediately and to better protect water and all aquatic life that have immediate impacts to human health.

Thank you,
Jesse Amo

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Comment From: United Way of Northeastern Min... (Erin Shay)

9/22/25 @ 11:12 PM

Good evening,

I am writing to provide comments on the draft NPDES permits MN0055948 and MN0031879 for the U. S. Steel Keetac tailings basin and mining area. Like many Minnesotans, I value a strong, healthy environment and understand the importance o...↓f supporting good jobs and vibrant communities. The organization I proudly work for and represent, United Way of Northeastern Minnesota, exists to help people and communities thrive across the Iron Range, Koochiching County, and Lake of the Woods County. We do so almost entirely with the support of local people, companies, and municipalities. But when the foundation of our region's economy is threatened, our ability to meet those community needs begins to crumble right alongside it.

Mining contributes over $1.8 billion to Minnesota's economy each year and supports more than 4,000 family-sustaining jobs in Northeast Minnesota - jobs that pay nearly $950 above the regional average. These are not just numbers on a page; they are parents able to put food on the table, children able to grow up with opportunity, and small towns able to survive. The taconite tax alone keeps schools strong, maintains infrastructure, and funds essential local government services. When mining falters, the ripple effect is devastating: classrooms lose resources, communities face impossible budget gaps, nonprofits like ours lose critical funding, and families are left with heartbreaking choices.

The mining industry - at both the corporate and individual level - represents the single largest group of contributors to our United Way's local work. Without these jobs and without this support, the safety net for our neighbors quickly unravels. We see it firsthand: when a mine closes its doors, even temporarily, food shelf demand spikes, children lose stability, and mental health crises rise. These effects stretch far beyond the Iron Range; they ripple across the entire state, touching the very heart of Minnesota's economy and identity.

The proposed compliance schedule for Keetac is simply not realistic. No proven, cost-effective sulfate treatment options exist today, and more time is needed to research and develop solutions that protect both natural resources and economic stability. Additionally, Keetac's discharges all flow to a single water body. The permits should use one compliance point that reflects these combined discharges, rather than requiring separate limits at each outfall. MPCA should also reconsider the site-specific standard applications submitted for Hay Lake, where healthy wild rice has grown for decades despite Keetac's discharge.

I am concerned about the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA) sulfate water quality standard of 10 mg/L for wild rice waters. This outdated rule, which MPCA was directed to review and update in 2011, has yet to be revised to reflect modern science or site-specific conditions. Enforcing this 10 mg/L standard has serious consequences for Minnesota mines, local governments, and businesses across the state.

Wild rice health is influenced by multiple factors including water depth, fluctuation, competing vegetation, and predation — not just sulfate levels. In fact, wild rice has been shown to thrive in waters with much higher sulfate concentrations. Compliance with the 10 mg/L standard is not attainable with current technology and would place enormous costs on wastewater facilities, small businesses, and mines that provide thousands of good-paying jobs. A modern, science-based standard is needed.

We all want clean water, healthy wild rice, and strong communities. But we cannot ignore the human cost of outdated regulations. With the right science-based approach, we don't have to choose between protecting natural resources and protecting Minnesota families.

In summary, I urge the MPCA to:
• Refrain from including sulfate limits in Keetac's permits, or if limits remain, adjust the permits to include a single downstream compliance point and a realistic compliance schedule.
• Update the 10 mg/L sulfate standard as required by law, ensuring it reflects modern science, site-specific conditions, and practical implementation.

Minnesota's future - its schools, its communities, its economy - is intertwined with mining. If this foundation is weakened, it is not only the Iron Range that suffers, but every corner of our state that feels the impact. When our classrooms shrink, when families are forced from their hometowns - the consequences do not stop at the county line. They ripple outward, eroding the very stability that allows Minnesota to thrive.

I urge you to recognize what is at stake here. The decisions made in this permit process will help determine whether we can continue to provide good jobs, strong schools, healthy communities, and a future where both our environment and our people can flourish together.

Thank you for listening to the voices of our region and for your consideration of these comments.

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Comment From: O'Niell Tedrow

9/22/25 @ 11:04 PM

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Comment From: Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe (Craig Tangren)

9/22/25 @ 10:54 PM

Please find attached the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe's comments for the Keetac mine and tailings basin (Permits MN0031879 and MN0055948) and preliminary determination to deny variance.

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Comment From: Teresa Appelwick

9/22/25 @ 10:39 PM

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Comment From: Teresa Simetkosky

9/22/25 @ 9:58 PM

I am writing to provide comments regarding public notice of draft NPDES permits MN0055948 and MN0031879 for the U. S. Steel Keetac tailings basin and mining area, respectively. I have interest in these draft permits because I, like most Minnesotans, ...↓care deeply about protecting the environment.

I am concerned about the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA) sulfate water quality standard of 10 mg/L for wild rice waters and its consequences to the Iron Range and communities across the state. MPCA was directed to review and update the wild rice sulfate standard in 2011 but has not done so to date. The future of Minnesota mines, local governments and other industries are critically affected by the enforcement of this outdated standard.

I strongly urge MPCA to update the wild rice sulfate standard considering current science and site-specific variables. The current 10 mg/L sulfate standard oversimplifies the environmental needs of wild rice. Many other factors determine wild rice resilience, such as water depth and fluctuation, predation, and competing vegetation. Wild rice has even proven to be successful in waters with sulfate levels up to 1,600 mg/L and beyond – 160 times higher than our current standard. The current 10 mg/L standard is not proven to be effective and compliance with it is unattainable for many businesses and communities. From wastewater facilities and small businesses to mines employing thousands of Minnesotans, the cost of meeting a 10 mg/L sulfate standard puts Minnesota at risk with no guaranteed outcome. Do not waste time, money and energy on a sulfate standard that doesn't make sense. I strongly urge you to refrain from including permit limits for sulfate until the time and resources are invested to develop a sulfate standard that follows modern science, addresses site-specific variables and contains cost as required by the 2011 law.

Beyond environmental science, this issue carries significant economic implications for our region and the State of Minnesota. Mining is a cornerstone of Northeast Minnesota's economy, contributing over $1.8 billion annually and supporting more than 4,000 family-sustaining jobs. These positions offer wages significantly above the regional average, with mining workers earning approximately $1,708 per week, nearly $950 more than the average across all industries. The sector also accounted for over one-third of net new jobs in the region during recent growth periods.

The current Keetac compliance schedule is too short and unattainable. There are currently no commercially proven and economical sulfate treatment strategies in place anywhere in the world. Time is needed to evaluate and develop treatment alternatives that are effective and achievable. Since these are some of the first permits to contain the 10 mg/L sulfate limit, other permittees will use the testing and engineering developed for compliance as a model in the future. Current treatment technologies to reduce sulfate levels result in increased solid waste that will be required to be landfilled, increased electrical usage, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and other negative environmental outcomes. Time and careful consideration are needed to develop feasible sulfate treatment that all Minnesotans can benefit from. The MPCA should allow a longer compliance schedule, or grant the variance, to provide more time to effectively find a feasible solution. The current compliance schedule does not include time for regulatory agency requirements such as environmental review, permitting and other authorizations that may be required.

The two draft permits require wild rice sulfate compliance at each of Keetac's outfalls, yet they all discharge to one water body where the MPCA has said the wild rice standard applies. The compliance point should protect that water body and be representative of the combined discharges from the Keetac facility. The permittee requested to combine sulfate compliance points to factually represent offsite discharges, however the MPCA denied that request. It is concerning that the MPCA will not consider the request, even though it is more factually accurate than what is contained in the draft permits. MPCA must modify the permits to include a single downstream compliance point as proposed by the permittee.

U. S. Steel has submitted two site-specific standard (SSS) requests for sulfate at Hay Lake near Keetac. The 2014 request was never acted upon by MPCA and the 2022 request was denied. These applications followed MPCA guidance and show that a higher sulfate standard than 10 mg/L is warranted. It is concerning that the MPCA does not take into account modern science and site-specific conditions. I urge the MPCA to reconsider the SSS applications as Keetac has been discharging to Hay Lake for almost 60 years with healthy wild rice in existence.

In summary, I urge the MPCA:

To refrain from including sulfate limits in Keetac's permits. If the permit limits remain as proposed, the MPCA must modify the permits to contain a single sulfate compliance point and allow more time for compliance.
To abide by the 2011 law and update the 10 mg/L sulfate standard that the state of Minnesota has recognized as being incorrect.
Thank you.

Teresa Simetkosky
1028 1st St S
Virginia, MN

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Comment From: Donna Wilcox

9/22/25 @ 9:53 PM

More researching and facts on sulfate standards to see if they even affect wild rice needs to be determined before shutting down mines because of the non-cost-effective expenses of the sulfate standards

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Comment From: Northeastern Minnesota School ... (Paul Peltier)

9/22/25 @ 9:23 PM

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Comment From: Iron Range Mayors (Paul Peltier)

9/22/25 @ 9:20 PM

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Comment From: Alex Theship-Rosales

9/22/25 @ 8:55 PM

I am a Minnesotan who wants to ensure that our economy and environment are healthy for generations to come.

U.S. Steel notes how complying with the law will create substantial and widespread social impact. But the idea that mining creates jobs is a ...↓

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Comment From: Cleveland-Cliffs (Jason Aagenes)

9/22/25 @ 8:47 PM

Please find attached comments on behalf of Cleveland-Cliffs.

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Comment From: St. Louis County (Michael Jugovich)

9/22/25 @ 8:36 PM

Please see attached letter.

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Comment From: Jed Holewa

9/22/25 @ 7:35 PM

We all want what's good for our area. Especially when most of our drinking water comes from old mining pits. I think the sulfate standard that's being pushed on our state is outdated and needs to be updated. The standard 10mg/L is blanket number that...↓

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Comment From: Ryan Sistad

9/22/25 @ 7:15 PM

The MPCA's insistence on enforcing a sulfate standard written in the 1970s—based on observations from the 1930s and 1940s—is reckless and shortsighted. It threatens the very foundation of Minnesota's prosperity: iron mining.

Iron mining isn't just n...↓

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Comment From: Better In Our Back Yard (Better In Our Back Yard Premier Mining Advocacy Group )

9/22/25 @ 7:14 PM

The Board of Directors at Better In Our Back Yard - representing labor, industry, and educators across both Minnesota and the U.S. - strongly opposes the MPCA's continued push to enforce an outdated sulfate standard that threatens the future of respo...↓

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Comment From: Tashina Perry

9/22/25 @ 6:55 PM

As an indigenous resident of the state of Minnesota, I oppose harmful sulfate levels and mining pollution brought forth by private interest companies in our delicate watersheds.
There's a prophecy on why Ojibwe people came to reside here and that's ...↓

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Comment From: Lisa Ciorlieri

9/22/25 @ 6:43 PM

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the U.S. Steel Keetac Mine and Tailings Basin permits and U.S. Steel's application for a variance. I would like to support the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and strengthen enforcement of water q...↓uality standards that protect Minnesota wild rice, fish, and human health.

I support these MPCA actions related to the U.S. Steel Keetac Mine and Tailings Basin Permits:

1) I agree with MPCA that U.S. Steel permits should require compliance with Minnesota's wild rice sulfate standard of 10 parts per million (mg/L) at both the Keetac Mine and Tailings Basin. I understand that draft permit limits of 14 mg/L monthly average and 24 mg/L daily maximum are based on this standard.

2) I agree with MPCA that U.S. Steel should be denied a variance from compliance with the sulfate standard. A variance is a specific exception to the rules, and U.S. Steel's resistance to the expense of water quality treatment does not provide grounds to avoid the standard.

3) I support MPCA's requirement that U.S. Steel monitor waste streams at both the Keetac Mine and Tailings Basin for sulfate and other pollutants. It seems that this should have been required a long time ago.

However, I'm concerned that the draft permits have some gaps. The permits should be strengthened in the following ways:

1) MPCA should not give U.S. Steel another five years before they actually have to meet Minnesota's wild rice sulfate standard. Sulfate limits were set in Keetac permits in 2011, and studies on treatment were done and approved by MPCA almost a decade ago. MPCA should give U.S. Steel no more than two years to achieve full compliance with wild rice sulfate limits. Nippon Steel, the new owner of U.S. Steel, should include sulfate treatment in the $11 billion in upgrades they've promised for U.S. Steel.

2) MPCA should revise the Keetac permits to require groundwater monitoring, especially the groundwater beneath and adjacent to the Tailings Basin. This monitoring is needed to protect groundwater and to help determine if pollutants released through groundwater are causing or adding to violations of surface water standards.

3) MPCA should require U.S. Steel to test wastewater discharge from day one to make sure it is not toxic to aquatic life, rather than waiting for three years before toxicity testing. MPCA should also require new biological assessments the first year of the permit to determine if downstream fish and macroinvertebrates are impaired.

4) In addition to monitoring for sulfate, MPCA should require monitoring for mercury in surface waters and should update testing for mercury in fish tissue downstream of Keetac.

I appreciate the steps MPCA is taking to control sulfate pollution from the U.S. Steel Keetac Mine and Tailings Basin. But I would also ask that MPCA revise the draft permits to avoid delay and to better protect groundwater, wild rice, fish, and the health of people who eat fish that are now contaminated with mercury.

Thank you for considering my comments,

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Comment From: CURE (Hudson Kingston)

9/22/25 @ 6:30 PM

Please see attached.

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Comment From: Leanna Goose Rise and Repair A... (Leanna Goose)

9/22/25 @ 6:15 PM

Submitting a letter signed on by Organizations within Minnesota and Individual citizens with 469 signatures. Submitting multiple research articles on wild rice, sulfate, and methylmercury. Submitting the Tribal Task Force on Wild Rice Report. Submitt...↓

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Comment From: MiningMinnesota (Julie Lucas)

9/22/25 @ 5:34 PM

Please find MiningMinnesota's comment letter and other supporting documents attached.

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Comment From: Iron Range Resources & Rehabil... (Ida Rukavina)

9/22/25 @ 5:26 PM

Attached please reference Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation's public comments and corresponding attachments as it relates to U.S. Steel Corp. NPDES/SDS Permit for Keetac Mining Area (MN0031879), U.S. Steel Corp. NPDES/SDS Permit for Keetac Tailin...↓

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Comment From: Pete Stauber

9/22/25 @ 5:24 PM

Comment letter from Rep. Pete Stauber (MN-08)

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Comment From: Sharon Day

9/22/25 @ 5:05 PM

Stop the mining. Save the water and the wild rice

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Comment From: Nathan Bray

9/22/25 @ 5:01 PM

I support the clean up and maintenance for clean water as well as ensuring keetac follows guidelines to ensure we have safe water in Northern Minnesota communities and down stream.

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Comment From: City of Hibbing (Pete Hyduke)

9/22/25 @ 4:19 PM

Commissioner Katrina Kessler
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
520 Lafayette Road North
St. Paul, MN 55155

RE: Comment on NPDES permits MN0055948 and MN0031879 for U. S. Steel Keetac

Dear Commissioner Kessler:

On behalf of the City of Hibbing, we...↓

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Comment From: Cody Dianoski

9/22/25 @ 4:16 PM

Hello, my name is Cody Dianoski. I am a journeyman electrician and belong to IBEW Local #294 in Hibbing, Minnesota. I have worked residential, commercial, and industrial jobs across the Iron Range and further. I have worked in at least four of the ...↓

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Comment From: WaterLegacy (Paula Maccabee)

9/22/25 @ 4:00 PM

The attached Comments and Exhibits 1-36 are respectfully submitted on behalf of WaterLegacy.

Sincerely yours,
Paula G. Maccabee, WaterLegacy Executive Director and Counsel

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Comment From: Wendy Ulrich

9/22/25 @ 3:51 PM

Manoomin Was Here First

I am a Minnesotan who wants to protect wild rice for future Minnesotans.

Before there was a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency or a U.S. Steel– before there was even a state of Minnesota– wild rice covered the entire territo...↓

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Comment From: Eric Williams (Eric Williams)

9/22/25 @ 3:40 PM

Please find attached comments regarding Permit MN0031879 and preliminary variance denial.

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Comment From: Iron Ore Alliance (Mike Bakk)

9/22/25 @ 3:31 PM

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Comment From: Lakehead Constructors, Inc. (Jeremy Uncini)

9/22/25 @ 3:19 PM

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Comment From: Rebecca and Jim Myerly

9/22/25 @ 3:10 PM

RE: U.S. Steel Keetac Mine and Tailings Basin Permits (MN0031879 and MN0055948) and Application for Variance

Dear Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Staff,

Having lived on the St Croix River for a decade and previously on a lake for over three deca...↓

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Comment From: Friiends of Lake Hiawatha (Sean Connaughty)

9/22/25 @ 2:57 PM

I support enforcing limits on Keetac that will help protect water, wild rice, and public health. Polluting our wetlands and waterways is unacceptable. The water quality standards protecting wild rice are there for good reason and should not be put as...↓

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Comment From: Lakehead Constructors (Kirk Ilenda)

9/22/25 @ 2:39 PM

I am writing to provide comments regarding public notice of draft NPDES permits MN0055948 and MN0031879 for the U. S. Steel Keetac tailings basin and mining area, respectively.

As Vice President - Business Development with Lakehead Constructors, wi...↓th an office in Aurora, Minnesota, I ask that the MPCA consider and approve a site-specific standard and variance for the U.S. Steel permits and review and update the 10mb/L sulfate standard based on modern science and reasonable compliance levels that properly balance considerations for wild rice and our economy.
As the Iron Range's largest industrial general contractor, we employ over 500 union tradespeople that build and maintain our area's taconite plants, industrial/manufacturing, power plants, paper mills, food processing plants and municipal wastewater facilities. All of which discharge water and may be affected by the MPCA's sulfate standards. 10 milligrams per liter is too low, not realistic, unattainable and economically not viable.

MPCA's role is to be balanced in their approach to standards and regulations.
As stated on your website "Working for a Healthy and Prosperous Minnesota – striving for clean air, sustainable lands, a better climate and a THRIVING ECONOMY – let me reiterate – a THRIVING ECONOMY.
In addition to my role at Lakehead Constructors, working work with clients and projects throughout the Midwest, I am past chairperson for Better In Your Back Yard educating and advocating for Responsible Industrial Development, active in lobbying for America's Steel Making independence and Iron Ore Industry – ensuring our national security and that this industry competes on a level playing field, as well as working with a number of economic development groups to keep and bring jobs to Minnesota. Compared to Minnesota's neighboring states, Minnesota is becoming too regulated with unrealistic standards and processes for businesses to locate and/or operate in this state.

Here in northern Minnesota, we are struggling to foster thriving local economies and communities, we are hand tied. At Lakehead Constructors, we see other communities and states thriving – that is where we are having to send our employees for us to find projects – where these states are more supportive of manufacturing / industrial clients. North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan.

To be clear, we are advocating for common sense and clarity in the state's environmental standards and their enforcement. We are requesting the MPCA issue a variance as requested by US Steel for Keetac and to adopt new sulfate standards going forward to keep our good paying jobs and attract new businesses – Lets do our best to find common ground in balancing taking care of our environment, while also building thriving economies.

Respectfully,

Kirk Ilenda
Vice President – Business Development
Phone # 218-393-6672
Lakehead Constructors

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Comment From: Carla Arneson

9/22/25 @ 12:41 PM

Comments concerning 10mg/L wild rice sulfate standard:
The proposed wild rice sulfate standard must be enforced at Keetac. No variance. The science is up to date, unlike falsehoods presented by the mining industry and its supporters at the recent hea...↓ring in Virginia, MN. I have done my research into this issue, from the 1970's to the present. I am aware of the work done by the MPCA, the interference by the mining industry and the Minnesota Legislature, and the damage being done to our waters and the health of Minnesota's children by the years of delay. Wild rice is the focus of this standard. However, it would not be the only reason to enforce the standard.
Sulfate and sulfate-reducing bacteria are implicated in mercury methylation. Methylmercury, a neurotoxin, bioaccumulates in fish, which are consumed by humans, and this exposure can cause damage to unborn children and infants. One of the commenters at the Virginia hearing, speaking with emotion, said she wanted to know that a year's supply of wild rice, which she had harvested, was safe to feed to her children.
The six taconite processing plants in northeastern Minnesota are the state's largest source of mercury pollution, with the industry accounting for nearly half of Minnesota's total mercury emissions. Those individuals and organizations who deceptively, and repeatedly, state that the sulfate level in drinking water is much higher (250 parts per million versus 10 ppm for wild rice), never mention that certifiable drinking water contains negligible amounts of mercury (0.002 mg/L) or 2 parts per billion (ppb).
Recently, at Voyagers National Park in Minnesota, wolves were caught on camera catching and eating fish. On an island in Alaska, wolves, a top predator species, have been eating sea otters, another top predator species. The Alaskan wolves were found with unparalleled levels of mercury. https://www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/alaskan-wolves-mercury-poisoning-infectious-disease/
How many other mammals are impacted? Moose forage in wetlands and ingest wild rice.
Contamination of our waters cannot be taken lightly. Our waters are the most important and valuable resource in Minnesota. Regulations must be put in place, and enforced, to protect those waters. To protect us.

Carla Arneson
P.O. Box 336, Ely, MN. 55731

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Comment From: Minnesota Center for Environme... (Ashlynn Kendzior)

9/22/25 @ 12:41 PM

Please see the attached comment and exhibits.

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Comment From: Minnesota Discovery Center (Char Conger)

9/22/25 @ 12:35 PM

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Comment From: Kent Swanson

9/22/25 @ 12:12 PM

My family of 7 loves living on the Iron Range. We wouldn't live here if we felt that the water we are drinking is harming our children.

We believe that US Steel operates ethically and in the best interests of the public. For that reason, we beli...↓

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Comment From: Elaine Ito

9/22/25 @ 11:33 AM

I am opposed to approving this wastewater permit. It is well documented that sulfate levels damage wild rice beds, which are protected by Native American treaty rights. It's also well documented that previously established limits on pollutants have b...↓

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Comment From: Michael Maleska

9/22/25 @ 11:30 AM

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Comment From: Fond du Lac Band of Lake Super... (Nancy Schuldt)

9/22/25 @ 11:28 AM

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Comment From: Andy Stefan

9/22/25 @ 11:06 AM

I have worked at Keetac and MinTac. They are both so important to our small communities. We do not have great paying jobs in our Area. Please be respectful to all the families who rely on these great paying jobs.

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Comment From: Lacey Squier

9/22/25 @ 10:45 AM

Please uphold the sulfate standards and stand firm in protecting wild rice.

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Comment From: Jeff Durfee

9/22/25 @ 9:36 AM

Our responsibility is to care for the water and land around it. You are the agency responsible for enforcing the agreement. Please , no more variences. You and Minnesota are being played. Either we have strong enforcement of the standards or not. Do ...↓

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Comment From: Riley Reif

9/22/25 @ 9:26 AM

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Comment From: Grand Portage Band of Lake Sup... (Margaret Watkins)

9/22/25 @ 9:17 AM

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Comment From: Jena Mertz, Owner of Giant (Jena Mertz)

9/22/25 @ 8:40 AM

I am writing as a Duluth business owner who works closely with the mining industry and its supply chains. My business, like many others in our region, work closely with Minnesota's mines and the thousands of jobs they support. Because of this, I have...↓ a vested interest in the outcome of the draft NPDES permits MN0055948 and MN0031879 for U.S. Steel Keetac.

While I, like most Minnesotans, care deeply about protecting our environment, I am concerned about the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA) sulfate water quality standard of 10 mg/L for wild rice waters and its consequences for the Iron Range, Duluth, and communities across the state. MPCA was directed in 2011 to review and update this standard but has not done so. In the meantime, the outdated 10 mg/L standard places enormous strain on industries, local governments, and businesses like mine that depend on a reliable mining economy.

The 10 mg/L sulfate standard does not reflect modern science. Wild rice health depends on many factors—water depth, fluctuations, predation, and competing vegetation—not simply sulfate levels. In fact, wild rice has been documented thriving in waters with sulfate concentrations up to 1,600 mg/L and beyond. A standard that ignores these realities is unworkable and sets businesses and communities up for failure. Compliance with this limit is not only unattainable but also comes at great economic cost with no guarantee of protecting wild rice.

The compliance schedule in the draft Keetac permits is far too short. No commercially proven, cost-effective sulfate treatment technologies exist today. Rushing compliance risks forcing untested methods that create more problems—such as increased waste needing disposal, higher energy use, and greater greenhouse gas emissions. A longer schedule, or a variance, is necessary to allow time for research, regulatory review, and development of real solutions that both protect the environment and sustain Minnesota jobs.

The permits require sulfate compliance at every Keetac outfall, even though they all discharge to the same water body. A single downstream compliance point would both protect wild rice and reflect the true nature of the discharge. Denying Keetac's request to combine compliance points ignores the facts on the ground and creates unnecessary burdens.

U.S. Steel has submitted site-specific standard (SSS) requests for Hay Lake, following MPCA's own guidance, yet these were dismissed or left unacted upon. Keetac has discharged into Hay Lake for nearly 60 years, during which wild rice has continued to grow. Ignoring this evidence undermines the credibility of the permitting process and disregards the reality of site conditions.

As a business owner whose employees and customers are connected on a strong mining industry and supply chain, I urge the MPCA to:

Refrain from including sulfate limits in Keetac's permits until a modern, science-based standard is established.

If sulfate limits remain, modify the permits to use a single downstream compliance point and extend the compliance schedule to a realistic timeframe.

Abide by the 2011 law and update the sulfate standard using sound science and site-specific data.

The decisions made in these permits will not only impact Keetac, but also ripple across Duluth, the Iron Range, and Minnesota's entire economy. Please give this issue the thoughtful consideration it deserves.

Jena Mertz, Owner of Giant

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Comment From: Nate Hofland

9/22/25 @ 7:01 AM

I urge MPCA to evaluate combing discharge points to a singular point on Keetacs property prior to entering the Hay Creek. Currently, all water from Keetac's operations and a majority of stormwater ultimately discharges through a diversion channel ori...↓

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Comment From: Jeff LeDoux

9/22/25 @ 6:54 AM

I disagree with the proposed 10 mg/L sulfate levels. The fact that the state is pushing these unattainable unneeded standards and risking this important industry is all you need to know about our current administration

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Comment From: Shane Tramontin

9/22/25 @ 6:20 AM

The variance ought to be granted. The limits set by the legislation are inherently flawed scientifically, and the prohibitive nature of the requirement means that the variance ought to be granted. All variances requested by the mines ought to be gr...↓

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Comment From: Amanda Evans -Healy

9/22/25 @ 5:13 AM

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to comment on the issue of US Steel's request for a pollution variance that would adversely affect the water quality of Minnesota's wild rice fields. This variance should not be allowed if it does not protect t...↓he water quality needed for wild rice growth nor protective of human health and aquatic life.

I am an Oregon native who was fortunate enough to be invited to a wild rice camp where the group has been harvesting rice together for decades. We do not have this in Oregon. All of our rice is cultivated in man made wetlands. The experience of harvesting wild rice as my ancestors must have done before joining the Oregon Trail was a very gratifying experience and one unique to your great state of Minnesota. It would be a shame to see the culture shared by Indigenous and descendants of European settlers harmed because of an industrial response to political pressure. Man can make a great many things which all crumble in time. What we cannot make is safe drinking water or environmentally safe conditions for important food sources to grow.

Another reason to disallow the variance sought by US Steel is the economic loss to the small local business that exist where the wild rice grows. I spent a week at rice camp. While there we stayed at Vermilion lake village resort, I shopped at ZUP'S, bought bait at Norm's bait shop, ate ice cream at Moosebirds, and we hired a fishing guide, not to mention paying a rice processor to finish processing our rice for us. Imagine all of the different businesses we engaged while ricing and the money we put into local pockets. The choice to discharge polluted water into the northern waterways would put tourist and foraging money at risk of disappearing.

One last reason Minnesota should not grant the water discharge variance requested by US Steel is the uncertainty the the pollution will not adversely impact human and / or wildlife health. No one wants another Love Canal and currently with the EPA neutered of any policy making abilities it is absolutely necessary that the state of Minnesota holds fast to it's environmental achievements and not let industry ruin it for everyone by making Minnesotans sick.

Please to not allow this variance. Please protect what is important and unique to Minnesota.

Warm Regards,

Amanda Evans- Healy

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Comment From: Multiple Senders

9/22/25 @ 12:00 AM

Email comments from multiple senders received 9/22/25 - variance.

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Comment From: Multiple Senders

9/22/25 @ 12:00 AM

Email comments from multiple senders received 9/22/25.

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Comment From: Austin Siekkinen

9/21/25 @ 10:03 PM

MPCA should read what levels are suggested by the EPA on drinking water levels than what they're suggesting. MPCA should also consider testing this is a real world application and not a test tube, that's how you determine real science.

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Comment From: Royal Koskela

9/21/25 @ 9:22 PM

It appears that the"sulfate sandard", which has been ignored for decades, is now a convenient scapegoat for factions that would like to STOP mining and destroy our nation's economy. Wild rice is not endangered, it has had heavy and lean years since i...↓

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Comment From: Lori Ptak

9/21/25 @ 8:48 PM

Please see my attached file.

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Comment From: Alec Haapala

9/21/25 @ 8:05 PM

The wild rice standard of 10 is unrealistic and unnecessary. The current levels are doing no harm to the wild rice. The current limits would ban many bottled waters because of their high sulfate content. Issue the variance.

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Comment From: Cindy Hansmann

9/21/25 @ 7:51 PM

Hi my name is Cindy Hansmann, a wife of a miner at Keetac. My husband and I am proud to call the Iron Range home, we see firsthand the importance of mining in the community. Mining supports thousands of local families, provides millions in taxes, and...↓

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Comment From: Warren Johnson

9/21/25 @ 7:41 PM

I do not have a problem with holding mining operations accountable to environmental standards if these standards are using modern/current data. If anything over 10 parts per million per liter is damaging to the wild rice, prove it first. Maybe the li...↓

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Comment From: Brian Hansmann

9/21/25 @ 7:19 PM

My name is Brian Hansmann, and I live and work on the Iron Range, specifically at Keetac. I came here for a career in mining, and today I am proud to serve not only as a miner, but also as a volunteer firefighter and first responder. Like so many of ...↓my neighbor's, I don't just work here- this is where I raised my family, where we live, play and build our future.

I am the first-generation steelworker with Local 2660, and together with my brother, we bring more than 15 years of combined experience in taconite mining. In my decade in the industry, I have seen firsthand just how vital mining is- not only to the Iron Range, but to the entire state of Minnesota and well beyond.

Mining is the financial backbone of Northeastern Minnesota:

*More than 10,000 jobs are directly tied to mining operations.

*The industry provides family- sustaining wages that often support the entire households on a single income.

*Mining contributes hundreds of millions of dollars each year in production taxes, utility fees, and contracts with local vendors that keep our communities strong.

This is not an industry done for us- it is done for us. We are not victims of mining, we are its beneficiaries. And the benefits extend far beyond our borders: more than 11 million people nationwide are connected to steel making and manufacturing that depends on Iron Range taconite.

Some argue that mining harms wild rice, but this is not supported by fact. rice beds have always risen and fallen due to natural cycles- weather extremes, fluctuating water levels, and wildlife. Northeastern Minnesota known for the cleanest water in the state. modern mining is highly regulated, held to strict environmental standards, and backed by serious reclamation and stewardship efforts. We are not faceless corporations- we are your neighbors, with families, children in local schools and deep roots in this land.

This is why I strongly support granting Keetac the variance it needs to continue operations. We must work together to set standards that are realistic, sustainable, and supportive of all citizens. At the same time, we should continue to study wild rice beds and advance restoration efforts to truly strengthen the environment without scapegoating mining.

For the good of the Iron Range, our state, and our nation, I respectfully urge you to grant this variance.

Sincerely,
Brian Hansmann

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Comment From: David Oberstar David Oberstar

9/21/25 @ 5:30 PM

Mining has been the backbone of Northern Minnesota for generations, providing good-paying jobs that support families and entire communities. Minerals from this region are also essential for everyday life and for building the clean energy technologies...↓

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Comment From: Dean Carlson

9/21/25 @ 5:20 PM

My name is Dean Carlson

I was born and raised and still currently live in Hibbing on the Range. I have also raised my family here.

I am a 23 year miner.
I am a Steelworker in the Local 1938.

In my 23 years of mining, I've learned a lot about the ...↓

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Comment From: Travis Ross Travis Ross

9/21/25 @ 4:49 PM

As a individual working in mining and wastewater treatment industries I completely disagree with the 10 mg/L sulfate standard for Keetac and MN as a whole. Sulfate is a naturally occurring part of all the rock in the range. I am completely for protec...↓

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Comment From: John Taray

9/21/25 @ 3:59 PM

The 10mg/l standard is 40 years old and isn't realistic. Bottle water contains more than 75 mg/l and the national standard is 250 mg/l.
Please allow Kee Tac to keep operating and grant their permits to keep our jobs.

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Comment From: Trevor Arens

9/21/25 @ 3:47 PM

I ask as a citizen of Northern Minnesota to allow a variance for the sulfate standard, to allow Keetac to continue to mine. We must ask why Minnesota is the only State with a sulfate standard. The 10 mL standard is going to cripple industry and mun...↓

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Comment From: Valerie Stoehr

9/21/25 @ 3:41 PM

I wish to comment on the U.S. Steel Keetac Mine and Tailings Basin permits and U.S. Steel's application for a variance.

I am a wild rice harvester who has been harvesting rice with my family and friends/community for 25 years. I harvest rice with p...↓

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Comment From: Garrett Lappi

9/21/25 @ 3:38 PM

Hello my name is Garrett Lappi.

Mining runs deep in my family. My grandpas grandfathers family arrived on the iron range in the late 1880's and started working in the mines. My grandpa put in 30 years working for the DM&IR under U.S. Steel ownershi...↓

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Comment From: Calvin Warwas

9/21/25 @ 2:48 PM

Dear MPCA,

My name is Cal Warwas.

I am a son of the Iron Range, and still live on the Range.

I am a 3rd generation miner.

I am a 2nd generation Steelworker in the Local 1938. My father and I have accrued over 60 years of combined experience in t...↓

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Comment From: Amy Elliott

9/21/25 @ 1:36 PM

I call on the MPCA to:

Follow the 10 mg/L wild rice sulfate standard in the Keetac permit and all future permits.

Reject variances that allow out-of-state corporations to pollute for profit at the expense of Minnesotans' treaty rights and public h...↓

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Comment From: Multiple Senders

9/21/25 @ 12:00 AM

Email comments from multiple senders received 9/21/25.

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Comment From: Multiple Senders

9/21/25 @ 12:00 AM

Email comments from multiple senders received 9/21/25 - Variance.

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Comment From: James Woehrle

9/20/25 @ 1:25 PM

I support the initial rejection by the MPCA regarding the proposed variance of waste water quality permit of the Keewatin steel plant. The increased pollution will further impair the production and quality of wild rice.

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Comment From: Janet Woehrle

9/20/25 @ 11:41 AM

I support the MPCA's decision to deny the variance requested by US Steel from the sulfate water quality standard for waters used for the production of wild rice. I do feel that the compliance schedule for April 2030 is too long and should be shorter....↓

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Comment From: Elyria Grote

9/20/25 @ 10:16 AM

I am a New Orleanian who wants to ensure that all people and place are healthy for generations to come. As a New Orleanian the proposed permit by Keetac will provide a quick solution for a company which will have far greater negative impacts on peopl...↓e, culture, water health, and biodiversity. Any law, bill or permit threatening any singular aspect of the list above is one that must immediately be denied. As the water connects us all, decisions made in Minnesota impact life and health in New Orleans. In our own way, New Orleanians battle health issues caused by refineries along our coast and river. The toxins produced, which leech into our water, or are often directly dumped in our waters, have been directly linked to disproportionate cases of cancer in specific places.
Furthermore, this is about undoing wrongs committed over generations. From black communities in New Orleans being forced to buy or sell property near refineries to indigenous peoples around the nation who have their culture and land devastated in both direct and indirect ways.
Wild rice (manoomin in Ojibwe and psíŋ in Dakota) is a "superfood" that requires no pesticides or fertilizers to grow. Wild rice is a naturally fat-free and cholesterol-free food that is dense in protein and is a powerful antioxidant and lipid-lowering agent. It was a key component of Indigenous diets in your region before disruption of traditional foodways. But as the U.S. pushed tribes to reservations and replaced those traditional diets with commodity rations, it triggered health effects that persist even now. Today, Indigenous Minnesotans are disproportionately obese (Minnesota Department of Health: Adult Obesity), and are twice as likely as their neighbors to have diabetes (America's Health Rankings). I ask the MPCA to deny a variance from the 10 mg/L sulfate standard because uncultivated wild rice depends on clean water, and that manoomin or psíŋ is critical to reestablishing the health and food sovereignty of these Minnesotans.
But wild rice is more than just a food on their table. It is a species that is central to biodiversity in Minnesota. More than 17 species of wildlife listed in the MNDNR's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy as "species of greatest conservation need" use wild rice lakes as habitat for reproduction or foraging. But even non-threatened species benefit from healthy wild rice stands. Duck hunters rely on wild rice stands for cover, fishermen know that rice stands are a food source for amphibian and fish populations, and birders enjoy the variety of migrating waterfowl who feed at rice stands.
Please apply the 10 mg/L sulfate standard to the Keetac mine without variance because protecting wild rice protects us all.

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Comment From: Dan La Vigne

9/20/25 @ 12:33 AM

I am a Minnesotan who wants to ensure that our people and place are healthy for generations to come.
Wild rice (manoomin in Ojibwe and psíŋ in Dakota) is a "superfood" that requires no pesticides or fertilizers to grow. Wild rice is a naturally fat-f...↓

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Comment From: Multiple Senders

9/20/25 @ 12:00 AM

Email comments from multiple senders received 9/20/25 - Variance.

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Comment From: Multiple Senders

9/20/25 @ 12:00 AM

Email comments from multiple senders received 9/20/25.

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Comment From: Senator Farnsworth (Robert Farnsworth)

9/19/25 @ 4:51 PM

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Comment From: alice madden

9/19/25 @ 4:12 PM

MPCA commissioners and staff -

Please uphold state law and regulations by rejecting any variances now and on into the future requested by this out of state corporation. United States Steel Corp's request on its Wastewater Permit is an astonishing o...↓

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Comment From: MICHAEL BAKK

9/19/25 @ 2:54 PM

My name is Mike Bakk and I live in Mountain Iron with my two teenage sons. I was born and raised in northeastern Minnesota and I'm proud to be an Iron Ranger. I am the senior director of mining operations at U. S. Steel. I am also the co-chair of ...↓the Iron Ore Alliance, a joint initiative between the United Steelworkers and U. S. Steel. Prior to this, I was the director of operational readiness at U. S. Steel's Keetac facility in Keewatin, where I worked on the DR-grade pellet project. The infusion of $150M into Keetac breathed new life into the facility and lets us be at the front end of the electric steelmaking process. With over 25 years in the mining industry, I have seen firsthand how poorly informed regulations impact not only the sustainability of our businesses but the livelihood of the people and communities that rely on them.
I am writing today regarding the draft NPDES permits for the Keetac tailings basin and mining area. My concern lies with the MPCA's proposal to enforce the current 10 mg/L sulfate standard – a scientifically outdated and short-sighted rule that threatens jobs and communities across Northern Minnesota.
I know the human impact that this enforcement would have all too well. During a past downturn at Keetac, I was in the difficult position of laying off workers. One employee stopped in my office on his way out the door to thank me for hiring him – just hours short of completing his probationary period. Another longtime worker reminded me, "When these places shut down, you never know if they'll open again." These moments stay with me because they underscore the real and lasting consequences of well-meaning requirements.
Keetac has weathered ups and downs since 2008, driven largely by supply and demand in a global market. Adding an expensive and ineffective sulfate treatment requirement would cripple our global competitiveness. I'm a firm believer in preserving our environment. But the 10mg/L standard does not achieve its intended purpose. Modern science shows that wild rice survival depends on a variety of site-specific factors including water depth and fluctuations, predation, competing vegetation, carbon and iron content, and others. In fact, wild rice has been proven to thrive in waters with sulfate concentrations far above the existing limit, even as high as 1,600 mg/L. In Hay Lake, directly downstream from Keetac, the wild rice crop is healthy.
I, along with my colleagues in the mining industry, value environmental stewardship and want to protect the Iron Range's beauty and natural resources. Many of us spend our free time enjoying outdoor activities like fishing, hunting, camping, golfing and canoeing. I don't want to pollute the very waters I enjoy so much with my family. Enforcing this standard would be an ineffective means of protecting those waters. Not only is the science outdated, it is also financially unattainable for many businesses and communities, and puts Minnesotans at risk without any guaranteed environmental benefit.
I urge the MPCA to refrain from including sulfate limits in Keetac's permits until a modern, science-based standard is adopted – one that reflects what we know today, not what we thought we knew in 1973.
The economic implications of enforcing the current standard simply cannot be ignored. Mining is a cornerstone of Northeast Minnesota's economy, contributing over $1.8 billion annually and supporting more than 4,000 family-sustaining jobs. These positions offer wages significantly above the regional average, with mining workers earning approximately $1,708 per week, nearly $950 more than the average across all industries. To jeopardize this economic powerhouse with an arbitrary and unworkable standard is to put the prosperity of the Iron Range – and thousands of Minnesotans – at risk.
I applaud the MPCA's commitment to protecting our environment and preserving the Iron Range. But Minnesotans deserve environmental standards that are grounded in science, effective in practice and fair to the communities they impact. The current sulfate rule fails on all these counts.
Thank you for your consideration.

Mike Bakk
Mt. Iron, MN

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Comment From: Intermill Land History Consult... (Jessica Intermill)

9/19/25 @ 2:21 PM

I am a Minnesotan whose treaty-protected right to live here was created by a promise to protect wild rice. I write because I want to live in a state that keeps its promises.

In 1837, the United States pledged that in exchange for title to the territ...↓ory, "[t]he privilege of hunting, fishing, and gathering the wild rice, upon the lands, the rivers and the lakes included in the territory ceded, is guarantied to the Indians[.]" An 1855 Treaty transferred title of more Anishinaabe land to the United States– including the land holding the Keetac mine– but again safeguarded the right to gather rice from the land and waters. Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, 526 U.S. 172 (1999), attached.

Article VI of the Constitution of the United States makes this treaty promise "the supreme Law of the Land." But the promise is empty if there is no rice to gather, as courts around the country have recognized. E.g., U.S. v. Washington, 827 F.3d 836, 851 (9th Cir. 2016), aff'd without opinion at 584 U.S. 837. State interference with usufructuary treaty rights violates that treaty. Id. at ("The Indians did not understand the Treaties to promise that they would have access to their usual and accustomed fishing places, but with a qualification that would allow the government to diminish or destroy the fish runs.") (citing cases). When Minnesota passed the 10 mg/L sulfate standard more than a generation ago, it committed Minnesota's protection of manoomin, the only species protected by treaty in Minnesota by name.

Today, U.S. Steel wants this agency to renege on the state's behalf for its own profit. But that is not who we are. We keep our promises. So long as Minnesota retains the territorial benefit of these treaty, it has a concomitant obligation to uphold the U.S. end of the bargain. Issuing U.S. Steel a permit to pollute and destroy the species the U.S. "guaranteed" the Anishinaabe the right to gather runs directly contrary to that promise.

The United States and Minnesota owe no debt to out-of-state corporations and international mining conglomerates. But the U.S. did make promises to Indigenous stewards in exchange for ownership of the land that became Minnesota. I ask you to honor the treaties that underlie Minnesota's formation, enforce the 10 mg/L sulfate standard without variance, and require U.S. Steel to clean up its own mess.

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Comment From: APEX - Area Partnership for Ec... (Rachel Johnson)

9/19/25 @ 2:01 PM

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Comment From: Michael Ptak

9/19/25 @ 12:49 PM

I'm against the variance that Keetac is proposing. I feel the 10mg/l of Sulfate now allowed is excessive and it has never been enforced and should be enforced. As stated in their request it doesn't appear to be a financial hardship for them to instal...↓

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Comment From: J Schauffler

9/19/25 @ 11:37 AM

I am a Minnesotan who asks you to enforce the 10 mg/L sulfate standard at Keetac Mine because I love wild rice, and because wild rice is an important part of Minnesota food security.
I cook a meal every week in Saint Paul where we give away about 10...↓

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Comment From: United Steelworkers (USW) (David McCall)

9/19/25 @ 11:05 AM

Please see attached comments.

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Comment From: Shiloh Fetzek

9/19/25 @ 10:23 AM

Minnesotans Need Sustainable Economies, Not Throwaway Jobs
I am a Minnesotan who wants to ensure that our economy and environment are healthy for generations to come.

U.S. Steel complains that complying with the law will create substantial and wides...↓

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Comment From: Ashley O'Neill

9/19/25 @ 8:13 AM

I am a Minnesotan who wants to ensure that our people and place are healthy for generations to come.

Wild rice (manoomin in Ojibwe and ps�K in Dakota) is a "superfood" that requires no pesticides or fertilizers to grow. Wild rice is a naturally fat-...↓free and cholesterol-free food that is dense in protein and is a powerful antioxidant and lipid-lowering agent. It was a key component of Indigenous diets in our region before disruption of traditional foodways. But as the U.S. pushed tribes to reservations and replaced those traditional diets with commodity rations, it triggered health effects that persist even now. Today, Indigenous Minnesotans are disproportionately obese (Minnesota Department of Health: Adult Obesity), and are twice as likely as their neighbors to have diabetes (America's Health Rankings). I ask the MPCA to deny a variance from the 10 mg/L sulfate standard because uncultivated wild rice depends on clean water, and that manoomin or ps�K is critical to reestablishing the health and food sovereignty of these Minnesotans.

But wild rice is more than just a food on our table. It is a species that is central to biodiversity here in Minnesota. More than 17 species of wildlife listed in the MNDNR's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy as "species of greatest conservation need" use wild rice lakes as habitat for reproduction or foraging. But even non-threatened species benefit from healthy wild rice stands. Duck hunters rely on wild rice stands for cover, fishermen know that rice stands are a food source for amphibian and fish populations, and birders enjoy the variety of migrating waterfowl who feed at rice stands.

U.S. Steel complains that complying with the law will create substantial and widespread social impact. But the idea that mining creates jobs is a myth. Even in the Arrowhead, mining accounts for only 6% of employment� just over 4,000 jobs (Minnesota Employment and Economic Development, Region 3: Northeast Minnesota 2024 Regional Profile). In contrast, leisure and hospitality� industries that depend on clean water for fishing, wild rice stands for fowl habitat, and a steady flow of visitors who want to see the beauty of Minnesota� account for 11.9% of jobs in the region (Minnesota Employment and Economic Development, Current Employment Statistics). And 100% of all 5.8 million Minnesotans need clean water to drink.

There is more than one way to feed our families. Extractive industries have just one job: to take a non-renewable resource and run. The social and economic impact of granting U.S. Steel's requested variance is real. It incentivizes pollution for profit at the expense of investment in sustainable economies. That's not what Minnesotans need or want. U.S. Steel has a responsibility to pay to clean up its own mess.

Because U.S. Steel did not provide written evidence that treatment costs would cause even a slowdown at Keetac, the MPCA should deny its baseless variance request. Please apply the 10 mg/L sulfate standard to the Keetac mine without variance because protecting wild rice protects us all.

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Comment From: Cali Jirsa

9/19/25 @ 7:42 AM

Minnesotans Need Sustainable Economies, Not Throwaway Jobs

I am a Minnesotan who wants to ensure that our economy and environment are healthy for generations to come.

U.S. Steel complains that complying with the law will create substantial and wide...↓

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Comment From: Paul Deaner

9/19/25 @ 6:02 AM

I'm opposed to Keetac's request to increase the sulfate water quality standard for waters used for the production of wild rice.

I believe they can afford installing controls to achieve the current legal standard.

I'm stunned how long the current st...↓