Appeals court upholds mpca emission standards

Silver Bay, Minnesota â€" The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled this week that levels of asbestos-like fibers in the air at the Northshore Mining Company processing plant at Silver Bay will continue to be compared with fiber levels in St. Paul. The three-judge panel released the decision on Tuesday. Their decision is in agreement with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which maintains that the standard is required for the protection of people who live and work near the Silver Bay taconite-processing plant. The emission standard is 34 years old, having been imposed in a federal court ruling in 1974. It has since been included in MPCA-issued operating permits for the Northshore Mining Company’s Silver Bay plant. A few years prior, the Reserve Mining Co. (now owned by Northshore Mining) had been ordered to stop dumping taconite waste rock into Lake Superior. At that time, scientists discovered that the waste rock being dumped into the lake contained particles and fibers that closely resembled asbestos. The emission standards were set up and enforced after the discovery of the asbestos-like substance, and a related ruling forced the Reserve Mining Co. to set up a new waste disposal site on land. According to the emissions ruling, the levels of asbestos-like fibers at the plant must be lower than samples of asbestos-like fibers in air samples taken at St. Paul. The Northshore Mining Company claimed that the standards are outdated and unnecessary. The court decision, however, says that “Northshore cannot point to an adequate substitute for the ‘control city’ standard that is now in effect. Thus, the standard is not obsolete and its elimination from the permit would be a major amendment.” The company could now petition the Minnesota Supreme Court, but a spokesperson for the company has said the company is undecided as to whether to take the matter further. “This was a procedural decision [which] in no way affects air quality in Silver Bay.” The spokesperson also noted that fiber levels at the Silver Bay plant have declined since the original 1974 ruling. MPCA records do in fact show that fiber levels have dropped from a high of more than 300,000 per cubic meter of air in 1975, to 16,737 by 1980. In recent years, however, levels at Silver Bay have remained around 16,000 while levels in St. Paul have dropped to less than 2,000. However, while the company was out of compliance with the requirement for several months in 2006 and 2007, it apparently is now back in compliance with the regulations, with fiber levels below those tested in St. Paul. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)