EPA warns Minnesota over laws exempting taconite firms from wild rice rules

A contentious fight over mining and its effect on wild rice has reached new heights, thanks to a recent federal warning.

The Environmental Protection Agency says that the state’s refusal to enforce a decades-old pollution rule could undermine its authority to enforce the Clean Water Act in Minnesota.

Laws passed in 2015 and 2016 that exempt taconite and other industries from a pollution rule aimed at protecting wild rice may “strike down” the state’s authority to ­implement federal environmental laws, the EPA said.

http://www.startribune.com/epa-warns-minnesota-over-laws-exempting-taconite-firms-from-wild-rice-rules/387187001/