EPA reaches air quality agreement with taconite facilities

Two companies that operate taconite facilities, considered by environmentalists as major contributors to air pollution, have reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency that will allow them time to develop and install new technology to reduce pollutants at mine sites in Minnesota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Cliffs Natural Resources and ArcelorMittal reached an agreement Monday over the Regional Haze Implementation Plan. The settlement is designed to improve air quality in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The mines covered by the agreement are Cliffs' Hibbing Taconite mine and United Taconite in Eveleth, as well as ArcelorMittal's Minorca Mine in Virginia. The agreement also includes Cliffs' Tilden Mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

It's unclear whether the new plan will make a big difference without other taconite operations signing on, although discussions with the EPA continue, according to a statement from U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan's office.

"We need to look at the details of the settlement to make sure that EPA has stuck to its guns and is going to get actual emission reductions out of the taconite facilities because they are a huge contributor to the pollution problem," said Kevin Reuther, legal director at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.

In 2012 the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency submitted a plan to the EPA that would have addressed emissions, but the EPA disapproved the plan and said it didn't provide the types of controls the federal agency expected to see.

The EPA then came up with its own plan that Cliffs Natural Resources and ArcelorMittal disagreed with, launching a months-long negotiation process.

The proposed settlement calls for a five-year plan, during which time the taconite companies will continue to develop and phase in new low-emission burners.

The MPCA, on the other hand, continues to work on coming up with a plan to reduce emissions at power plants such as Xcel Energy's Sherburne County Generating Station. The EPA is scheduled to determine by the end of February whether the Sherco plant is contributing to haze in the Boundary Waters, and Voyageurs and Isle Royale national parks. Several years ago the National Park Service determined that the coal-fired plant's emissions played a part in reducing air quality in the parks.

"The goal comes out of the federal Regional Haze Plan and that's to reduce the number of days of poor visibility in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park," said Frank Kohlasch, MPCA manager of air assessment. "We continue to look for ways to seek reductions from the air pollutants that impact visibility in northern Minnesota."

Rep. Nolan, a Democrat whose district includes the Iron Range, said he hopes the agreement will spur a quick settlement for other operations.

"Making progress on taconite's contribution to the haze problem is important," Reuther said. "So we're hopeful that this settlement means that there will be some progress made."

Representatives of ArcelorMittal and Cliffs Natural Resources have not yet responded to interview requests.