Protect Wild Rice from Out-of-State Polluters

Restorative Justice Action Alert

St. Luke’s Native partners are asking us to support them in honoring the essential role that manoomin/psíŋ (wild rice) holds in our state and in the traditions and economies of the Native communities here. Currently, U.S. Steel is requesting the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for permission to release more sulfates into our waters, which harms wild rice beds. We need you to urge the MPCA to hold U.S. Steel accountable to Minnesota’s sulfate limits.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is responsible for controlling pollution in Minnesota, not for protecting the profitability of out-of-state corporations and international conglomerates. U.S. Steel’s Keetac taconite mine has been discharging more than twice the legal limit of sulfates for years, despite the MPCA directing the company to bring its mine into compliance years ago. Now, U.S. Steel is requesting a variance from the MPCA to permit continued pollution at 240% of the legal limit. Initially, the MPCA said no, but under pressure from this massive corporation, they are now considering granting this variance. Narrow corporate interests are pushing hard for loopholes in Minnesota’s protective sulfate discharge limits. If U.S. Steel gets a pass, the next polluting mine will want the same. We need to stand together for our water, our wild rice, our treaties, and our Indigenous neighbors.