COHASSET — Three environmental organizations are threatening legal action if Minnesota Power doesn't share more about how it will fully clean up last year’s massive coal ash wastewater leak at its Boswell Energy Center in Cohasset.
Sierra Club, CURE and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy sent a letter to the utility on Monday, July 21.
The letter stated the company must also address problems with the storage and management of its wastewater, which the groups say violates federal regulations.
If it doesn’t comply with the law within 60 days, the organizations say they will sue.
"Minnesota Power is seeking to keep using one of the Boswell coal ash wastewater ponds for another ten years, even as it has failed to make public its plans to clean up environmental harm from last summer’s coal ash spill,” said Patrick Woolsey of the Sierra Club environmental law program in a news release from the groups.
“Allowing Minnesota Power to keep dumping coal ash wastewater at Boswell for another decade will continue to put our water and communities at risk. Minnesota Power must make public the steps it has taken to clean up last year’s catastrophic spill, and it must plan to stop dumping coal ash at Boswell as required by federal rules, for the sake of Minnesotans’ safety, health and our future.”
A spokesperson for Minnesota Power told KAXE on Wednesday that the company is reviewing the letter but doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
“Minnesota Power continues to work with the [Minnesota Pollution Control Agency] and other stakeholders on our long-term remediation plan to address the spill that occurred last year,” the company said in an emailed statement. “MP also remains committed to closure of our surface impoundments in accordance with the [Environmental Protection Agency]’s Coal Combustion Residual Rule.”
Coal ash is the solids left behind after coal is burned, the same way there’s solid ash left when you use a charcoal stove. Because the ash is so fine, power plants often mix it with water to keep it from blowing away.
In recent years, the EPA has begun implementing deadlines for the closure of storage ponds.
Impacts of the wastewater spill
An estimated 5.5 million gallons of wastewater leaked from an underground pipe last July, flowing into Blackwater Creek and Blackwater Lake, an impoundment of the Mississippi River.
The loss of pump pressure in a pipe that transfers wastewater from a pond to the power plant was the source of the leak.
Testing after the spill showed sulfate levels above the state’s wild rice standard, as well as elevated levels of boron.
Booms and curtains were used in the water to help stop the spread of pollutants, in addition to extensive soil excavation.
While officials said there was no impact to drinking water, the environmental groups say their supporters were forced to find other sources of drinking water in response to “valid concerns about the pollution.”
Their supporters have also been forced to limit recreational use of nearby water bodies, the letter states, “due to the lack of public information about the extent, nature, and severity of that contamination, the status and timing of remediation efforts, and the implications for the environment and for public health and safety.”
If they sued, the groups would ask that Minnesota Power be required to make its assessment of the spill and its impact public, share the status of its corrective efforts and remove wastewater from one of its ponds.
Recognition of sovereignty and concern over ricing beds
Areas impacted by the spill are in ceded territory, and Blackwater Lake is home to wild rice beds important to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.
Environmental Director Brandy Toft said the band has been fully engaged by the PCA and EPA throughout the process and has had regular meetings with Minnesota Power.
"It’s been a really good government-to-government working relationship, and one that we hope to see replicated down the road,” she said.
“ ... We feel that being in on the process from the get-go allows us to ... not read something after the fact which, routinely, is unchangeable. We’re making change right now.”
The environmental groups notified the band about its intent to send the letter, but Toft said data rules prevented the band from giving the groups additional information.
“Because of the relationship we have currently with the state and EPA, we weren’t able to share much with them,” Toft said. “But we said, ‘Hey, we’re not going to stop you. But we’re not going to join you.’”
Those rules have also prevented the band from being fully open about cleanup actions, though Toft said addressing the band’s concerns has been part of the process.
But band members still aren’t sure if it's safe to harvest rice on Blackwater Lake.
Toft said there will be a community meeting 5:30-7:30 p.m. on either Aug. 5, 6 or 7 on the east side of the reservation to help address some of those concerns.
“It’s a twofold meeting. It’s also, one, for us to share, ‘These are the facts known to date that can be released so you make an informed decision,’” Toft said.
“But it’s also the turnabout, where the community can express their concerns and what is really on their minds about this and express that in a way that we can take it and further incorporate those, if warranted, into the investigation and the outcomes of the investigation.”
- Northern Minnesota enjoys a season of natural abundance
- Sanford Health Bemidji CEO Eischens announces retirement
- Events Up North July 28-Aug. 3: Tall Timber Days, 3 county fairs
- Authorities ID 2 Cook women as fatal fire victims; AG's office settles with Hibbing nonprofit board and founders
- Authorities ID victims in house fire near Cook
