US Steel Taking Legal Action Against Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

The filing also asks the court to compel MPCA to complete its triennial review process before issuing a new permit for the Minntac tailings basin.

“U. S. Steel has worked cooperatively and successfully with Minnesota’s elected leadership on many issues over the years, but we believe filing a Mandamus claim was our only option in this situation,” said U. S. Steel Minnesota Ore Operations General Manager Larry Sutherland. “We felt compelled to take this course of action to ensure specific issues we’ve raised in the past – and MPCA has acknowledged the need to address – are fully resolved so they can be incorporated into our NPDES permit renewal. We recognize the time and resources MPCA needs to do their jobs effectively, and we agree that matters related to our shared environment should be determined by thorough, thoughtful due diligence and scientific evidence. We believe completion of the specific issues raised in our Mandamus claim will ensure the preservation of the environment and the competitiveness of Minnesota’s iron ore mining industry.”

“U. S. Steel remains firmly committed to our core value of environmental stewardship, and we’ve proven that by investing more than $100 million in environmental activities at Minntac in the last 10 years,” said U. S. Steel General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Senior Vice President – Government Affairs Suzanne Rich Folsom. “Our actions today reflect our desire to continue working with MPCA in pursuit of a common goal: doing what’s right for the environment without causing unnecessary harm to the state’s economy.”