WaterLegacy

10/12/2026

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a day to honor the first peoples living in relationship with the lands and waters that are now called Minnesota. Let us also honor Indigenous knowledge and worldview each day, and remain steadfast in solidarity to protect water, wild rice, and life.💧🌾

📸: Harvesting wild rice (known as Manoomin in Ojibwe, Psíŋ in Dakota) on Big Sandy Lake. Photo by Lorie Shaull.

10/10/2026

Tell MPCA that "responsible mining” means compliance with Minnesota law and financial assurance, not expecting our children and grandchildren to pay U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel’s costs. Comment by Oct. 26:
https://waterlegacy.org/minntac-wastewater-comment/

10/08/2026

MINNTAC & TOXIC MERCURY: Downstream of Minntac’s tailings basin, Minnesota Department of Health testing of walleye in Lake Vermilion showed that every fish tested had more mercury than the Minnesota limit (0.2 mg/kg). Fish longer than 18 inches had mercury above the 0.95 ppm “DO NOT EAT” level that applies to infants, children, and women who are or may become pregnant. Take action:
https://waterlegacy.org/minntac-wastewater-comment/

10/05/2026

Sulfate pollution from Minntac’s tailings basin has killed hundreds of acres of (formerly) abundant wild rice in downstream Sandy and Little Twin Lakes and the Dark River. Sulfate levels in downstream Little Sandy Lake are 250 mg/L; which is 25 TIMES HIGHER than the wild rice sulfate standard. Tell MPCA it’s time for U.S. Steel to clean up their mess:
https://waterlegacy.org/minntac-wastewater-comment/

UPDATE: The comment period has been extended to Monday, October 26 at 11:59 pm!

10/01/2026

Since opening in the 1960s, U.S. Steel Minntac’s tailings basin has leaked hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic sulfate pollution into downstream waters. Right now, its wastewater permit is up for renewal by the MPCA. Comment today to demand U.S. Steel clean up their act at Minntac:
https://waterlegacy.org/minntac-wastewater-comment/

UPDATE: The comment period has been extended to Monday, October 26 at 11:59 pm.

09/29/2026

"[U.S. Steel] has a new owner with substantial resources. Nippon Steel has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to modernize Minntac and Keetac. If the company can invest in producing steel, it can invest in protecting Minnesota’s water. The problem is that it is more profitable not to protect water, especially when they’ve gotten away with it for decades without penalties."
-Chairman Robert Deschampe, Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

We don’t want to speak for the tribes, but we want to be their allies. Please keep this commentary in mind:

The MPCA's proposed water permit would give the mining company 45 years to meet final sulfate and other pollution limits — nearly three decades after the mine is projected to close, Robert Deschampe writes.

09/28/2026

Wondering why 45 years is too long to wait for U.S. Steel Minntac to comply with the wild rice sulfate standard? READ MPR News coverage:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/09/25/two-ojibwe-tribes-say-45year-timeline-for-minntac-pollution-is-too-long

EXCERPT:
"MPCA says Minntac is the only possible source of the high sulfate in these [Sandy and Little Sandy wild rice] lakes. Both lakes sit downstream of Minntac's tailings basin, which covers more than 13 square miles and has no liner at the bottom. Water carrying sulfate seeps out through the ground and into nearby lakes and streams.

State regulators say research has found sulfate can damage wild rice, even at low levels. Little Sandy Lake now averages more than 250 milligrams per liter of sulfate. The state's limit for wild rice waters, set in 1973, is 10 milligrams per liter. [...]

The water flows from these lakes into the Sand and Pike rivers and on to Lake Vermilion. MPCA counts 14 wild rice waters downstream of Minntac. Half are listed as impaired by sulfate."

A draft permit would require U.S. Steel's Minntac mine to meet Minnesota's wild rice sulfate standard for the first time but gives the company up to 45 years to comply.

09/25/2026

YOUR VOICE NEEDED: RSVP TODAY for Tues., Sept. 29 Minntac water pollution permit meeting in Virginia, 6-7:30 pm:
https://bit.ly/RSVPSept29Minntac

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)’s draft water pollution permit for Minntac’s tailings basin would allow U.S. Steel to delay compliance with Minnesota’s sulfate standard for another 45 YEARS after permit issuance.

Please show up on the 29th and stand up for Minnesota clean water, wild rice, and fish that are safe to eat and for the Chippewa/Ojibwe communities who rely on abundant wild rice and fish that are safe to eat to exercise their treaty-reserved rights. We are all in this together.

09/24/2026

IMPORTANT NEWS: The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa announced their request for the Environmental Quality Board to order a General Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for cumulative effects of mining and other extraction across 1854 Treaty Ceded Territory and "all environmentally connected watersheds":
https://www.grandportageband.com/media-release-bois-forte-and-grand-portage-assert-treaty-rights-call-for-cumulative-study-as-mpca-proposes-giving-u-s-steel-up-to-45-years-to-meet-minntac-pollution-limits/

EXCERPT:
“If Minnesota has spent decades struggling to bring sulfate pollution from existing taconite mining into compliance, should the State authorize new forms of mining capable of creating additional sulfate impacts before it knows the cumulative burden the region’s waters already carry?”

Media Release 📰📣

Bois Forte and Grand Portage Assert Treaty Rights, Call for Cumulative Study as MPCA Proposes Giving U.S. Steel Up to 45 Years to Meet Minntac Pollution Limits

Read the full Media Release here ➡ https://www.grandportageband.com/media-release-bois-forte-and-grand-portage-assert-treaty-rights-call-for-cumulative-study-as-mpca-proposes-giving-u-s-steel-up-to-45-years-to-meet-minntac-pollution-limits/

09/22/2026

“This is not a project. This is a bunch of public relations knitted together.”
—Paula Maccabee, Executive Director of WaterLegacy

Read this Star Tribune coverage of the major questions Talon Metals has yet to answer—and the frustration among community members that Talon has not already released a feasibility study while the public had the opportunity to comment:

The shift eliminates Talon Metals’ plans for a costly new processing facility but would require hauling ore hundreds of miles to an existing mill.