In an excellent introduction to the New York Times’ series, “Toxic Waters,” Charles Duhigg notes that federal Clean Water Act violations have increased dramatically in recent years, with more than 506,000 violations from 2004 to 2007 with the number increasing by 16% over that short three-year period. Shockingly, only 3% of violations have resulted in fines or “significant” punishment.
The study shows that, out of a little over 600 regulated facilities in Michigan, nearly 60% have violated the Clean Water Act. More disturbingly, only 11% of all known violations met with any kind of enforcement action from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) or other agencies charged with enforcement.
Minnesota doesn’t fare much better, with enforcement of only 12% of all violations, while Wisconsin has enforced 33% of its violations.
Some results of the Time’s study are displayed in an easy-to-use format that allows viewers to locate statistics on Clean Water Act violations and lack of enforcement, by state, as well as find Clean Water Act violators in each state.
In the Michigan county where a metallic sulfide mine, proposed by
Cliff's Natural Resources' Tilden Mine, in Marquette County; Photo courtesy Michigan State University
Kennecott/Rio Tinto, has been approved by the MDEQ, Clean Water Act violators include A. Lindberg & Sons, which has been hired by Rio Tinto to construct a road to haul ore to a proposed milling facility; Cliffs Natural Resources’ Tilden iron ore mine; the Ironwood Oil Company and Shopko, in Marquette, in addition to both of the community’s coal-fired power plants; as well as both Marquette and Richmond Township’s wastewater treatment plants.
According to the Times the Marquette Wastewater Treatment plant “has been out of regulatory compliance 11 of the past 12 quarters,” and has never faced enforcement for violations of the Clean Water Act, while Cliff’s Tilden Mine, last punished for violating the Clean Water Act in 2007, has violated in “8 of the past 12 quarters.” According to the Times, both of Marquette’s power plants, while shown to be consistent violators, have never been enforced for failing to follow federal law.
On Minnesota’s Iron Range, iron miners are shown to be consistent polluters, alongside power plants. The Northshore Mining Co./Cliffs MnMinerals Co. , in Babbitt, is shown to have violated the Clean Water Act during the entire duration of the study, while the Cliffs Erie facility, near Lake Superior, has been shown to be a consistent violator.
The information came as the result of an extensive survey of water law violations and widespread lack of enforcement that utilized hundreds of thousands of documents obtained through open records requests with every single state and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With the information, the Times created
Steven Chester, Michigan DEQ Director; Photo courtesy State of Michigan
a national water pollution database “that is more comprehensive than those monitored by states or the E.P.A.”
The Time’s study shows that, while “powerful industries,” such as mining, have helped to “undermine effective regulation,” increased workloads and a lack of funding has contributed to many state’s lack of enforcement.
In September 2008, MDEQ Director Steven Chester acknowledged that his agency “simply [doesn't] have the kind of funding we need to adequately implement the laws we’re required to implement.”
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Eve Divine
doncorvette
What I find to be very interesting is that with all the talk about acid mine drainage due to sulfide ores, no attention has been focused on Cliffs. Cliffs finally made a public admission in July that they were releasing unacceptable amounts of selenium (and also telling the public that selenium is good for us, just because in very small doses it has treated symptoms for certain types of cancer). Selenium is an element which always naturally occurs as a sulfide compound, with very few exceptions. Any selenium which is leaching off Cliffs’ property most likely is accompanied by H2SO4, contaminating all adjacent watersheds. Selenium, in elevated long-term dosages, leads to several fatal ailments including liver failure. Sulfuric acid contamination from Cliffs Michigan Operations is a realization of acid mine drainage in Marquette County. So why aren’t there any fish in Goose Lake, downstream from the Empire Mine’s Mary Charlotte Pond discharge? Anyone from Cliffs care to comment?
Mr. Fyre,
Thank you for the posting. It is amazing that the State of Michigan (during DEQ tenure) utterly failed in regulating Cliffs’ mine and made no effort to require them to follow the law.
They had a number of tailings breaches over the past couple years and the selenium issue is pretty upsetting. Don’t know if you’ve seen the Journal Science article from January – a number of prominent scientists studied mountaintop coal mining and noted that the practice must be banned and can’t be regulated. They noted selenium levels dangerous to fish reproduction, etc. in Appalachia that are lower than levels at Cliffs.
But, according to the joint DEQ-Cliffs newsletter (really cute, by the way) selenium is found in Brazil nuts, so everything’s good, right!
[...] According to an expose by the New York Times, Lindberg & Sons is one of few known violators of the federal Clean Water Act in Marquette County. [...]