U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan has urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to amend its 26-month timetable to reduce haze across northern Minnesota national park and wilderness areas to give taconite producers more time to comply.

In a Feb. 25 letter to EPA Region 5 Administrator Dr. Susan Hedman, Nolan indicated taconite mining operations are prepared to accept the haze reductions, but said each plant must develop its own unique process.

He said the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has proposed a plan reflecting “the need for a wide variety of solutions that must be developed for all the mining operations involved.” Nolan told Hedman: “I strongly encourage you to either accept the (MPCA plan) which will give the taconite operations sufficient time to develop customized solutions, or work with the taconite mine operators to develop a compliance schedule that recognizes the reality of these customized operations.”

Following a Range fact-finding tour being scheduled for later this month, Nolan plans to travel to Chicago to meet personally with Hedman and other EPA officials regarding the haze issue and several other EPA-related concerns in the region.

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