There were several legislative attempts last spring to address some of the deficiencies with the wild rice sulfate rule and to create a task force to address these concerns. Gov. Dayton vetoed the legislation that related to the rule, but he did decide to create his own task force to further explore this issue.
We were pleased that a MESERB member, Central Iron Range Sanitary District Executive Director Norm Miranda, was appointed to the Governor’s task force. The task force is scheduled to hold its first meeting Sept. 27, and Norm would appreciate any feedback our members have as the meeting approaches. He can be reached at nmiranda@cirssd.org or 218-326-9930.
You can learn more about the issues that the Governor wants the task force to address here. Topics include determining which water bodies should be included on the list of wild rice waters best management practices for protecting wild rice, the condition of wild rice waters downstream of selected permitted dischargers, potential mitigating factors for wild rice to grow in waters with sulfate concentrations greater than 10 mg/L and how to fund research and protection activities.