Minnesota Updating Rules to Fight BWCA, Voyageurs Haze

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - State regulators are preparing to add some enforcement teeth to rules meant to cut the haze that sometimes clouds the views in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park.

The haze comes mostly from the state's older coal-fired power plants and the taconite plants on the Iron Range.

Environmental groups, joined by the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service, say proposed changes to rules set by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in 2009 don't go far enough.

Mining companies say they go too far.

The MPCA Citizens Board is due to vote Tuesday on whether to submit the proposed changes to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approval as part of an EPA push to reduce haze at national parks and wilderness areas across the country.

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Online:
MPCA  Regional Haze Plan site
Document package on haze plan prepared for Citizens Board meeting

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