Minnesota
Environmental group calls for tighter water permit for coal plant that spilled next to rice beds
But, Kingston said, “We have to have some accountability for this legacy pollution. We can’t just pretend like it didn’t happen and hope that, you know, things get better as time goes on.”
This spring, state officials warned Minnesota Power to be more careful after logging 11 smaller spills at Boswell between 2021 and 2023. Then, in July, an underground pipe that siphoned water off the top of a coal ash pond burst, allowing 5 million gallons to escape into a creek that feeds Blackwater Lake.
Since then, Anderson said the utility has excavated about 2,000 cubic yards of tainted soil, pumped up 20 million gallons of water from the creek, and installed a dam that cuts off the creek from Blackwater Lake. The extent of sulfate pollution in the lake itself was not immediately clear — MPCA said the data was not public because of an ongoing investigation of the spill.