A bill moving forward in the state Senate would require the Pollution Control Agency re-work the water quality standard for wild rice producing areas in Minnesota. Chisholm Democrat Dave Tomassoni says people have no idea whether the current regulation helps the growth of those plants. He says, “Let’s do the logical thing: Let’s get rid of it and then let’s figure out a way to do the wild rice in a better way.” David Patton with Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy warns, “This bill acts as a giveaway to industry polluters and would leave Minnesota’s wild rice unprotected for the foreseeable future.”
Patton says the state cannot undo a water quality standard approved by the E-P-A “unless it substitutes a valid water quality standard that is at least as protective.” Tomassoni replies, “What we’re trying to do here is to… make some sense out of the wild rice sulfate standard and to actually make it work for the people who would actually have to apply it.”