Minnesota Power, Clean Air Act Violation, Minnesota 2023

Minnesota Power, an ALLETE company based in Duluth, Minnesota, has been found guilty of violating the Clean Air Act. The company has agreed to install pollution control technology and meet stringent emission rates to reduce harmful air pollution from its three coal-fired power plants located in Cohasset, Hoyt Lakes and Schroeder, Minnesota.

According to a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Justice Department, Minnesota Power will be required to install pollution control technology and implement other measures to reduce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter emissions from its power plants. The settlement also requires the company to pay a civil penalty of $1.4 million to resolve Clean Air Act violations and spend at least $4.2 million on environmental projects to benefit local communities.

The state of Minnesota is co-plaintiff to the settlement and will receive $200,000 of the penalty. The company estimates that it will spend over $500 million to implement the required measures.

The settlement is expected to reduce harmful emissions by over 13,350 tons per year, which includes approximately 8,500 tons per year of sulfur dioxide. EPA expects that the actions required by the settlement will meet some of the lowest emission rates in the country for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

The company must install control technologies and meet emission rates that will be among some of the lowest in the country for sulfur dioxide at its largest unit and for both sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide at the second largest unit. The company must also retire, refuel, repower, or reroute emissions at five other units, and must meet emission rates and install additional control technologies at remaining units.

“Today’s settlement will require system-wide controls to reduce harmful air pollution and will benefit Minnesota residents today and for years to come,” said Sam Hirsch, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The settlement also requires that the company spend $4.2 million on projects that will benefit the environment and local communities, including $2 million to build a large-scale solar installation system to benefit a local tribe known as the Fond du Lac Band. In addition, the company will provide between $500,000 and $1 million to replace, retrofit, or upgrade wood burning appliances to reduce pollution, and $200,000 to the National Park Service to restore wetlands at Voyageurs National Park.

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