Update on Wild Rice Sulfate Standard Revision

From MPCA Weekly Digest:

As we begin the New Year, we wanted to provide a quick update on MPCA activities related to the wild rice sulfate standard revision.

The MPCA’s Request for Comments for the sulfate standard to protect wild rice ended on Friday, December 18, 2015.  Thanks to all of you who took the time to provide comments to us; they will be very helpful as we move into the rulemaking phase of this effort. Please note there will be additional opportunities for formal review and comment when the proposed rules are published in the State Register and during public hearings.

The agency received more than 600 comment letters.  All of the comments received are now posted on the wild rice rulemaking webpage https://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/sulfate-standard-protect-wild-rice under the “Rulemaking” tab.  Identical comment letters received from more than one person or group are listed once in the summary document with individual commenters and addresses from those identical letters listed in the accompanying spreadsheet.

MPCA staff continues to work on refinements to the wild rice waters definition, list of wild rice waters and refinement of the proposed approach that will become part of the Agency’s technical support document for the upcoming rulemaking. Please note that MPCA intends to submit the underlying scientific work for peer review via the scientific journal publication process. In addition, scientists are analyzing data from this summer’s sediment sampling of wild rice beds in order to evaluate the variability of total organic carbon and extractable iron in the sediments within wild rice waters. We expect this work to continue from January through March.