Environmentalists drop lawsuit over expired Minntac permit

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Environmental groups have dropped a lawsuit against Minnesota regulators for allowing U.S. Steel`s Minntac iron mine to operate a waste pit on a long-expired permit, saying they reached a deal with the state that achieved their primary goal.

That`s because the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency last month released a new draft permit that would impose stricter controls on pollutant concentrations in wastewater in the basin. The state had allowed Minntac, the largest taconite operation in North America, to keep operating the pit under a permit that expired in 1992.