Minnesota environmental advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit against state government agencies to limit nitrate pollution in drinking water.
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA), alongside Minnesota Trout Unlimited and the Minnesota Well Owners Organization filed a joint lawsuit on Jan. 28 against the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
Aaron Klemz, chief strategy officer for MCEA, said the lawsuit’s goal is to change farming practices to decrease nitrate contamination in Minnesota’s groundwater.
“It’s not like we sued somebody because they did something, broke the law or it’s a punitive lawsuit,” Klemz said. “It’s more of we really think there’s a problem here that’s not being addressed by current rules.”
John Lenczewski, the executive director of Minnesota Trout Unlimited, the conservation organization working to protect cold water fisheries, said the organization joined the lawsuit to fight for the interests of trout fishermen and fish populations.
“Something’s got to change,” Lenczewski said. “Things are getting better as far as nitrate pollution, so we joined to highlight the impact on natural resources as well as humans.”
In a 2022 report, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency identified nitrates as a harmful nutrient to human and animal life at high levels and proposed limiting the amount of nitrates in Minnesota’s cold waters.
Nitrates are a nutrient that typically occurs naturally in water, soil and plants, but can be harmful or deadly if a person or animal is exposed to high levels of it. Exposure to high levels of nitrates is linked to bladder and bowel cancers, according to Klemz.
People can be exposed to nitrates when too much fertilizer is used on crops, which can cause rain to wash away the excess nitrate in the fertilizer, Klemz said. Those nitrates can seep through the ground and into groundwater resources, he added.
Aquatic life can be harmed if nitrate levels reach more than five milligrams per liter, according to a press release from Minnesota Trout Unlimited.
Nitrate pollution in the state’s groundwater, especially in southeastern Minnesota, can disproportionately affect well owners whose water quality is not routinely checked by their local government, according to Klemz.
MCEA petitioned the federal government about Minnesota’s lacking nitrate regulations in 2023 and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency directed the state to immediately address nitrate contamination, according to the MCEA website.
State agencies began that process, Klemz said, but the changes have not yet reduced unsafe nitrate levels. Stopping overuse of fertilizer and changing farming manure disposal practices is key to reducing excess nitrates in Minnesota’s groundwater, he added.
“We’re really conscious of the fact that farmers are not evil people that are trying to destroy the planet,” Klemz said. “It’s more that oftentimes they’re kind of caught in, ‘I’ve got this waste, how do I get rid of it?’”
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said in an email statement to the Minnesota Daily that reducing nitrate pollution is a priority on which they have made progress.
Klemz said he is confident the lawsuit will succeed and expects arguments at the district court will be made in the summer.
“While everyone agrees there’s a problem, there’s definitely disagreement about the extent of that problem or what the right solution to it is,” Klemz said.
Lenczewski said all the lawsuit is asking is for concrete work toward changing the rules on nitrate regulation in a way that gives every stakeholder a place at the table.
“We’re not like trying to slip one by anybody,” Lenczewski said. “We’re just asking for a very public rulemaking process where all the public can have a voice here and make sure that things are changed.”
