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United States of America v. Reserve Mining Company

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photograph of Reserve Mining Company train

First train of taconite to Silver Bay, Reserve Mining Company, 1955.

In the mid-twentieth century, scientists struggled to find ways to extract iron ore from the sedimentary rock called taconite, which contains 25 to 30 percent iron. The process that was eventually developed involves crushing the hard rock into a powder-like consistency. The iron ore is then removed with magnets and turned into pellets.

By 1955, the Reserve Mining Company complex was built to extract iron from taconite. A new town, Silver Bay, was constructed to support it. For every ton of iron ore produced, however, two tons of waste material was left over. The Reserve Mining Company dumped the waste material, called tailings, into Lake Superior. Permits to do this were approved by the state.

The waste material was initially considered no more harmful than sand. But by the late 1960s, local environmental groups, commercial fishermen, and sport-fishing groups began to complain about the taconite sediment. They argued that the tailings were killing fish, permanently clouding the pristine waters, and spoiling Lake Superior as a fresh water source for Duluth and the surrounding communities.

Environmental organizations, scientists, and lawyers made the case that the tailings not only polluted Lake Superior, but that they contained cummingtonite-grunerite. This substance is found in asbestos, a known cancer-causing agent.

On February 17, 1972, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Reserve Mining Company in U. S. District Court in Minneapolis. This led to a trial that would last over a year. Appeals dragged the case on until 1980. Judge Miles Lord presided over the court.

Pretrial arguments took a turn in June 1973. The federal government called a specialist in asbestos exposure, Dr. Irving Selikoff, from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Dr. Selikoff argued that the lake contained asbestos-like fibers. He also said he thought a thorough study should be done on the effects of the lake water on the human body. Judge Lord put Dr. Selikoff’s testimony under an order of secrecy, but the information wasn’t contained. Eventually Lord allowed the EPA to issue an asbestos warning to the public.

The asbestos issue defined the trial when it officially began in August of 1973. The public, already alarmed by reports of asbestos deaths around the country, was fixated on the trial. It was also covered in the national press.

The Reserve Mining Company claimed that it was impossible to dump the tailings on land. During the trial, however, subpoenaed documents showed that Reserve had already examined dumping the sediment on land as an alternative method of disposal.

Both the federal government and Reserve relied on a prestigious lineup of scientists to buttress their case. After months of testimony, Judge Lord decided that dumping the tailings into Lake Superior posed serious health and environmental threats. In April 1974 he ordered the plant shut down.

The plant was closed temporarily. But a federal appeals court allowed Reserve to reopen the mine and to continue dumping in the lake until the company could find a new disposal method. In 1980, Reserve began to deposit waste in an inland pond. This practice continues with the companies that mine taconite today.

The ruling in United States of America v. Reserve Mining Company was considered a landmark decision. It gave the EPA broader powers to regulate corporate pollution, a practice unheard of before the lawsuit.

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© Minnesota Historical Society
  • Bibliography
  • Related Resources

Associated Press. “Judge Will Close Lake to Reserve’s Discharges.” Minneapolis Star, February 27, 1974.

Bastow, Thomas R. “This Vast Pollution…” United States of America v. Reserve Mining Company. Washington, D.C.: Green Fields Books, 1986.

Davis, E.W. Pioneering with Taconite. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1964.

Hodierne, Robert. “EPA asks Justice Department to Sue Reserve Mining for Tailings Disposal.” Minneapolis Star, January 20, 1972.

Wright, Frank. “Suit Filed Against Reserve.” Minneapolis Tribune, February 1, 1972.

Related Images

photograph of Reserve Mining Company train
photograph of Reserve Mining Company train
photograph of a small pile of taconite pellets
photograph of a small pile of taconite pellets
aerial photograph of Mesabi Iron Company plant
aerial photograph of Mesabi Iron Company plant
aerial photograph of taconite processing plant on Silver Bay
aerial photograph of taconite processing plant on Silver Bay
photograph of mining plant and harbor
photograph of mining plant and harbor
aerial view of Reserve Mining Company village
aerial view of Reserve Mining Company village
portrait photograph of Judge Miles Lord
portrait photograph of Judge Miles Lord

Turning Point

On February 17, 1972, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice files a lawsuit against the Reserve Mining Company in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, beginning a single trial that would last over a year.

Chronology

1940

University of Minnesota Professor E.W. Davis meets with executives of Republic Steel to discuss his revolutionary method of extracting iron ore from taconite.

1947

Reserve Mining Company applies to the State of Minnesota to become a full-scale producer of iron from taconite. The state approves dumping taconite tailings into Lake Superior.

1956

Reserve Mining Company begins production at the E.W. Davis Works in Silver Bay, Minnesota.

1956

Minnesota Department of Health begins investigation into Lake Superior water near Silver Bay site. The information is not made public for ten years.

1966

The federal government dispatches scientists from the National Water Quality Laboratory to study Lake Superior in the Duluth area.

1967

Reserve Mining produces 12 percent of all iron in the United States.

1968

A taconite study group, developed by several agencies within the Department of the Interior, issues a report recommending that Reserve Mining ceases its dumping of tailings in Lake Superior within three years.

1969

The Lake Superior Enforcement Conference, organized to stop Reserve Mining from dumping tailings in the lake, holds its first meeting.

1969

The Sierra Club sues to revoke Reserve Mining’s permits to dump tailings in Lake Superior.

1970

State district Judge C. Luther Eckman allows Reserve Mining to continue dumping in Lake Superior.

1970

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is formed.

1972

The EPA asks the Department of Justice to sue Reserve Mining Company, and in February, the complaint is filed. In April the trial begins in Minneapolis, with Judge Miles Lord presiding.

1972

On June 15, Judge Lord allows the EPA to publicly release its findings on Reserve Mining’s discharges into Lake Superior. The information is widely reported across the state and the country.

1974

Judge Lord rules against Reserve Mining and orders the Silver Bay plant closed as of 12:01 A.M., April 21. Post-trial hearings begin the very next day. Appeals and stays keep the plant open.

1975

The Eighth Circuit court finds that the tailings dumped in Lake Superior pose a health threat, but the court refuses to reinstate Judge Lord’s order, so the plant remains open.

1980

After years of appeals, the Reserve Mining Company completes construction of its Lax Lake tailings impoundment, an inland dumping ground for taconite tailings, and the release of tailings into Lake Superior ends.