SILVER BAY, Minnesota – The Northshore Mining Company will have their day in court this morning in a hearing before the state court of appeals. They will be facing off against the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.

The mining company is trying to get the state to remove its permit limit on asbestos emissions for their Silver Bay plant. Currently, the standard requires that the amount of asbestos fibers in the air around the plant must be equal or less than the amount that is found in the air around St. Paul.

Environmental groups see this as an attempt to remove the only standard that regulates the amount of asbestos fibers that the mine’s processing plant can send into the air around the small town of Silver Bay. Mining company officials say that they object to the form of the limit itself, which requires that it meet a fluctuating standard that cannot be predicted, and which, they state, the plant has been in compliance with for years.

At issue is a controversial air quality standard that was established many years ago by a judge who was unable to determine ‘safe levels’ of asbestos fibers in the air. The standard is one of a kind – a so-called ‘control city standard’ which ties the limits of asbestos fibers that the mine can output to the air quality levels in the city of Saint Paul, which was arbitrarily selected by a federal court judge thirty years ago.

Back in the early 1980s when the issue came up before the court, there were no experts that could enlighten the court on what levels of asbestos might be “acceptable”. The judge chose to rule that the asbestos in the air around Silver Bay could not exceed the levels of asbestos in a control city – one without a mining facility nearby. The judge chose St. Paul.

The problem with this, says Northshore Mining, is that it’s a moving target. They achieved that standard years ago when they installed air pollution controls and air scrubbers in the plant facility. However, in the last few years, the asbestos levels around St. Paul have dropped lower – and the law says that Northshore Mining must bring the levels around Silver Bay lower as well.

An attorney for the environmental agency says that removing the standard from the company’s permit would effectively remove any controls on the amount of pollution that Northshore Mining may output – and put the residents of Silver Bay at risk of developing mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.

Airborne asbestos fibers in the air have been linked to mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that destroys the lining around the lungs, heart or abdominal cavity. In addition, it increases the risk of developing lung cancer, throat cancer and a number of other cirborne asbestos fibers in the air have been linked to mesothelioma, a deadly cancer that destroys the lining around the lungs, heart or abdominal cavity. In addition, it increases the risk of developing lung cancer, throat cancer and a number of other cancers. The history of asbestos in the United States is one where big business ignored the safety and health of its workers and the general public, exposing them to a deadly airborne pollutant that kills thousands of people a year.

The company says that they just want the elimination of a moving standard, and would accept a defined standard, particularly one that is health-based. Unfortunately, there is currently no health-based standard and the national environmental agencies state that there is no safe level of asbestos exposure. Several studies that are being undertaken currently may help define that more clearly.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure, Minnesota. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.