The North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Save Lake Superior Association (SLSA) is planning to sue the Northshore Mining Co. in Silver Bay. They have already faxed a notice of intent to sue to Northshore officials in Cleveland and Silver Bay on May 29. The move was planned after the discovery of higher-than-acceptable levels of mineral fibers in the air near the plant. "The environmental groups are worried for years regarding the lethal fibers, but haven't been able to do much about it as there's been no standard for judging the level of danger, and there's been no data to refer to", said LeRoger Lind of Two Harbors, a member of SLSA. From March 2006 onwards, an air quality test has been carried out as a as a requirement for reactivation of furnace No. 5 at Northshore. Lind said that it's been revealed from the released data that the levels of airborne fiber near the Silver Bay plant are three times higher than the acceptable limit. The plant has violated both the federal court order and Northshore's operating permit under the federal Clean Water Act, Lind added. "Another impetus for the pending lawsuit was that 50 more cases of mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer, were discovered on the Iron Range," Lind said. "That certainly brought back the seriousness of this issue. I'd like them to admit these fibers are dangerous, but they don't. The problem is that is that no one has come out with a standard to measure just how dangerous they are." Lind said that they were not after shutting the plant down or getting people laid off. "It's a public health issue. We've filed notice and are ready to go." The Minnesota Supreme Court had agreed in 1978 that air quality comparison studies between Silver Bay and St. Paul (as a control city) should be done regularly. However, the testing was stopped in 1990's, and it never went back to the courts. Anyway, it was restarted in March 2006 as a requirement for reactivation of furnace No. 5 at Northshore.
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