Bad River Tribe Says It Will Meet Deadline For Fixing EPA Violations

The Bad River Tribe says they’ll meet an Environmental Protection Agency compliance deadline to stop violations at its wastewater treatment plant.

The EPA sent Tribal Chairman Mike Wiggins a notice last week that they had until the end of January to fix problems including exceeding phosphorus, E. coli, suspended solids and biochemical oxygen demand. Wiggins says they’ll do that.

“The EPA’s compliance plan, which is very tightly scheduled and a very aggressive plan to rectify, can be met,” says Wiggins. “That’s what we’re shooting for. We want to meet the EPA’s requirements.”

This is a sensitive issue for Bad River, since they’re leading critics of a proposed iron mine in the Lake Superior watershed. They’re asking the EPA to stop any pollution from a possible mine.

“We’re working as vested partners,” says Wiggins. “When we self-reported our wastewater treatment issues, that was us essentially saying to our partner, ‘Let’s work together, let’s get this going’.”

Wiggins says by the end of this construction season, they’ll have spent $1.6 million in getting the waste treatment plant to meet federal standards.