MPCA delays vote on park haze rules

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Regulators have postponed voting on a plan for reducing haze over the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens Board was set to vote Tuesday on whether to send the plan to federal regulators. But the Star Tribune reports the plan was criticized by eight of the 12 organizations that testified, and one mining company said new the emissions limits might force it to cut production.

The board will take it up again next month. In the meantime, MPCA staffers will negotiate with Cliffs Natural Resources, which told the board its taconite plant in Hibbing would have trouble complying.

Environmental groups, as well as the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service, say the plan won't cut haze enough.