News and Events

Mercury and the St. Louis River

The Minnesota Polution Control Agency (MPCA) has recently restarted working on the Mercury TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) for the St. Louis River. The problem of mercury in fish in the river has long been a concern of the McCabe Chapter of the Izaak Walton League. There is a complex relationship between elemental mercury in the environment, microbes in anerobic organic sediments, sulfate pollution and water levels that determine how much methylmercury accumulates in fish making them unfit to eat.

Here's a research report that helps to explain this issue for those of you who are interested in the scientific side of this problem. For those who are not science oriented, the Plain Language Summary on the first page does a nice job of explaining things in understandable terms. 

Finally, here's a short power point by Bruce Monson of the MPCA that outlines the Mercury TMDL process for the St. Louis River.