The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota issued a decision on June 2, 2014, in a matter involving a water quality variance for an iron nugget production facility in Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, owned by Mesabi Nugget Delaware, LLC.  WaterLegacy Advocacy v. U.S. E.P.A., — F.R.D. —, 2014 WL 2462852 (D. Minn. 2014). In 2012, MPCA approved granting a water quality variance to Mesabi Nugget as part of its renewed NPDES permit for Mesabi Nugget’s Large Scale Demonstration Plant in Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, which processes wastewater from Mesabi Nugget’s commercial scale iron nugget production facility. The variance addressed discharges into Second Creek of the Partridge River Basin (St. Louis County Minnesota) and applied to Minnesota water quality standards for the Class 3C Industrial…