In 2020, a $186 million cleanup began at Minnesota’s Spirit Lake; four years later, 1.3 million cubic yards had been remediated and a 14-acre fish-spawning bay created
For over a century, the industrial engines of Minnesota’s Iron Range drove the economy of Duluth. Raw iron ore moved down through the St. Louis River basin, feeding massive manufacturing plants along the shore. But that industrial output came with a long-term environmental tax. At Spirit Lake, which is a broad stretch of the river…