"Minnesota environmental organizations suing state agencies for nitrate pollution", 7 March 2025.

...The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA), alongside Minnesota Trout Unlimited and the Minnesota Well Owners Organization filed a joint lawsuit on Jan. 28 against the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. 

Aaron Klemz, chief strategy officer for MCEA, said the lawsuit’s goal is to change farming practices to decrease nitrate contamination in Minnesota’s groundwater.

“It’s not like we sued somebody because they did something, broke the law or it’s a punitive lawsuit,” Klemz said. “It’s more of we really think there’s a problem here that’s not being addressed by current rules.”

John Lenczewski, the executive director of Minnesota Trout Unlimited, the conservation organization working to protect cold water fisheries, said the organization joined the lawsuit to fight for the interests of trout fishermen and fish populations...

In a 2022 report, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency identified nitrates as a harmful nutrient to human and animal life at high levels and proposed limiting the amount of nitrates in Minnesota’s cold waters.

...Exposure to high levels of nitrates is linked to bladder and bowel cancers, according to Klemz.

People can be exposed to nitrates when too much fertilizer is used on crops, which can cause rain to wash away the excess nitrate in the fertilizer, Klemz said. Those nitrates can seep through the ground and into groundwater resources, he added...

MCEA petitioned the federal government about Minnesota’s lacking nitrate regulations in 2023 and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency directed the state to immediately address nitrate contamination, according to the MCEA website.

State agencies began that process, Klemz said, but the changes have not yet reduced unsafe nitrate levels. Stopping overuse of fertilizer and changing farming manure disposal practices is key to reducing excess nitrates in Minnesota’s groundwater, he added...