On Oct. 2, 2024, at the regular monthly meeting of Duluth’s Natural Resources Commission (NRC), one item of business on the agenda was the “Tischer Fish Kill Response Update.” Two months earlier, the NRC had requested an update on an ongoing state investigation into the circumstances surrounding a mass July 31 fish kill in Tischer Creek.
The city has acknowledged that the kill is likely related to 1.7 million gallons of drinking water released into Tischer Creek from the Woodland Reservoir. Beyond that, no additional public details about the incident are available.
“We understand, from the state, that it may be some time before the investigation is complete,” Director of Parks, Properties, and Libraries Jim Filby Williams told the Commission. Filby Williams added that city employees were still prohibited from commenting on the case while the investigation was ongoing.
Commissioner Nancy Schuldt spoke of her “frustration” with “the lack of information that was forthcoming” from the city and made a motion to send a resolution to the City of Duluth Administration and state Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, requesting more information about the investigation.
Commissioner Mike Schrage eagerly seconded the motion.
This led to a little pushback from Mr. Filby Williams, who wondered if the Commission had the authority to issue statements independently of the city administration.
Williams: I’m not experienced with something precisely of this sort, so I would need to seek some guidance on whether the Natural Resources Commission has the authority to do that, regardless of the wishes of the entire city organization, or whether it’s subject, in some sense, to the approval of the organization. I think, even in the latter case, you know, I would expect a reasonable deference to the NRC’s scope of authority. But I think that’s the question.
Commissioner Schuldt brushed his objections aside, stating that she wished to establish a record of her concern—something she felt should certainly be within the Commission’s purview to do.
Schuldt: Well, it would be good to know process, because if we do make and pass a resolution as a commission, it becomes part of our administrative record and it goes up on the city’s website. It’s hard for me to imagine that a, essentially, a non-actionable recommending resolution … [will] ruffle too many feathers with the city, in terms of directly conveying it to the MPCA.
“So what if it does?” demanded Commissioner Schrage. “Make the resolution. Run it up the flagpole. If the city says, ‘We don’t like it. You can’t do that’—fine, say it. But I say make the resolution.”
This declaration was greeted with a chorus of assent around the table. Several commissioners said, “I agree with Mike.”
“You know, what is our purpose?” asked Schuldt. “If we, as a Commission … are concerned about the natural resources within the City of Duluth, it just feels really impotent to say nothing and do nothing. And we don’t have any kind of authority to force any kind of action, but we can most certainly use our voice as a Commission.”
Later during the meeting, Schrage returned to this topic: “I guess I’ve always assumed that that was part of our role, to advise and give voice to the natural resources, and we shouldn’t have to have the city’s permission to do that. The Commission votes on a topic, that this is how we feel about it, and [if] this is the recommendation we want to make to the City Council, the mayor and staff, then we should make it … The Commission should be very careful about being managed.”
After further discussion, the Commission approved a resolution urging the city and the MPCA to “expedite release of their report” and asking that they be “forthcoming with general procedural information.”
Cover photo: Tributary entering Tischer Creek. Credit: John Ramos
