ST. PAUL — The state of Minnesota and U.S. Steel have reached a deal that permits the company to expand production at one Iron Range plant while capturing polluted wastewater at another, state officials said Friday.

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency officials said that the deal protects the environment without interfering with economic development on the Iron Range.

However, environmentalists and Indian tribes oppose the agreement in part because they don’t believe the pollution-reducing technology and techniques called for in the deal will work.

The deal is similar to a contract and is called a schedule of compliance. It specifies certain actions the company will take at its huge Minntac plant near Mountain Iron and at the smaller Keetac plant to the west.

Ann Foss, manager of the MPCA’s industrial division, said she was happy U.S. Steel decided to take a comprehensive approach that covered both air and water pollution issues.