Jeremy Drucker, senior advisor, Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, reports that the lawsuit filed last summer against the U.S. Department of Interior for its decision to reinstate the Twin Metals mineral leases, “is in its early stages.”
The lawsuit was filed on Thursday, June 21, 2018 with Sawbill Outfitters and Hungry Jack Outfitters joining seven other northern Minnesota businesses who are challenging the U.S. Department of Interior’s decision to reinstate two long-expired mineral leases on Superior National Forest lands within the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).
Included in the list of plaintiffs filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia were Outward Bound School, Piragis Northwoods Company, Ely Outfitting Company and Boundary Waters Guide Service, Wenonah Canoe, Women’s Wilderness Discovery, River Point Resort and Outfitting Company and Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness.
“Our legal team is working on gathering documents in the administrative record of the leases,” said Drucker.
“As you probably know the significant developments since the lawsuit was that the Trump Administration canceled the two-year study of the environmental, economic, cultural and social impacts of sulfide-ore copper mining near the Boundary Waters,” added Drucker.
In January of 2018 the Trump administration curtailed an environmental impact study of the land and water that could be affected by a sulfide-ore mine, and decided to move forward with a less stringent review called an environmental assessment.
Twin Metals Minnesota (TMM) hopes to mine copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, gold and silver approximately nine miles southeast of Ely and 11 miles northeast of the city of Babbitt near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA).
If the permits are allowed, TMM has projected the underground mining operation will bring 650 full-time jobs to the area as well as create 1,300 spinoff jobs.
As planned now, the processing plant will accept approximately 20,000 tons of mineralized ore per day.
Even though the lawsuit was filed, Drucker said Twin Metals is moving forward with their plans to mine. “They are trying to move as far along as possible before the lawsuit is resolved,” he added.
TMM plans to connect the mine and processing plant by tunnel and keep half of the tailings stored underground as permanent cemented backfill in the mine. Remaining waste tailings will be stored on a lined surface tailings facility near the Peter Mitchell Mine southwest of the city of Babbitt, which is located outside of the Rainy River Watershed.
According to the June 21 filing, the lawsuit challenges the Department of the Interior ’s decision to abandon a longstanding mineral leasing policy.
The reinstatement, which the plaintiffs contend is illegal, “also ignored the U.S. Forest Service’s decision to withhold consent to the reinstated mineral leases because of the likelihood of harm to the water quality of the Boundary Waters and the inability to mitigate Acid-Mine Drainage (AMD) in the vast interconnected rivers, lakes and streams of the BWCA.”
As for Twin Metals, the Chilean-owned mining company Antofagasta plans to build a 100-acre ore-processing facility next to Birch Lake, closer to the BWCAW than they originally planned to put their operation.
In the lawsuit, the petitioners note, “The Boundary Waters is not only home to fish and abundant wildlife in its 1.1 million acres of interconnected waterways and boreal forests— it’s also Minnesota’s outdoor recreation destination for paddlers, hunters, anglers, canoeists, adventurers, artists, and outdoor enthusiasts from around the country.
“Minnesota’s Governor Mark Dayton, other elected officials, four Minnesota and First Nation Chippewa tribes, thousands of medical professionals, more than 50 scientists, and 70 percent of Minnesotans oppose sulfide-ore copper mining in the watershed of the Boundary Waters.”
More than 350 businesses, sportsmens groups, and conservation groups have joined to oppose sulfide ore copper mining.
According to the Outdoor Industry Association, outdoor recreation in Minnesota generates annually $16.7 billion in consumer spending, $4.5 billion in wages and salaries, and $1.4 billion in state and local tax revenue, and it supports 140,000 direct jobs. According to Explore Minnesota (the state tourism department), the Boundary Waters and Voyageurs
National Park are major contributors to the economy of northeastern Minnesota, where tourism supports more than 17,000 jobs and generates $913 million in sales annually. Finally, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation has documented Minnesota’s strong hunting and fishing tradition: Minnesota ranks 7th nationally in spending by sportsmen and women; annually Minnesota hunters and anglers spend $3.17 billion and support 47,901 jobs.
Using these economic outdoor recreation numbers, if sulfide-ore copper mining were developed in the watershed of the Boundary Waters 4,490 jobs would be lost, 10 times the number of new direct mining jobs that copper mining is projected to bring to all of Minnesota and Douglas County, Wisconsin according to the study cited by copper mining proponents.
The 2012 study The Economic Impact of Ferrous and Non- Ferrous Mining on the State of Minnesota and the Arrowhead Region, including Douglas County, Wisconsin by the Labovitz School of Business and Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth projects that copper mining projects will lead to only 427 direct mining jobs.
As of now, Drucker said, “Judge McFadden, has set up a prompt schedule, with motions by the parties due in the first half of 2019. Hard to know much more than that at this point.”
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