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On Wednesday, April 28, the Minnesota Supreme Court called for a halt on Polymet’s permit to mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area watershed.
The 48-page ruling calls for Polymet’s waste management plan to be sent back to the DNR for a contested case hearing. That process will review whether the mine’s tailings pond, which will use a bentonite liner, would safely keep pollution from entering the area’s watershed and eventually make its way into the boundary waters.
In early March of this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed a voluntary motion remanding its downstream water quality decision under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act.
Polymet responded, saying the science shows Polymet’s project has no downstream water quality effects and reminded the EPA that two weeks earlier, a federal district court had dismissed claims against the EPA, citing Section 02 of the Clean Water Act.
Located in the Duluth Complex in northeastern Minnesota on the Iron Range, the NorthMet Project seeks to mine copper, nickel, palladium, and commercial cobalt, platinum, and gold reserves.
On April 22, 2021, Earth Day, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) reintroduced a bill that would stop sulfide ore copper mining in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). The Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act permanently protects 234,328 acres of federal land from sulfide-ore copper mining.
Attracting more than 155,000 visitors each year, the BWCAW is the most heavily visited wilderness in the United States.
Minnesota U.S. Senator Tina Smith recently called for a ban on a mineral withdrawal process for federal lands near the BWCAW. That process would involve the Department of Interior and involve a comprehensive study of the environmental impacts of mining near the Boundary Waters and look at the economic, ecological, and cultural impacts mining could have on the area. Results of that study could result in a 20-year ban on mining in the BWCAW watershed.
In a statement from the Minnesota DNR issued on Wednesday, April 28, the same day the Minnesota Supreme Court came out with its’ decision, the DNR stated,
“The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is currently reviewing today’s Minnesota Supreme Court decision on the PolyMet permit to mine and dam safety permits.
“We appreciate and respect the Court’s careful evaluation of issues related to the DNR’s first application of Minnesota’s non-ferrous mining statute and rules.
“Notably, the Court offered a clarifying interpretation of who has standing to request a contested case hearing but concurred with the DNR’s application of the standards for granting a contested case hearing.”
“The Court found ample evidence in the permit records to support the DNR’s decisions on the critical issues of dam safety and tailings basin closure.”
“The Court further found that the DNR did not need to hold a contested case hearing on financial assurance or whether Glencore was required to be on the permit to mine at the time of permit issuance.”
“We will carefully review and implement the Court’s instructions regarding establishing a fixed term for the permit to mine and granting a contested case hearing on whether bentonite is a practicable and workable technology to reduce oxygen infiltration into the project tailings.”
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