A 30-day public review of the 3,000-page final environmental impact statement (EIS) for PolyMet’s proposed coPper-nickel mine opened November 13 and will be open until December 14.
Polymet has spent 10 years and $28 million attempting to establish a mine on the Iron Range. The company is proposing to extract copper, nickel, and platinum elements over the course of 20 years in an open pit mine located in the St. Louis Watershed on the eastern edge of the Mesabi Iron Range, about 6 miles south of Babbitt and about 1 mile south of the existing iron ore Northshore Mining plant.
The ore would be processed at the former LTV steel plant in Hoyt Lakes.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Forest Service prepared the expansive EIS. It includes responses to approximately 58,000 public comments submitted for the 2013 EIS supplemental draft as well as responses to comments made on the first EIS draft in 2009.
Included in the document is in-depth analysis of potential impacts on wetlands, air and water quality, wildlife, and cultural resources, and proposals to reduce impacts through project modifications, mitigation and alternative actions.
If the DNR decides the final EIS is acceptable, the environmental review process will be finished for the state, but the project would still need to receive 20 local, state and federal approval permits before it could begin.
Based on comments received after the first release of the supplemental EIS, five changes were made to the final EIS. Those include potential impacts to moose, plants, and animals; new information about human health impacts; revisions for the design of the tailings in basin water containment system which holds leftover materials from mineral processing; additional analysis of water flow to ensure the agency’s modeling accurately describes likely water quality impacts; and making a monitoring and mitigation plan to prevent potential northward flow of groundwater through bedrock at the mine site.
Environmental groups and Native American tribes have long opposed the project because of the potential for seepage of mercury and sulfate that could, if leaked, pollute the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for several hundred years.
“The idea that water treatment plants will operate for hundreds of years is not believable. Therefore, the statement that water quality standards will be met is also not believable,” states one of the many opposing opinions sent to the Minnesota DNR.
Upon issuing the final EIS, DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr said, “Our responsibility is to conduct a neutral evaluation based on information from the company, our own analysis, and the comments we receive. The process has been thoughtful, independent and thorough.”
Public comments on the PolyMet Environmental Impact Statement can be submitted electronically to NorthMetFEIS.dnr@state.mn.us or by mail to: Lisa Fay, EIS project manager, Minnesota DNR Ecological and Water Resources Division, Environmental Review Unit, 500 LaFayette Road, Box 25, St. Paul, MN 55155.
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