Several companies, including Twin Metals, PolyMet, and others that aren’t as far along in the process toward production, want to open the state’s first copper-nickel mines. They would be located in the headwaters region west of Cook County where pure waters flow into three great watersheds.
The article “Forest Service Moving Forward with Environmental Assessment…” in the February 3 paper gets two of them mixed up. It starts out talking about the proposed withdrawal of federal lands in the Rainy River watershed from the federal mineral leasing program, which would protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageur National Park and impact Twin Metals’ efforts to mine along the edge of the BWCAW. In the third paragraph it switches to PolyMet, which threatens the St. Louis River watershed and Lake Superior (and probably, due to complex hydrology, the BWCAW as well). In paragraph 8 it switches back to the withdrawal.
The mistake is understandable: both issues have to do with the threat posed to our shared environment by mining in sulfiderich ores for copper, nickel, and other minerals. Both companies in the spotlight now have the backing of big multi-national corporations with bad records in environmental and human rights protections (Swiss Glencore for PolyMet and Chilean Antofagasta for Twin Metals).
The chemistry is the same: both would result in acid mine drainage and airborne pollution that would impact the health of humans and other organisms downstream and down wind. But the paths toward production by the interested companies and the state and federal agencies involved are not the same, so opportunities for citizen involvement in the two processes are different too.
Several citizen advocacy groups are providing information and working to protect our waters and other resources from this kind of mining in Minnesota, some focusing more on PolyMet and others on Twin Metals. Grand Marais’ Sled Dogs to St. Paul was an early force opposing PolyMet; Water Legacy, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, and Friends of the Boundary Waters are among the leaders on that issue. Cook County’s Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness’ Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters and its thousands of supporters from around the country focus on the fight to protect the Rainy River watershed.
PolyMet has crossed several hurdles and now the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has issued a draft permit to mine. The DNR has opened a public comment period on the draft, with open houses and listening sessions hosted by DNR and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in Duluth and Aurora the first week in February. Written comments are welcome until March 6 and can be made to the state’s PolyMet Portal (polymet.mn.gov) or MN Department of Natural Resources; Division of Land and Resources; 500 Lafayette Road North, Box 45, St. Paul, MN 55155-4045.
The Forest Service had been engaged in a study of environmental and economic factors, which would have led to an Environmental Impact Statement to inform the Bureau of Land Management’s decision on the land’s withdrawal. But now the Trump administration, supported by Congressman Nolan, has circumvented that legal process by cutting short the study and mandating a less comprehensive and rigorous Environmental Assessment (EA). The Forest Service invites comments through February 28 that will be considered in EA development, at go.usa.gov/xnfQh, by selecting “Comment/Object to Project” link on the right hand side of the page or at Superior National Forest, 8901 Grand Avenue PL, Duluth, MN 55808, attn. Withdrawal EA.
Ellen Hawkins
Tofte
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