It’s getting easier all the time for a mining company to say it can follow the law, especially when the law is constantly tailored to suit their direct interests. Taconite mining operations in Minnesota have been violating water protection laws for decades, including a standard regulating sulfates, which kill wild rice stands. State Representative Tom Rukavina says “we don’t have any idea” what a safe level is but if the law is finally enforced, it will harm taconite mining corporations and new Canadian corporations trying to mine in Minnesota. Rukavina said the new sulfate standard should be 25 times what it is now. Read the rest of this entry »
Minnesota Further Weakens Laws Regulating Mining Industry
March 6, 2011
Leave a Comment » | 
Minnesota | Tagged: native american, Minnesota, PolyMet, mpca, iron mine, taconite, sulfates, wild rice, rukavina | 
Permalink
Posted by LSMN
PolyMet Drops Plan to Process at Hoyt Lakes Plant
February 3, 2011PolyMet Mining Corp. announced Wednesday that it no longer plans to produce finished copper metal at its planned processing plant near Hoyt Lakes, a move that will reduce startup costs by a fifth and the number of long-term jobs by a tenth. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Minnesota | Tagged: mining, Minnesota, PolyMet | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
Record prices boost Minnesota’s copper-nickel projects
February 3, 2011from Minnesota Public Radio’s Bob Kelleher:
Record prices for copper are helping to fuel controversial new efforts to mine the red metal in Northern Minnesota.
Copper set new records earlier this year and continues trading near record highs of over $4.40 a pound, pushing cash into northeast Minnesota’s developing copper-nickel projects. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Minnesota | Tagged: antofagasta, copper, Duluth Metals, hardrock mining, mining, Minnesota, PolyMet, sulfide mining, twin metals | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
More Revolving Door Action in Minnesota
January 25, 2011from Minnesota Public Radio:
Brad Moore, a commissioner for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency under Tim Pawlenty, has been hired to be a lobbyist for PolyMet Mining Corporation. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Minnesota, PolyMet | Tagged: Minnesota, PolyMet, mining, barr engineering, mpca, revolving door | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
PolyMet Caught Lying; Mine Plan Bad As It Gets
March 9, 2010In February, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a strong condemnation of the environmental review of PolyMet’s proposed NorthMet mine. The project, and its environmental review have been heartily endorsed by state and federal politicians, including US Senator Al Franken and US Representative James Oberstar.
According to EPA statistics, PolyMet’s “draft environmental impact statement,” (DEIS) is incredibly incompetent. Less than 0.4% of all such reviews obtain such a bottom-of-the-barrel rating.
Disturbingly, PolyMet’s amateurish DEIS was conducted by a firm working with Aquila Resources to develop a zinc-gold mine on the Menominee River, in Michigan. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Law, Aquila, Minnesota, PolyMet | Tagged: Law, Aquila, Minnesota, PolyMet, EPA | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
National Water Pollution on the Rise
March 3, 2010The latest from Charles Duhigg’s “Toxic Waters” series in the New York Times shows that, while Clean Water Act violations are rapidly rising, enforcement actions are declining at the same quick pace. Part of the problem comes from recent US Supreme Court decisions that have exempted many of the nation’s waterways from protection under the Clean Water Act.
Not many are getting the message. A recent editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune supporting PolyMet’s controversial NorthMet project claims that environmental laws are strong and are vigorously enforced. Only four days after the Tribune’s confident editorial, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a strong critique of the environmental review of PolyMet’s project, giving it the lowest possible rating, “environmentally unsatisfactory-inadequate,” and recommending the mine “must not proceed as proposed.” Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Law, Health, lake superior, water pollution, Minnesota, PolyMet | Tagged: Law, water pollution, Minnesota, PolyMet, public health, lake superior | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
Feds: PolyMet Environmental Review “Unsatisfactory”
February 23, 2010
US Senator and comedian Al Franken is one of PolyMet's staunchest supporters
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a strong critique of an environmental review of PolyMet’s proposed NorthMet mine, located outside of Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, and is recommending the mine “must not proceed as proposed.”
According to the agency, PolyMet’s project “may have substantial and unacceptable adverse impacts on aquatic resources of national importance.” The criticism comes months after a slew of state and federal politicians issued statements of support for the project, assuring the public and media the review was rigorous and the mine would not harm the environment.
In a December 9 support letter for PolyMet US Senator Al Franken told the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) the project should be approved:
“Throughout this multi-year process, PolyMet has done their due diligence and has faithfully followed the law. This includes providing all the necessary information for the draft environmental impact statement (EIS). The resulting draft describes the many steps PolyMet will take to minimize environmental impacts.” Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | public land, water pollution, Minnesota, PolyMet | Tagged: water pollution, public land, Minnesota, PolyMet | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
Cliffs Cited for Extensive Minnesota Iron Mining Pollution
January 25, 2010
PolyMet plans to purchase this processing site; reportedly, Cliffs would maintain a roughly 7% stake in PolyMet's proposed NorthMet project
Three groups today announced their intent to file a lawsuit against Cliffs Erie, a subsidiary of Cliffs Natural Resources, for ongoing water pollution from previous taconite iron mining at three sites on Minnesota’s Iron Range. PolyMet Mining Co. plans to utilize two of the sites in order to dispose of wastes from its proposed metallic-sulfide NorthMet project. As part of a purchase agreement, Cliffs would maintain a roughly 7% stake in the project. The other Cliffs site, at the old Dunka Mine, is closer to Franconia Minerals and Duluth Metals’ proposed sulfide projects.
A news release issued by the Center for Biological Diversity noted that, “according to Cliffs Erie’s own monitoring reports, there are numerous ongoing violations of water-quality laws relating to management of the former LTV tailings basin. PolyMet’s proposal for its copper-nickel mine is to pile its own tailings waste on top of those from a former taconite mine that are still polluting.” Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Law, Cliffs Natural Resources, water pollution, Minnesota, Duluth Metals, PolyMet | Tagged: Law, cliffs, water pollution, Minnesota, Duluth Metals, PolyMet | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
Public Unable to Speak at PolyMet Meetings
December 12, 2009
As the result of tightly-controlled verbal public comment, few participated in that part of the PolyMet DEIS process; Photo courtesy Lori Andresen
Hundreds of PolyMet Mining Company supporters were bussed to public meetings in Aurora and Blaine to provide comments on the company’s draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed NorthMet project. The organizing effort was combined with a public relations blitz of endorsements from Minnesota state and federal politicians -including the late endorsement of Senator Al Franken – the Minnesota AFL-CIO, construction groups and the Chamber of Commerce. Despite the large turnout, the public was unable to speak at either meeting.
“The ‘public hearings’ didn’t actually allow public comments to the audience,” said retired miner, Bob Tammen. “The only oral comments allowed were by individuals to stenographers in a tightly monitored room separate from the auditorium. That meant that the only outside speakers allowed were Iron Range legislators.”
Citizens wanting to give verbal public comment registered here in order to speak, privately, with a stenographer; Photo courtesy Lori Andresen
In a new public hearing format, described as “enhanced” by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), public comments were severely restricted with the only speakers allowed to voice opinions on the project being staunch political supporters of PolyMet’s NorthMet proposal. State Senator David Tomassoni and State Representative Thomas Rukavina gave speeches at the hearing in Aurora, on Wednesday, while State Senator Thomas Bakk chimed in at the Blaine hearing, the following day. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | public land, economy, lake superior, water pollution, Minnesota | Tagged: water pollution, dnr, economy, Minnesota, PolyMet, "Sustainable Mining" | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
Duluth Metals Finds More Metal in Deposit
October 31, 2009Duluth Metals, a company quietly but rapidly assessing the mineral value of a gold, copper, platinum and paldium deposit outside of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, claims that additional drilling has located even more metal than previously.
The incredibly water-rich area, highly valued by the State of Minnesota for tourism, has attracted a number 0f projects in addition to Duluth Metals’ Nokomis Project, many located on public land, in the Superior National Forest.
Franconia is hoping to mine directly underneath Birch Lake; PolyMet has recently submitted a draft Environmental Impact Assessment for it’s massive proposed NorthMet Project, located in a large wetland area; and Kennecott has been exploring further south, in Aitkin and Carlton counties.
In 2006, Aitkin County, Minnesota, refused to allow Kennecott exploration access. Never a company that allows the opinion of local citizens to get in its way, Kennecott sued the county and continued with exploration.
Leave a Comment » | Duluth Metals, Franconia, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Minnesota, PolyMet, public land | Tagged: Duluth Metals, Franconia, Kennecott, Minnesota, PolyMet, Rio Tinto | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
LSMN
Eve Divine
doncorvette
