EPA criticizes PolyMet proposal

UPDATE 3/5/2010 – PolyMet has issued a statement that says the EPA’s criticism was based only on the proposed action in the Draft EIS, not the alternatives:

“The EPA’s rating of the draft EIS as unsatisfactory appears to have been based on the ‘proposed project’ without  consideration of alternatives or mitigations discussed in the document.”

This is false. In page two of the EPA’s letter, the agency states:

“This rating applies to the Proposed Action, the Mine Site Alternative and the Tailings Basin Alternative.”

In its comment letter to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the two lead government agencies on the environmental review), the EPA gave the DEIS the lowest rating possible.

In its comments, the EPA stated the all waste rock at the mine site would be acid generating, “and acidic water moving through the waste rock and tailings will mobilize metal and sulfates, leaching them into groundwater and surface water. The DEIS projects that water quality standards will be exceeded for sulfates and other contaminants…”

• Read the comments letter here for more details about the agencies concerns with the project.
• Minnesota Public Radio story about the criticisms.

One Comment

• Digging our own hole | Greg Seitz says:

  June 29, 2011 at 1:47 pm

  [...] to the Spruce Road acid mine drainage, there was the PolyMet environmental review, which earned a failing grade from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in February 2010.  The EPA doesn’t make a [...]