Friends submits comments on mineral exploration near BWCAW

Click the graphic to submit your own comments on the plan by Thursday, June 30.

In our analysis and recommendations (PDF) on a new proposal for sulfide mineral exploration on public lands near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the Friends has told the Forest Service that such activities near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are inappropriate, and the environmental review itself is incomplete and inadequate.

Specific recommendations on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) include:

1. Mineral exploration in the area should not be approved due to its proximity to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and the region’s current emphasis and use for recreation.
2. The development of high-level guidelines mineral exploration and development should be done separately from the environmental review for specific prospecting applications.
3. More complete review is needed, and more work should be done to incorporate all the necessary information to evaluate impacts and effectiveness.
4. Mineral exploration could have significant impacts on local ponds and streams, and more information about plans for monitoring is required.
5. Additional noise pollution in the BWCAW is unacceptable, and monitoring and mitigation efforts need to be fully described to understand how such impacts will be avoided.
6. Study of impacts on Canada lynx and wolves should be completed, and more detail provided about what will be done to avoid harming those species.
7. Because this DEIS only concerns exploration on National Forest lands, and additional drilling is occurring on neighboring lands under private and state control, more analysis of cumulative impacts is necessary.

Click here to read our full comments »

Fatal flaws

In a separate letter (PDF), the Friends joined the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and the Center for Biological Diversity in calling on the Superior National Forest to address serious omissions and errors regarding impacts to Canada lynx before proceeding with the environmental review and permitting process.

In regards to the exploratory drilling’s impact on Canada lynx, the environmental review is highly inadequate. Data and analysis is inconsistent and written at the level of a working document and relies on an incomplete Biological Assessment, which the DEIS states will be completed later. By not presenting a completed Assessment, it is impossible for the public to analyze and comment on the proposals impacts.

In the letter, the Friends and our partners ask the Forest Service to provide the detailed information necessary to evaluate impacts on lynx, and make the information available to the public for comment, through either an extended comment period, re-opening the comment period once the necessary work has been completed, or a supplemental draft Environmental Impact Statement.

One Comment

• Digging our own hole | Greg Seitz says:

  June 29, 2011 at 1:52 pm

  [...] The latest environmental impact statement is unfortunately flawed, too. It tries to do two things — provide high-level guidelines for even more exploration anticipated in the future, and review impacts of the 33 permits up for consideration — and doesn’t do either very well. There is not nearly enough information about how noise pollution in the BWCAW will be prevented, what will be done to ensure local ponds and streams are not de-watered, or how species like the Canada lynx and wolves will be protected. You can learn more on the Friends’ website. [...]