As an owner of the Superior National Forest, would you like to sell a chunk of it on the cheap for a strip mine?

No? We didn’t think so. But that’s just what Congress is being asked to do, circumventing a time-tested process meant to ensure consideration of the public’s interest in National Forest lands and the environmental impacts of such an important decision.

Rep. James Oberstar has introduced H.R. 4292 in the House of Representatives, which would allow the U.S. Forest Service to sell approximately 6,700 acres of land it owns to PolyMet, Inc. so the mining company can operate a strip mine for copper and other minerals on the site. This legislation would provide a windfall to a private mining corporation at the expense of taxpayers. Senator Amy Klobuchar is poised to introduce a companion bill in the Senate.

We need to convince Sen. Klobuchar not to introduce that bill. You can help today by contacting her and your newspapers.

Although the Friends has serious reservations about this type of mining – which has never been done before in the state and poses enormous risks to the wild places of northern Minnesota – our primary concern with this legislation is the circumvention of established processes. This legislation would carve out an exception to a tried and tested process for the benefit of a single corporation.