Don Shelby covers sulfide mining issue

Bob Tammen

Two sides of the debate

In Monday’s segment, Shelby interviewed Joe Scipioni, president and CEO of PolyMet Mining Corp., and Hoyt Lakes mayor Marlene Pospeck about their support of new mines. Shelby also spoke to Scott Strand, the executive director of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, and Bob Tammen, a resident of the Iron Range town of Soudan and a retired mineworker, about the perils of mining proposals in northeastern Minnesota.

Strand’s research has found this type of mining could cause long-term pollution and serious health threats.

“The reality is Polymet will still be opening up thousands of acres of sulfide ore that’s currently under ground,” said Strand. “When we expose sulfide ore to air and water, it produces sulfuric acid and it produces sulfates.”

The concern is that the acidic sulfates would find a way into the Partridge and Embarrass rivers and eventually into Lake Superior. That could lead to higher mercury levels in fish.

Polymet assures it will use new technology and other precautions to prevent pollution, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has so far rated the draft plan “environmentally unsatisfactory” and said it should “not proceed as proposed.”

Watch the full story »

One point from the segment deserves clarifying. Shelby stated that the area where PolyMet would mine has been “mined for decades.” In fact, the PolyMet mine site has never been mined before, although it is adjacent to an existing mining district.

The PolyMet proposal would destroy at least 1,000 acres of high-quality wetlands, the largest ever permitted in Minnesota, including peatlands of great significance to sequestering global warming gasses. The site was also identified as special habitat worthy of protection in inventories by government scientists in the late 1990s. It could even mean the destruction of the state’s entire population of the endangered floating marsh marigold.

A third way?

In Tuesday’s segment, Shelby offered his own opinions and ideas regarding the issue. He seemed to think that sulfide mining presents unacceptable risks to the state’s clean water, but that something must be done to develop new industries on the Iron Range, including the production of steel and, ultimately, wind turbines.

What if they made windmill towers with the steel from the range?

There’s one windmill farm on the Taconite Ridge in Virginia and the towers came from Indonesia.

What if the Range used its own people and own resources to begin Minnesota’s Energy Efficient Economy?

What if.

Watch the full story »

In both segments, the issue was portrayed as a black-and-white debate, with jobs on one side and nature on the other. But what was not mentioned is the potential negative economic impacts of sulfide mining in northeastern Minnesota. The region is home to the state’s biggest tourist destination, the BWCAW, and a $1.6 billion tourism and recreation industry.

Many who make their living in sustainable parts of the economy are worried that PolyMet and other mining proposals could mean short-term jobs for long-term environmental and economic pain. In addition to the contamination of clean water and public land, future clean-up operations, if mine “damage deposits” are inadequate, could fall to the state’s taxpayers to the tuns of tens of millions of dollars.

Speak up

Sign the “Send PolyMet to Summer School” petition to demand the highest level of environmental review. The Environmental Protection Agency gave PolyMet’s draft environmental review a failing grade. The proposal should not move forward until much more work has been done to provide adequate information, and prove that the mine won’t cause serious water pollution and other negative environmental impacts. Sign the petition today!

Kekekabic Hiking Trail closed

May 5, 2010 update: The Kekekabic Trail has been re-opened and fire restrictions in the Superior National Forest have been eased, but a campfire ban remains in the BWCAW. Full details.

The Superior National Forest issued this statement today:

Beginning Friday, April 23, 2010, the Forest Service will close the entire Kekekabic Trail on the Superior National Forest to public use. The closure begins at Snowbank Lake Road: includes Wilderness Entry Point 74, Snowbank Lake Trail, Disappointment Lake Trail and all other associated connector trails and loops, Entry Point 56: and ends at Gunflint Trail County Road 12.

Superior National Forest managers are taking this step in response to the very high fire danger in northern Minnesota. The concern is that hikers could potentially become trapped if a wildfire starts and spreads in remaining blowdown fuels in the interior of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The Kekekabic Trail will remain closed until further notice.

This closure is in addition to a Forest-wide prohibition on the use of any campfires, charcoal or wood-burning campstoves on any national forest lands within the Superior National Forest. State and local government have enacted similar restrictions on other lands in northern Minnesota.

For additional information call 218-626-4300 or visit the Superior National Forest web site or the Minnesota Incident Command System web site.

Paddle the Mississippi River

Heading downriver.

UPDATE 5/17/2010: The canoe trip is now full and registration is closed. We’re looking forward to a great time on Saturday. If you missed out this time, stay tuned… we’ll be offering this popular event again!

Enjoy a fun urban canoe adventure with the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness and Wilderness Inquiry. We will paddle down the Mississippi River Gorge in nine-person “North Canoes” for a few hours and have lunch afterward at Hidden Falls Regional Park. Canoes, paddles, and lifejackets will be provided.

The event is rain or shine, so be prepared for the weather.

When:
Saturday, May 22, 2010

Where:
East River Flats to Hidden Falls Park, Mississippi River

Schedule:
9:00 a.m. – Drop off your car at Hidden Falls Regional Park North Gate and ride our shuttle to East River Flats
9:30 a.m. – Canoe from East River Flats to Hidden Falls
1:00 p.m. – Lunch at Hidden Falls (please bring your own bag lunch)

Map of the meeting location.

Please R.S.V.P. by May 17 to Sacha at 612-332-9630 or sacha@friends-bwca.org.

We hope you can join us!

$5 – 10 suggested donation per person

Help “Green Up the Gunflint”

For the third year, the Friends is co-sponsoring the Gunflint Green Up, which seeks to restore red and white pines in areas burned along the Gunflint Trail by the Ham Lake Fire of 2007.

This year’s event will be held the weekend of May 7 and 8. Efforts will focus on “releasing” previously planted trees. Volunteers will help trim brush from around young trees to give them the boost they need to get established and grow.

Not only is this a great event to do some valuable ecological restoration work near the Boundary Waters, but it also a wonderful time of year to be in the north woods. And, with this year’s early arrival of spring, volunteers could easily tie in a wilderness canoe trip before or after the event!

In addition to the workday on Saturday, the weekend features several family-friendly events, including an interpretive hike on the new Centennial Trail, a welcome picnic and presentation about boreal owls, and a thank you dinner with a live band and dance.

Check out the Green Up website for details and registration. If you are planning to attend, contact Sacha Casillas at sacha@friends-bwca.org to let her know.

Gunflint Green Up website »

Winter 2010 newsletter and 2009 annual report now available

The Friends’ combined Winter 2010 newsletter and 2009 annual report is now available. Members should have received a printed copy in their mailbox this week. You can read the newsletter as a PDF at this link.

The newsletter and annual report includes:

• A cover story about the success of “Precious Waters,” our short documentary film about sulfide mining, in raising awareness of this important issue around the state
• Executive director Paul Danicic’s letter about issues affecting the BWCAW and his vision for how we can help protect it
• A map and story about mine exploration and development at the edge of the Boundary Waters
• A two-page spread detailing our comments on the PolyMet mine proposal Draft Environmental Impact Statement and related issues
• Upcoming events
• Our fiscal year 2009 programs and accomplishments and financial statements
• The list of our 2009 donors
• An article about the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas project

You can download and read the newsletter as a PDF. Enjoy!

Celebrate Earth Day by protecting our clean water

Take the “Send PolyMet to Summer School” petition to Earth Day events and help us collect the signatures which will send a message to our government agencies that clean water is our most precious resource. We’ve produced a printable toolkit of materials so you’ll have everything you need.

It is extremely important that proposals for new sulfide mines in Minnesota go through the most rigorous environmental review possible to prevent the sorts of disasters that have frequently accompanied this form of mining in other states.

Unfortunately, the first such mine proposal, PolyMet, has put forward a proposal that would cause unacceptable environmental destruction, and the environmental review has been inadequate and incomplete. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave PolyMet’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement a failing grade in February. It is a rating that the agency has given to less than one percent of all 11,000 EISes it has reviewed since 1987.

Part of the EPA’s rating was  that the project should not proceed to the usual next step, the development of a Final EIS and then permitting, but that the company and the lead government agencies, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, should spend more time on the Draft and produce a supplemental or revised version of the document and make it available for public review and comment before proceeding.

The “Send PolyMet to Summer School” petition calls on the DNR and the Army Corps of Engineers to do just what the EPA said they should. If you haven’t signed it yet, you can do it right now. It just takes a moment. Once you’ve signed it, send the link to your friends and family, asking them to speak up too, and then print out our petition materials and collect signatures at Earth Day events or any other time.