PolyMet draft environmental study released. Will Minnesota’s clean waters be protected?

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – With the release today of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement  for PolyMet Mining Corp.’s NorthMet project, Minnesota’s citizens and leaders must make serious decisions about how to protect the water and other natural resources of the state for decades to come.

“PolyMet’s project represents a new kind of mining which has never been done in Minnesota before,” said Mary Marrow, staff attorney at Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. “It’s a type of mining that has led to major environmental disasters in other places. We’re very concerned because PolyMet wants to do sulfide mining in Minnesota’s water-rich environment, right next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Lake Superior.”

In contrast to Minnesota’s long history of iron mining, the potential for problems with mining for sulfide ores, such as copper and nickel, is significant because of the industry’s long track record of pollution, failed predictions, and leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for multi-million dollar clean ups. (see attached for specifics)

“This is an important moment for the future of Minnesota’s natural resources,” said Betsy Daub, policy director of the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. “Minnesotans owe it to future generations to pay close attention and get involved in this decision-making process to protect our treasured lakes, rivers and streams.”

Because the draft impact statement was only released this morning and is more than 1,500 pages long, neither organization has had a chance to review it completely. However, as Marrow, Daub and experts retained by the organizations read it, they will be looking for the projected pollution from the mining, how it will be dealt with during operations and in the decades after the mine closes. In addition, they will be looking for significant financial assurances so the public does not get stuck with the clean-up bill.

Starting Nov. 2, Minnesotans will be able to submit comments to the Department of Natural Resources providing input about the PolyMet project and its potential impacts on northeastern Minnesota’s clean water. This is the test case. Several other sulfide mining projects in the state are currently in the exploration or development phase so public involvement now is essential to shaping future decisions about the potential of sulfide mining in Minnesota.

Much more information about the PolyMet project, details about what is contained in the draft impact statement, and easy tools for submitting citizen comments are available at the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness website at www.friends-bwca.org/issue/sulfide-mining/.  To review the report commissioned by MCEA and Sierra Club on the economic impacts of mining in Minnesota, read The Economic Role of Metal Mining in Minnesota: Past, Present and Future at http://www.mncenter.org/Research/tabid/60/Default.aspx

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The Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness works to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness through advocacy and education. Founded in 1976 to help pass the legislation that permanently designated the Boundary Waters as federal Wilderness, the organization’s mission is to protect, preserve and restore the wilderness character of the Boundary Wates Canoe Area Wilderness and the Quetico-Superior ecosystem. Online at www.friends-bwca.org.

For 35 years, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy has been the legal and scientific voice protecting and defending Minnesota’s environment. As a statewide environmental advocacy group, we work in the courts, the legislature and state agencies to develop and implement environmental change. Online at www.mncenter.org.

One Comment

• Activists Gearing Up for PolyMet Comment Period | Wilderness News Online says:

  October 30, 2009 at 10:39 am

  [...] Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness released THIS statement on the matter.  The organization has produced a film on the issue — Precious [...]

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