Nolan Opposes GOP Efforts To Gut Environmental Protections, And Proposed “Federal Technical Institute On Mining” To Help Industry

Nolan, In Article Cited By Ad: I Support Streamlining Permit Process, “But That Bill Does A Great Deal More”; “It Guts Basic…Protections.” From the Duluth News Tribune article reprinted in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and quoted by AAN: “Nolan refused to support the House bill, or the larger rush to take environmental laws off the books, saying successful mining can occur with thorough environmental review and safety regulations. ‘I would support the parts of the bill that streamline the process when possible,’ Nolan said. ‘But that bill does a great deal more than that. … It guts basic environmental, health and safety protections. … Democrats and Republicans both support mining. The difference is that Democrats insist on rules and regulations to protect human and environmental health.'” [Duluth News Tribune, 7/18/12]

Pioneer Press Article Centers On Nolan’s Proposal For Mining Institute To Balance Productivity & Environmental Concerns. The Duluth News Tribune article reprinted in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and quoted by AAN begins, “DFL congressional candidate Rick Nolan proposed on Wednesday, July 18, development of a new federal technical institute on mining and the environment to help the industry overcome production and environmental issues to create more jobs — an idea immediately panned by his opponents as expensive and ineffective. Nolan said the institute would help push applied research that would help mining companies overcome technical problems such as how to extract more mineral from the same rock, but also to overcome environmental issues like reducing waste rock and making sure mine runoff doesn’t damage local waterways. Nolan said the institute should be built on Minnesota’s Iron Range and would create hundreds of jobs on its campus as well as attract mining research investment to the region as it worked to promote the local and national mining industry. ‘The U.S. Bureau of Mines was closed by Congress in 1996,’ Nolan said. ‘Since that time we have done little to help our domestic mining industry, or the environmental community, solve the difficult issues we face as a nation developing our strategic minerals resources.'” [Duluth News Tribune, 7/18/12]

EPA Objections To PolyMet Mine Proposal Based On “Unacceptable And Long-Term Water Quality Impacts”

February 2010: Draft Environmental Impact Statement Received Lowest Possible Rating For “Unacceptable And Long-Term Water Quality Impacts.” From the WTIP article cited by AAN: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released an analysis of the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the PolyMet copper-nickel mine proposed for Minnesota’s Eastern Iron Range.  The agency says the mining operation would result in ‘unacceptable and long-term water quality impacts,’ and should not proceed as proposed. The EPA cites more than two dozen ‘inadequacies,’ in the draft Environmental Impact Statement and has given the document the lowest EPA rating possible, ‘Environmentally Unsatisfactory and Inadequate.’  In a 29 page review of document, the EPA identified three main areas of concern: water quality, wetland impacts, and financial assurance.” [WTIP.org, 2/24/10]

• Sulfide Mining Creates Steady Stream Of Sulfuric Acid Flowing Into Nearby Wetlands. From Minnesota Public Radio: “On a recent spring day, Minnesota’s mining experts met in the Duluth convention center. The Sierra Club’s Clyde Hanson used the occasion to draw attention to his concerns about PolyMet’s new mining venture. The problem with sulfur is how easily it produces sulfuric acid when it contacts air. Hanson says rainwater can wash the acid and metals like copper and nickel out of rock piles, and from the walls of mine pits. ‘The acid changes the chemistry of lakes and waters and streams … kills fish and wildlife, kills the critters at the bottom of the food chain,’ Hanson says. ‘It lasts. It’s a persistent pollution. It just keeps oozing out these sulfur wastes for generations of time. So it creates a situation where you might have to collect all this waste and run a treatment plant forever.'” [MPRNews, 5/25/06]
• Proposed PolyMet Site Is Close To Boundary Waters Wilderness Area, Drains Into Lake Superior. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Officials behind the environmentalists’ campaign say their surveys show only 5 percent of Minnesotans are aware that potentially massive mining projects could soon spring up near favorite northern lakes and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. […] PolyMet, which was incorporated in Canada and is headquartered in Hoyt Lakes, has proposed an open-pit mine in a wetland and forested area now owned by the U.S. Forest Service near Hoyt Lakes and which drains to Lake Superior. The rock would be moved by train and processed at a retrofitted taconite plant nearby. PolyMet expects to complete a second environmental impact review in the fall; the first, in 2009, was sharply criticized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The state would then decide whether to give the company a permit to mine.” [Star Tribune, 5/22/12]

December 2011: PolyMet Announces Revised Environmental Impact Statement Won’t Be Finished Until Mid-2012. From the Associated Press: “The proposed PolyMet Corp. copper mine in northeastern Minnesota is facing more delays in the timetable to finish its environmental review. PolyMet’s vice president of environmental and government affairs, Brad Moore, told the Duluth News Tribune on Tuesday that the mine’s revised state-federal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) probably won’t be completed until the second quarter of 2012. That’s months later than predicted by state and federal officials, including U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-Minn., who said the statement would be ready by January.” [Associated Press via Businessweek, 12/7/11]

Mid-2012: PolyMet Announces New CEO, Says Revised Environmental Impact Statement Won’t Be Finished Until 2013. From Minnesota Public Radio: “Polymet, the company that’s been working for more than four years on environmental review for a proposed copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota, has hired a new CEO. The company describes its new top executive, Jon Cherry, as an expert in environmental review and permitting. He recently helped develop an underground copper mine in Arizona, and before that worked on the planned Eagle copper mine in Michigan. […] Polymet has struggled to complete an environmental review for the project, to be located near Hoyt Lakes. After the federal government, tribal and environmental groups raised objections to an earlier version, the company says a revised report will be ready early next year.” [MPRNews, 6/21/12]

Minnesota Mining Industry Thriving Despite Supposed Heavy-Handedness From EPA

Mining Engineering: “Minnesota Ranks As The Third Largest” In Earnings From Non-Fuel Mining. From Mining Engineering Magazine: “Minnesota is a major mining state. This statement is not a dream or stretch goal but is a fact. As reported in a recent edition of Mining Engineering magazine, Minnesota ranks as the third largest state in terms revenues generated from nonfuels mineral production. The vibrancy of the mining sector in Minnesota can be attributed to several factors. The northeastern corner of the state is home to Minnesota’s iron range, one of North America’s largest deposits of iron ore. Iron ore from Minnesota is a strategic resource that has been instrumental to the nation’s development – 90 percent of the iron used to build ships and planes during World War II came from Minnesota. Taconite pellets now produced from openpit mines on the iron range are shipped to steel mills worldwide. The growing appetite for steel in China and India has reignited once moribund mining operations throughout the iron range.” [Mining Engineering Magazine via Scribd, July 2012]