GUEST VIEW: Don't make stuff up when it comes to PolyMet

In a representative democracy where discussion of issues should be fact-based, it’s always disappointing when publicly elected officials resort to mischaracterizations, half-truths, and good-old-fashioned propaganda to advance their position. Such was the case in the Aug. 2 letter to the editor, “Iron Range Legislators show support for PolyMet.”

The seven Iron Range legislators began by stating, “The claims by metro legislators and anti-mining groups about PolyMet Mining are downright fabrications.”

These “claims” have to do with the recent factual revelations that, in granting PolyMet permits to mine, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency kept written concerns from Environmental Protection Agency staff out of the public record. MPCA further failed to address serious environmental concerns when voiced directly by the EPA.

On Tuesday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals placed a stay on a water quality permit for the mine, citing irregularities in how the permit was issued.

Based on these facts, 18 Democratic legislators sent a letter to Gov. Walz on July 24. They asked him to suspend the PolyMet permits issued by the MPCA and the Minnesota DNR. According to Walz’s office, the matter is “currently being reviewed in court.”

The concerned Democrats went on to cite the tragic failure of a tailings dam in Brazil in January. That dam was similar in design to PolyMet’s, and its collapse resulted in the loss of at least 248 lives. Referring to the similarly designed PolyMet tailings dam, Minnesota DNR’s own mining consultant, Don Sutton, stated that this design is “inherently unstable and irresponsible,” and “will eventually fail.”

Brazil has banned and is currently decommissioning all existing dams of this design.

In their Pine Knot News letter to the editor, the seven Iron Range legislators stated that (in Minnesota) “We know how to mine safely; we hold our companies to high standards.” They failed to note that a copper-nickel sulfide mine has never operated in Minnesota. PolyMet has never operated a mine anywhere, and Brazil, out of heartbreaking experience, is now holding its mining companies to a critically higher standard than Minnesota.

The Range lawmakers also stated, “We have never had a dam failure in Minnesota.” They seemed to have forgotten that on April 24, 2018, water and sediment from the abandoned Hector Mine breached an earthen berm, then flooded downstream into the Embarrass River, polluting connected lakes.

In their July letter to the governor, the 18 Democrats noted with concern the recent stock buyout by international mining conglomerate Glencore. Now controlling 70 percent of PolyMet shares, Glencore is currently under investigation by U.S. government agencies for money laundering and corrupt trading practices.

The seven Iron Range legislators wrote in the Pine Knot News: “It’s time for long-awaited good-paying jobs on the Iron Range.” Yes, it is. But is Glencore the company that will bring such jobs?

In 2015 the United Steelworkers gave Glencore the Silver Medal for second-worst company in the world. In doing so, they noted that “Glencore has mistreated workers and harmed communities on nearly every continent.”

The MPCA and DNR permits hold neither PolyMet nor Glencore fiscally responsible for any long-term environmental cleanup or damages. As the seven Iron Range lawmakers correctly stated in this newspaper, those permits required PolyMet to only “provide the financial resources needed to close the mine if the company went bankrupt.”

In writing to the Pine Knot News, the seven Iron Range lawmakers repeatedly mischaracterized groups who raise legitimate concerns over this environmentally dangerous copper-nickel sulfide mining plan and the scandalously compromised behavior of the MPCA. In their attempt to discredit those voices, they performed a disservice to their constituents and the people of Minnesota.

Environmental groups such as Duluth for Clean Water, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, and WaterLegacy each have their own unique, publicly stated mission to protect Minnesota’s water resources from the clear dangers presented by sulfide mining. Each organization supports safe taconite mining practices. No reasonable person would conclude that these groups are anti-mining.

By promoting a false and divisive narrative about their opposition, these seven legislators clearly intended to provoke anxiety. By continually vilifying critics as “anti-mining” they implied that those thinking critically about how and why permits were issued for this sulfide mine pose a threat to far more than this project only. They insinuated that anyone opposed to sulfide mining also poses a threat to taconite mining itself, and a proud way of life on Minnesota’s Iron Range.

Their objective was obvious: let no one consider that the real threat to those good things might actually be PolyMet’s proposed copper-nickel sulfide mine.

The people of Minnesota, including the Iron Range and every community living downstream from this mining project, deserve better. Real leadership thrives on unbiased discussion of issues, without spin, half-truths, and innuendo. This is a style of leadership, and of government, that these seven legislators seem unwilling to offer.

Timothy Soden-Groves is a writer and thinker, environmentalist and Carlton resident.