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A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is stepping into the legal battle surrounding the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine.
According to a press release from the Fond du Lac Reservation Business Committee, on Sept. 10, the Band filed a lawsuit in Minnesota federal district court against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The lawsuit is significant to the Band because the proposed mine will be located in the Ceded Territory where the Fond du Lac Band retains treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather. It is also 70 miles directly upstream from the Fond du Lac reservation.
The band also has state status under the Clean Water Act, which means that it has the same rights as a state because it regulates water quality within the reservation.
“As such, the Band has the right to ensure that the PolyMet Mine will not violate the Band’s downstream water quality standards, which in the case of the pollutant mercury, is stricter than Minnesota’s water quality,” the press release stated.
The lawsuit claims that the EPA and Army Corp ignored multiple requests by the Band for notice and a public hearing to ensure the mine discharge will not violate Fond du Lac’s water quality standards downstream. The EPA and Army Corp also did not respond to the Band’s requests and expert analysis supporting the conclusion that the discharge would violate those standards. As such, the lawsuit contends, the EPA failed to uphold its oversight responsibility.
“The Band is not against mining but wants to ensure that any new mining operation in Minnesota complies with the law and is protective of the environment, not only for the Band and its members, but for ALL Minnesotans,” said Fond du Lac Chairman Kevin Dupuis.
The press release stated that the St. Louis River within the reservation already exceeds Band water quality standards for mercury and has health advisories to limit fish consumption based on mercury contamination in fish that Band members rely on for subsistence and cultural practices. The PolyMet mine, the press release stated, will also be a source of pollution in the headwaters of the St. Louis River “for at least the next 200 years, if not in perpetuity.”
