State will review copper-nickel project near BWCAW despite federal stance

Minnesota Public Radio

Minnesota regulators said Friday they plan to conduct their own independent environmental review of the proposed Twin Metals Minnesota copper-nickel mine, rather than collaborating on a joint review with federal regulators.

Twin Metals has yet to file its mine plan of operations — which will detail the specifics of the operation, from its physical footprint to how it will handle waste material. That will kick-start the environmental review process. The project has already come under fire for its close proximity to the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials made their announcement Friday, after discussing the issue at length with Twin Metals and the federal Bureau of Land Management. With Twin Metals expected to submit its mine plan next month, DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen said “we needed to make a decision.”

It signals a departure from the way the agency approached another mine proposal in the region — the PolyMet copper-nickel mine, which would be the first of its kind in Minnesota. For that project, the DNR partnered with the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to oversee the project’s Environmental Impact Statement, a crucial piece of the regulatory process.

In announcing the decision Friday, DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen said the agency is committed to “ensuring a thorough, scientific and neutral review of the proposal based on state law.” And she said the DNR believes it can best accomplish that goal by conducting a separate environmental review from the one that the federal government will also conduct.

The prospect of a copper-nickel mine on the doorstep of the Boundary Waters has launched a bitter statewide debate, with environmental groups warning of possible catastrophic water pollution in the state’s most beloved wilderness area, and business and labor groups celebrating the possibility of hundreds of high-paying jobs — and a revival of the region’s natural resource-based economy.

For more of this story, see http://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/11/22/

minnesota-to-do-state-

review-of-proposed-coppernickel-mine