U.S. Army Corps revokes allow for Minnesota mine, cites menace to tribal water requirements

MINNEAPOLIS — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mentioned Tuesday it has revoked an important federal allow for the proposed NewRange Copper Nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota, a mission popularly often called PolyMet, saying the allow didn’t adjust to the water high quality requirements set by a sovereign downstream tribe.

The Corps mentioned in a press release that it revoked the Clean Water Act allow, which it had beforehand suspended, “because the permit does not ensure compliance with water quality requirements of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.” The tribe’s reservation, on the St. Louis River, is downstream from the mine and processing plant website close to Babbitt and Hoyt Lakes.

“This is a huge victory,” mentioned Paula Maccabee, an legal professional for WaterLegacy, one of many environmental teams which were preventing the proposed mine in courtroom and within the regulatory course of for a number of years. “It’s a victory for tribal sovereignty, it’s a victory for science, it’s a victory for the law. Although PolyMet has suffered other setbacks, this is by far the most consequential victory for human health, water quality and tribal sovereignty.”

The Corps mentioned NewRange Copper Nickel is free to submit a brand new allow utility with modifications to the mission to make it adjust to the tribe’s water high quality necessities. But Maccabee mentioned the Corps’ determination memo makes it clear that it will be troublesome for the corporate to efficiently deal with all the problems raised by the tribe and the Environmental Protection Agency.

NewRange mentioned it’s contemplating its choices because it digests the choice and decides on its response. Some different key permits additionally stay tied up by authorized challenges.

“The Corps’ decision is one that requires careful review, determined action, and further engagement with regulators and all key stakeholders,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.

PolyMet Mining and Teck Resources finalized a 50-50 three way partnership in February that renamed the mission NewRange Copper Nickel. They hope to finish the copper-nickel mine that PolyMet had been growing for a number of years, and to finally construct a separate mine subsequent door in a good bigger ore physique that Canada-based Teck controls. PolyMet Mining’s largest shareholder is Swiss-based minerals and mining big Glencore.

The Corps initially awarded PolyMet the Clean Water Act allow in 2019. At the time, Corps officers mentioned the mission complied with all relevant federal legal guidelines and rules.

But it suspended the allow in 2021 on the request of the Environmental Protection Agency in order that the EPA, in response to a courtroom ruling, might examine the results downstream on each the Band’s reservation and the Wisconsin waters of the St. Louis River, which types part of the Minnesota-Wisconsin border. The Corps then held a public listening to in May of 2022 on whether or not the allow needs to be reissued, revoked or modified.

Tribal officers instructed federal officers then that the mine would violate its water high quality rules, that are stricter than the state’s, notably for mercury and another pollution. The tribe mentioned its larger requirements are wanted to guard the fish and wild rice which can be vital elements of its members’ diets and tradition. The EPA agreed, and really useful that the Corps not reinstate the allow.

In Tuesday’s announcement, the Corps mentioned it was obligated to revoke the suspended allow given the absence of adequate circumstances within the present allow “to ensure compliance with the applicable downstream water quality requirements of the Band” below the Clean Water Act.

“This is a milestone determination and further proof that under law and science, this kind of mining does not belong in an area where there’s so much water,” mentioned Chris Knopf, government director of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.

NewRange reiterated that it believes the mine can produce copper, nickel and platinum-group metals wanted for the clear vitality financial system in a accountable and sustainable method, whereas creating jobs for northeastern Minnesota. The firm mentioned it has proven that its mission, via its proposed water remedy and administration processes, would end in internet reductions of sulfate and mercury ranges within the St. Louis River system.

Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Stauber, who represents the world, slammed the choice, saying it’s going to make the U.S. extra reliant on China for vital metals.