The court said the state agency must determine, again, whether the planned expansion of a basin holding back mine waste near Lake Superior requires an environmental impact statement.
The notice came after the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency denied U.S. Steel's request allowing downstream Hay Lake to have sulfate levels nearly 8 times higher than the state wild rice standard.
From the column: "For too long, Democratic administrations — aided by anti-mining, anti-jobs activists — have prevented our miners from developing the Duluth Complex."
From the column: "The Boundary Waters wilderness ... is owned by the American people. The three Boundary Waters counties are (its) frontline of defense."
An official weighing whether to accept a judge's recommendation to reject it placed those proceedings on hold after NewRange said it is studying potential changes to its design.
From the column: "Why should we mine toxic, high-sulfide nickel in northern Minnesota when other areas of the world have nickel that is not in toxic, high-sulfide deposits?"
In July, President-elect Trump vowed to reverse Biden’s mineral withdrawal on 225,000 acres of federal land in the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in “about 10 minutes.”
From the column: "The need for more mining is urgent and compelling. ... That should be music to the ears of residents of the Northland and Minnesota’s Iron Range."
