PolyMet proposes to open Minnesota’s first sulfide mine. The company’s mineral rights existed on land owned by the Superior National Forest, which prohibits open-pit mining. Polymet, therefore, proposed a “land swap” with the Superior National Forest. Swapping thousands of acres between public and private ownership requires environmental review and scrutiny of the quality of land solicited for exchange in terms of wetlands, species, and habitat.

Prior to the environmental review being completed for the land exchange, in December 2010, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) approved a $4 million loan to PolyMet for the project.  The loan violated the state’s environmental review law, which explicitly prohibits major governmental actions, including government investments, on projects whose environmental impacts are not yet known.  The law is supposed to prevent giving a green light to projects or the impression that they will go forward until the environmental consequences are known.

MCEA joined co-plaintiffs Center for Biological Diversity, Save Lake Superior Association, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, and Indigenous Environmental Network in a state lawsuit arguing the IRRRB loan approval violated state law. MCEA filed suit under the Minnesota Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) to invalidate the IRRRB’s decision and prevent the state from taking any further action to assist or authorize PolyMet’s proposed sulfide mine until after the environmental review for the project was completed. 

In March 2011, however, the Minnesota legislature passed a law exempting the IRRRB from environmental review requirements under MEPA. Due to the law change, the case was dismissed.

PolyMet’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement is scheduled to be released in July 2012.

For more information on MCEA’s current involvement on the PolyMet proposal click here.

MCEA Documents:

Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief

Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment

Outside Documents:

The Forest Service’s page on the PolyMet Land Exchange