Information on comments and the process for Polymet’s NorthMet mining permits is located at the MPCA and DNR links below:
MPCA’s NorthMet Project Webpage
DNR’s NorthMet Comment Portal
Links to four permits open to comment and deadlines for comments:
DNR Permit to Mine … open until March 6, 2018
MPCA NorthMet Air Quality Permit … open until March 16, 2018
MPCA NorthMet Water Quality Permit … open until March 16, 2018
MPCA NorthMet Draft 401 Certification (wetlands) … open until March 16, 2018
As I posted on August 20, 2017:
“A copper sulfide mine in the Arrowhead of Minnesota will change the meaning of “north woods” as we know it.”
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Autumn grass near Babbitt, MN
Kingbird
Along the North Shore, Mn
Saganaga Lake
wetlands near Babbitt, Mn
Lutsen, Mn
on route to ely, mn
Bear Head Lake, MN
wild iris
wild rose
Canadian border on the Minnesota side
Common Loon NE MN waters
fishing at Bear Head State Park
Bald Eagle at Bear Head
on the way to Marcell, MN, up stream of what is a very boggy place at actual headwaters of the Mississippi, not far from Prairie River and Day Creek and the Hill of Three Waters
Another view into the wilderness of ne mn
near Babbitt, MN
Over a century’s toll of mining iron ore in the uplands of the Laurentian Divide:
Hull Rust Mine, the “Grand Canyon” of Minnesota 2012
Will we trade the health of our water for a copper mine?
Could dimensions of copper-sulfide mining reach the proportions of the Hull Rust Mine in Hibbing Minnesota? Babbitt, a doorway to the BWCA at Birch Lake and the location of the proposed NorthMet copper mine, is located in the Laurentian Uplands, a recharge area for three of the greatest river systems in North America.
Can the land and waters of these mines be reclaimed essentially?
A view from the steel lookout above the Hibbing mine November, 2012
an “earth mover” at the Hibbing mine
Hull Rust iron mine in 2012
What harm could mining do? Is there a better way? Recycling perhaps?
Dedication in Chisholm to the Iron Miners
aquifers surrounding the Babbitt area where Poymet wants to build a copper mine
northern lake in area of proposed copper mine, MN
dying birch northwest of Silver Bay coal fired plant
on route to ely, mn
… a grove of birch along Highway 1 on the road to Ely, Mn where lumbering, taconite mining and the effects of acid rain can be seen …
white pine along highway 1
What will be left once copper mining has begun in earnest?
For the sake of our waters and the northern ecology of this priceless watershed, please send your comments.