If it wasn't for the copper-nickel mine that could result in the end, even the most hardened PolyMet opponent could find something to cheer in the proposed land exchange between the federal government and the mining company.
The public is to receive more land than it'll give up: 6,690 acres to become part of the Superior National Forest in exchange for 6,650 acres at the mining site near Babbitt. What's more, the land to be received by the public has road access, making it ideal for things like fishing and hunting. It also offers access to wild rice lakes. And it includes valuable shoreland property, including frontage on the Pike River in the headwaters of Lake Vermilion.
The land the public gives up, by stark contrast, is almost entirely inaccessible and has been surrounded by mining activities since the 1950s.
Against that backdrop, this summer, U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan introduced bipartisan legislation to complete the land swap. If passed, the bill would check off one more box for PolyMet in its quest to finally build and operate a copper-nickel mine on the Minnesota Iron Range.
Nolan's bill has the added bonus of trumping federal lawsuits against the land swap. There currently are four of those - with the certainty of more as a strategy by opponents to indefinitely stall the project. Lawsuits against the land swap could keep being introduced and could drag on so long opponents could then argue to a court that the project's environmental reviews are too old and need updating, or appraisals are outdated and need to be redone, further stalling the project.
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"There'd be no end in sight," as Brad Moore executive vice president of environmental and governmental affairs for PolyMet, said in an interview last week with the News Tribune, including with the Opinion page. "We've gone through a rigorous public process. ... At some point someone has to say, 'There has been enough.'"
That someone is Nolan. And his bill. And he's not alone. His legislation already is co-authored by Reps. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Tom Emmer, R-Minn., Jason Lewis, R-Minn., Scott R. Tipton, R-Colo., Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., Tom McClintock, R-Calif., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. The U.S. Forest Service signed off on the land swap in January, an official nod that the deal is fair and appropriate.
"After 12 years of scrupulous review, it's time to get the (land) exchange over and done with so we can fully focus on furthering a new-generation of good-paying mining jobs in Northeastern Minnesota," Nolan, D-Minn., said in a statement to the News Tribune this month.
Nolan's bill doesn't speed up any process to push PolyMet closer to mining, as state Sen. Erik Simonson, DFL-Duluth, charged via Twitter this month. Instead it brings this one necessity to an appropriate conclusion after thorough, exhaustive, and effective scrutiny. Permitting and other processes that still need to be completed continue entirely on their own, as they should.
"Our bipartisan bill in no way interferes with the important role and work the state of Minnesota, U.S. Army Corps, the EPA, and other agencies are undertaking to ensure these strategic minerals can be mined safely and in accordance with state and federal regulations to protect the environment," Nolan said in his statement.
If this land swap sounds familiar, it's because it was first proposed seven years ago by PolyMet and the Forest Service. It was decided then to put it off until the project's environmental review could be completed. PolyMet's Environmental Impact Statement was approved in 2015 after nearly 10 years of study. So the time is right now for Nolan and his bill.
Even if PolyMet opponents refuse to acknowledge there's any public benefit in it to cheer.-The Duluth News Tribune
