Send PolyMet to Summer School -- Request the responsible government agencies produce a supplemental or revised draft EIS for the PolyMet mine proposal, complete with an additional public comment period, before proceeding to the final Environmental Impact Statement. 

They and the company haven't done their homework.  Is this indicative of the assurance they would give of the safety of this new toxic type of mining in Minnesota?

US EPA rates PolyMet Project & DEIS
"Environmentally Unsatisfactory" & "Inadequate"

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave its assessment of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) published for the first proposed sulfide mine in MN: the PolyMet NorthMet copper mine. 

"Based on our review of the DEIS, EPA has rated the DEIS as Environmentally
Unsatisfactory - Inadequate, or EU-3. Environmentally Unsatisfactory (EU)
indicates that our review has identified adverse environmental impacts that
are of sufficient magnitude that the EPA believes the proposed action must
not proceed as proposed."  READ more EPA Findings ...

The PolyMet DEIS flunked both tests used by the EPA. By giving the PolyMet NorthMet DEIS its lowest possible ratings, the EPA has confirmed our concerns that the PolyMet open-pit sulfide mine will result in unacceptable harm and that the DEIS underestimates project impacts.  Read WaterLegacy's press release. 

*     Also, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says "The anticipated environmental impacts of the proposed action are not fully and fairly addressed in the DEIS."

Recent News Articles about the EPA's Findings

• Nancy Schuldt and Paula Maccabee: PolyMet mine can't proceedas proposed.    Opinion page, Star Tribune  2/25/10
• EPA slams PolyMet’s copper mine plans:
  A draft Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed PolyMet copper mine near Babbitt is “Environmentally Unsatisfactory — Inadequate,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided.
  By Steve Kuchera, Associated Press   Duluth News Tribune, February 24 2010
• EPA says PolyMet mine report is 'inadequate' by Stephanie  Hemphill, Minnesota Public Radio, February 22,  2010

MORE NEWS...

DEIS COMMENTS

Over 3,800 letters and 10,000 public comments were received on the controversial PolyMet NorthMet copper-nickel mining and processing DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement).

See WaterLegacy's SUMMARY comments on the inadequate PolyMet DEIS, or WaterLegacy's full comments

Tribal Agency Comments (text only) on the DEIS  more detail below).  Tribal Agency full comments, including attachments.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Comments (U.S. Department of Interior)

DEIS Comments by CSP2 (CENTER for SCIENCE in PUBLIC PARTICIPATION)

WHAT'S NEXT?

The entire 1000+-page DEIS is available online at the DNR website.  But underlying technical documents referred to are missing; request these separately from DNR.  (Please report to WaterLegacy your experience in seeking EIS-related documentation.)  Compiled Comments temporarily were posted by US ACE for the PolyMet DEIS.  The public comment period ended February 3, 2010. 

NEXT in the EIS process:  MDNR and Army Corps must address all comments in  preparing the Final EIS (FEIS).  There are  dozens of substantive omissions in the DEIS that must be addressed.  The Army Corps says that there will be either a Revised DEIS or Supplemental EIS, compete with another public comment period.  The schedule for these activities is uncertain.

Both this FEIS and a separate EIS required for a land-exchange process with the U.S. Forest Service must be competed before a permit to mine is initiated at MDNR.     Article:  Second EIS will be needed before PolyMet can begin mining.

When the FEIS is published, the US ACE will re-notice the wetlands permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.  WaterLegacy will request a public comment period.

If you are worried about negative impacts of the proposed mine, speak up for your values of clean water, environmental stewardship, and human health.   Join WaterLegacy now (free), make your donation, and act independently as well.

 CONTINUE the PUBLIC EDUCATION:   Host PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETINGS or HOUSE PARTIES in your area.

You can request a kit from PreciousWaters.org including the 25-minute film on proposed sulfide mining. 

You can print WaterLegacy support materials from this website , including: 

• a WaterLegacy handout with PolyMet EIS talking points on one side and WaterLegacy description on the other -- inform your family, friends and neighbors
• a "NO Sulfide Mining" PETITION, because it has not been demonstrated safe -- collect signatures and distribute petitions
• EPA's its assessment of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)

 Tribal Agency Comments (text only) on the DEIS. 

Tribal Agency full comments, including attachments.

Excerpt from 5.2.1 Mitigation Measures:    GLIFWC staff believe that this section is flawed.  The DEIS mentions in several areas that analysis vital to impact assessment will be postponed until the permitting process (closure plan, tailings basin
stability analysis, etc.). This lack of information does not allow for the development of adequate mitigation measures. GLIFWC staff do not see how a complete list of mitigation, that address reasonable and foreseeable impacts can be developed if the impact characterization is incomplete.

Tribal agency findings and perspectives on the PDEIS (previous Preliminary DEIS) present an excellent summary of problems with the PolyMet Project that illegally have been ignored through several EIS revisions.  See also critical U. S. EPA comments on the PDEIS. 

Key problems have gone unaddressed through successive drafts of the EIS, including::

• Discharge and seepage from the mine, pit lake, tailings and waste rock piles, and other areas of the project are likely to pollute water for tens to thousands of years.  Yet, there is no demonstration that the PolyMet shell corporation can provide financial assurance to protect taxpayers from long-term pollution costs.
• Studies of PolyMet’s impacts on water pollution, wetlands, mercury in fish, wild rice, endangered species and global warming in the draft environmental impact statement are inadequate to prevent degradation of water quality and negaitve impact  to human health.
• The PolyMet project would take over 6,700 acres of public forest land, yet the Draft EIS has made no analysis of the type or quality of land that PolyMet would exchange for this public land, nor whether the environment, tribal rights, or public assets would be protected. 
• The PolyMet Draft EIS doesn’t demonstrate that the designs of tailings dumps, waste rock piles, liners or wetlands “treatment” systems will work.  If any of these technologies fail, consequences could range from increased seepage to catastrophic failure, dumping uncontrolled pollution into nearby waters.
• The DEIS does not contain facility closure plans, reclamatioin and post-closure maintenance, which constitute a major part of the potential impacts and monitoring and mitigation measures that would be needed.  This is required information in an EIS under law, and the public has a right to know and comment on such plans and their consequences.

Check out this fact sheet about deficiencies in the PolyMET DEIS.