Nick Coleman: If there's a 'copper rush,'
there's peril
What Minnesota stands to lose from the
mining industry's growing activities.
By
NICK COLEMAN,
Star Tribune
Last update: January 10, 2010 - 12:11 AM
"Minnesota values" are being
challenged in every part of the state's
social, political and economic life, so it
should be no surprise that Minnesota's
environmental heritage is also under
pressure.
Mining companies that quietly have been
exploring northern Minnesota for copper,
nickel and other precious minerals are
moving toward active operations in and near
the Superior National Forest that
environmental groups fear may cause lasting
damage to the lakes and rivers of the north
country, possibly including the fragile
ecosystem of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness.
Copper-mining operations -- sometimes called
"hard rock mining" or "sulfide mining" --
have left scars across the country and acids
and sulfides leaching into streams,
contaminating rivers and waters, killing
fish and leaving dead zones in their wake.
While the mining industry claims new
technologies can help avert those kind of
problems here, skeptical environmentalists
have demanded proof and argue that the
short-term extraction of mineral wealth
poses a long-term threat to the pristine
qualities of an area that is dependent on
ecotourism, not mining, for its future.
These are issues that deserve careful
consideration and a full public debate.
Unfortunately, the recession and job climate
have contributed to a pro-mining bandwagon
campaign that threatens to open the door to
a "copper rush" before all Minnesotans have
a chance to understand the risks and
benefits of mining.
Public hearings held by the Department of
Natural Resources last month to discuss a
$600 million copper-mining project on a
7-square-mile tract of public forest land
near Biwabik turned into pro-mining
pepfests. Local officials and union leaders
enthusiastically supported the project,
while citizens who wanted to weigh in were
directed to speak to stenographers on hand
to jot down their comments. The meetings,
held in Blaine and Aurora, offered rally
cries more than reason.
Jobs, of course, are important, especially
in economically distressed regions such as
the Iron Range. Environmental groups have
not officially opposed the Biwabik project,
proposed by a Canadian-owned firm called
PolyMet. But they are asking for more
information, and more time for Minnesotans
to weigh the risks of a copper-nickel
mining, which the Environmental Protection
Agency has branded as the kind of mining
most often accompanied by significant
pollution problems.
"This kind of mining has never been done
without problems," says Paul Danicic,
executive director of the Friends of the
Boundary Waters Wilderness, which has
produced a 25-minute video about the
proposed project and its possible impacts.
"Minnesotans are going to have to make a
choice here: Are 20 years of mineral
extraction worth risking generations of
wilderness recreation and clean water?"
(The film, "Precious Waters," will be shown
Monday night at the REI store in Roseville,
on Wednesday at the REI store in Maple
Grove, and Jan. 21 at the REI store in
Bloomington. To learn more, see
www.preciouswaters.org.)
The PolyMet proposal involves about 400 jobs
and the mining of 32,000 tons per day of
substrata, with piles of debris covering an
area equal to about 500 football fields to a
height of up to 200 feet. Only about 1
percent of the ore is valuable mineral, but
the price of copper has risen to the point
where mining is feasible.
Environmental groups want the DNR and the
Army Corps of Engineers to extend the
comment period on the environmental impact
statement for the project. The comment
period began in November and is due to
expire Feb. 3. That's not enough time for
the public to digest the voluminous
documents involved, or to present opposing
views, says the Minnesota Center for
Environmental Advocacy.
"Mining of sulfide-metal ore has never been
accomplished without causing eventual
acid-metal leachate pollution" of ground and
surface waters, the center said in a letter
to officials last month. "This is a new and
potentially very dangerous type of project
in an extremely sensitive area."
Wisconsin placed a moratorium on sulfide
mining operations in 1997 until it could be
demonstrated that such a mine would not
pollute the water. The moratorium is still
in place.
The PolyMet project is only the first of
many Minnesota operations proposed or in the
planning process. Copper futures are trading
at well over $3 a pound. Just as there has
been a sharp rise in incidents of copper
thieves stealing copper pipes and plumbing
from empty homes, there also has been a
sharp rise in the interest of mining
companies in extracting copper. I am not
drawing a comparison between the two. I
merely am stating that copper has become an
attractive commodity and that stakeholders
need to be paying attention, or soon they
may find they've lost something valuable.
That may include Minnesotans who wish to
preserve our wilderness heritage.