Northland emerges as prospector's paradise
The DNR opens mining bids across the Northland today as companies
broaden their search for gold, platinum and copper.
Geologists have known for decades that there’s plenty of copper,
nickel, gold and other minerals under northern Minnesota forests,
but most of it wasn’t considered worth the cost to dig it up.
Lawsuit To Be Filed to Stop Pollution at Proposed
PolyMet Mine Site
DULUTH, Minn.— The Center for Biological Diversity, Save Lake Superior Association, and the Indigenous Environmental Network today filed formal notice that they intend to file suit against mining company Cliffs Erie to stop the ongoing pollution of waters that surround the proposed PolyMet mine site. (read more)
Community swept by mine tailings
By Jaime Richardson
Windy days are dreaded in a community bordered by mines.In Green Valley and Sahuarita, the tailings from those mines — piles of finely crushed rock left over from the mining process — blow clouds of white dust that some compare to a Minnesota blizzard. (read more)
Bids for Northeastern Minnesota mining rights up sharply
over ‘09
Six mining companies bid on 123 mineral rights parcels across
Northeastern Minnesota on Tuesday in a silent auction held by the
Department of Natural Resources to encourage prospecting.
Bright Spot Is Constitutional Amendment Investments
SAINT PAUL (APRIL 21, 2009) - The head of the statewide coalition of more than 80 conservation and environmental organizations today said that the Minnesota Legislature is neglecting its duty to protect Minnesota’s lakes, rivers and streams and Great Outdoors by failing to act on needed environmental policy initiatives. (read more)
By: Marc Fink, Duluth News Tribune
Published April 10 2009
The Endangered Species Act is the “bill of rights” for our nation’s fish and wildlife. The act is a fundamental statement that we value other species and that they have the right to exist. If a fish or wildlife species is scientifically demonstrated to be endangered with extinction, it is listed as endangered under the act. The act then prohibits the killing or harming of endangered species, as well as adverse impacts to their critical habitat. The act also requires federal agencies to “consult” with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure its actions would not jeopardize endangered species or their habitats. These protections remain in place until the species are recovered and removed from the list of endangered species. (read more)
New mineral exploration suggests that Minnesota holds a world-class deposit of metals such as copper, nickel, platinum and palladium. The rock beneath northeast Minnesota may be hiding richer deposits of metals than most experts had guessed. Some think non-ferrous mining will reach a scale that rivals the state's iron mining industry. (read more)
St. Paul, Minn. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has added about 8,000 square miles of forest land in northeastern Minnesota as critical habitat acreage for the Canada lynx. The lynx is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. (read more)
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness is one of the most distinctive and popular areas
in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Located in
northeastern
To: Members of the Environment
and Oversight Committee, House Bill 916
"I am a resident of Chisholm, Minnesota and I am writing to
you concerning an article in the Duluth News Tribune
entitled “Back off, St. Paul.”
(read more)
Elanne Palcich, Chisholm, MN
by Bob Tammen
Duluth News
Tribune
www.duluthnewstribune.com
Published March 06 2009
The News Tribune’s Sunday editorial, “Back off, St. Paul,” deserves a skeptical response from someone who worked in the mines and lives on the Range. (read more)
February 05, 2009 04:27pm
TWO weeks after BHP Billiton announced it would close its Ravensthorpe nickel mine, shock has turned to despair and anger.
Duluth News Tribune 27 Jan 2009
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the Sierra Club and other
groups that challenged parts of the long-term plan for the Superior
National Forest.
(read more)
By C.A. Arneson | Friday, Jan. 2, 2009 from minnpost.com
(read more)
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 Jan 10, 2010
"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.