{"id":38,"date":"2009-12-28T13:37:48","date_gmt":"2009-12-28T18:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elyminnesota.com\/blog\/?p=38"},"modified":"2009-12-28T13:39:04","modified_gmt":"2009-12-28T18:39:04","slug":"hunting-and-angling-groups-call-for-polymet-accountability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elyminnesota.com\/blog\/hunting-and-angling-groups-call-for-polymet-accountability\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunting and angling groups call for PolyMet accountability"},"content":{"rendered":"
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December 21, 2009<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

Members of Minnesota\u2019s hunting and angling community issued the following statement over the weekend. It highlights many of known concerns about the PolyMet Draft Environmental Impact Statement and demonstrates how this issue is of concern to a broad segment of Minnesota\u2019s citizens:<\/p>\n

Sportsmen\u2019s coalition supports holding PolyMet fully accountable for watershed and waterways pollution<\/h3>\n

2,000 years of contamination for 20 years of copper mining<\/strong><\/p>\n

DULUTH\u2014An ad hoc coalition of hunting and angling groups formally requests that legislation be passed by state lawmakers holding Canadian mining company PolyMet fully accountable for any and all costs associated with remediation and cleanup of its proposed copper-nickel mining operations near Hoyt Lakes, Minn. If this can\u2019t be accomplished\u2014thereby protecting taxpayers from a cleanup tab that could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars\u2014no copper-nickel mining should be allowed.<\/p>\n

The coalition of groups, which includes the Minnesota Division of the Izaak Walton League of America and the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, consists of sportsmen and women and others who understand the priceless value of clean watersheds and crystal clear lakes, streams, and rivers that supply Minnesotans with clean drinking water and unparalleled outdoor recreation opportunities.<\/p>\n

And we have serious concerns about the seemingly reckless rush of some northern Minnesota legislators and others to approve PolyMet\u2019s proposed mining operation on the former LTV Steel Mining Co.\u2019s taconite plant near Hoyt Lakes.[1] Especially considering that these same lawmakers stymied attempts to pass common sense legislation ensuring that taxpayers won\u2019t be saddled with decades of remediation and toxic waste cleanup costs after PolyMet officials pack their bags and head back to Canada.<\/p>\n

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 40 percent of western headwater streams are polluted by abandoned mines, which poison rivers, creeks, and watersheds with sulfuric acid and heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and arsenic. High-end estimates of the number of abandoned mines range up to half-a-million. The projected cost to clean them up could be as high as $70 billion.[2]<\/p>\n

Hardrock mining imperils watersheds and fish habitat because mineral ores are infused with sulfides. When mining puts the ore into contact with water, the result is acid runoff that pollutes lakes, rivers and streams, oftentimes killing all aquatic life.[3] For example, in South Dakota the Dakota Mining Corp. extracted nearly $70 million worth of precious metals from public lands, then went broke in 1998, abandoned the mine, and left behind a 100 million gallon pond of acid and toxic heavy metals. The cleanup cost is estimated at $40 million\u2014more than seven times higher than the cleanup bond the company posted, shifting the costs onto taxpayers.[4]<\/p>\n

At Summitville, a mine in Colorado, a bankrupt Canadian company has left the nation\u2019s most costly mine cleanup. It will take 100 years and cost $235 million to clean up the release of cyanide and acid mine drainage that has left 17 miles of the Alamosa River devoid of fish and other aquatic life. The mine was permitted as a \u2018zero discharge\u2019 mine.[5] Montana and Wisconsin have since banned similar mines as a result of these and other disasters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear to us that PolyMet\u2019s Canadian officials don\u2019t want to be held financially responsible for their mine\u2019s cleanup and reclamation costs because they know that the long-term environmental damage to our watersheds, waterways and other natural resources will likely exceed the value (many times over) of the copper and other minerals they manage to extract from the ground. PolyMet\u2019s draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) says as much, stating that:[6]<\/p>\n