Minnesota Court of Appeals Rules Favorably on PolyMet Water Permit
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The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed nearly all aspects of the water discharge permit for the NorthMet Project, overruling six of the seven challenges to the permit made by mining opponents, according to Poly Met Mining.
The Court of Appeals affirmed virtually every aspect of PolyMet’s permit at issue. In particular, the court endorsed the district court’s factual findings regarding the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) and the Environmental Protection Agency’s interactions during the permitting process; agreed with MPCA’s application of state law governing groundwater discharges; upheld the agency’s conclusion that PolyMet’s project has no reasonable potential to violate water quality standards; agreed with MPCA’s finding that PolyMet’s project will not violate the Fond du Lac Band’s water quality standards; and affirmed the agency’s denial of mining opponents’ requests for a contested case hearing.
In its decision the panel concluded that the MPCA should still consider whether “any discharges to groundwater will be the functional equivalent of a discharge to navigable waters, and thus, whether the Clean Water Act applies to those discharges.” The court remanded the permit to the MPCA to conduct this functional-equivalence analysis, which the U.S. Supreme Court established in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, a new precedent set more than a year after PolyMet’s permit was issued.
“We are pleased that we have prevailed on the majority of the issues and the court has narrowed the case to just this single issue regarding Maui, where considerable scientific data already exists,” said Jon Cherry, chairman, president and CEO.
“MPCA has already determined there is not a permittable discharge to groundwater and we are optimistic the agency will reach the same conclusion from the Maui test. This will mean a little more process, but it gives us a clear roadmap to the reactivation of this permit,” added Cherry.
The NorthMet mine will feed the mineral supply chain to meet the growing global demand for copper, nickel, cobalt and other metals needed for the U.S. and global transition to clean energy technologies such as solar and wind farms, battery storage and electric mobility. Most of the known resources of nickel and cobalt in the U.S. are found in Minnesota according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
About PolyMet
PolyMet is a mine development company that owns 100 percent of the NorthMet Project, the first large-scale project to be permitted within the Duluth Complex in northeastern Minnesota, one of the world’s major, undeveloped mining regions. NorthMet has significant proven and probable reserves of copper, nickel and palladium – metals vital to global carbon reduction efforts – in addition to marketable reserves of cobalt, platinum and gold. When operational, NorthMet will become one of the leading producers of nickel, palladium and cobalt in the U.S., providing a much needed, responsibly mined source of these critical and essential metals.
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