The Friends of the Cloquet Valley State Forest is dedicated to the protection and preservation of the natural and cultural resources of The Cloquet Valley State Forest and promote responsible enjoyment of this unique treasure.
"That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is tobe loved and respected is an extension of ethics.”Aldo Leopold
Almanac North Non-Ferrous Mining
WDIO TV
Proposed NorthMet Mining Project and Land Exchange
The US Forest Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources invite your comments on the NorthMet Mining Project and Land Exchange proposal. Please provide comments in the space below. If you require more space, please attach additional sheets as needed. To be most useful, comments should discuss specific issues. All comments will be considered in the development of the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
The DEIS is the next to final stage of the Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the DNR and Army Corps of Engineers on the project being done.
NEWS !!!!
From the EPA Received by US Corps of Engineers February 18
"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 Here
EPA's Ken Westlake describes the EPA Role in Permitting of Mining
You don't buy an untested car, you avoid medications that have not been approved for use.... do you want to buy an unproven mining method?
Mining has long been a cyclical portion of the Minnesota economy. A new kind of mining is proposed - copper nickel hardrock mining is proposed in the Duluth Complex.
The EPA has identified hardrock mining as the top polluting industry in our nation. Sulfide based Copper Nickel Mining ( hardrock/ non ferrous / copper nickel / precious metals/ sulfide ) mining is proposed at the Polymet Northmet Mine - it produces toxic waste throught releasing sulfuric acid into the wetlands and waters. We're told that we need to risk this kind of mining to have "jobs". would we swallow that hook line and sinker if we were told the truth - we need these jobs for corporate profit? What we don't hear about is the cost to individuals and society posed by harm to babies in utero, and of the expense of a superfund site.
That's the old way of thinking. We can have strong employment and diverse careers available for our families and a a healthy environment - and we should demand both. There's potential to mine for minerals in the Duluth complex but to do so without harming the environment will be too expensive even at the high mineral prices currently in the market - too expensive for the profits the corporations planning to mine want to derive. So they want to use methods that are unproven and cannot be verified as not allowing pollution.
The organizations in Minnesota that have been responsible for developing jobs in diverse industries have failed. We need to hold them accountable.
Protections in Minnesota are described by industry as sufficient to protect the people, however we need to read the fine print on all this. There are existing mines from which toxic waste is leaching now.
Our lakes rivers and streams are very high in mercury already, we're working to reduce that with many programs at great expense to our citizens already. That mercury is made more harmful by the specific kind of pollution leaching from these mines, it becomes bioavailable. It accumulates as small organisims take it in and larger organisms eat them and in humans we know the body preferentially passes it on to babies in the womb, where mercury harms the developing nervous system.
Is fishing in Minnesota going to be popular if the fish is inedible? Do we care about the effect on our youngest citizens? Common sense tells that we need scientific verification that what companies propose to do will work - we expect this in a car we buy, a medication we take - we ask that the company prove it's ability to perform before we buy.
Under what circumstances would you allow toxins to be put in your water? How much would you need to be paid?
Only a few areas of the Cloquet Valley State Forest have been designated for traditional forest use and are shown above encircled in orange, as natural areas for hunting and fishing. Not all of the areas are public lands, so be sure to check to avoid trespass. Hunters leave their trucks and motorcycles and atvs outside these areas and hunt in the traditional way our parents and their parents did, on foot. These areas are quieter and wildlife experience more natural habitat conditions with less risk of fire and contamination with invasive species. Most fires in Minnesota are caused by humans.
There are over 1500 miles trails and access roads, forest roads, minimum maintenance roads, roadside ditch trails and township roads and hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands open for those needing motorized assistance to hunt and info about those those can be found on the DNR website
If you need information contact the numbers below
Hunters on foot or those who use mobility devices all terrain vehicles to get around may inquire about specific details of interest to them.
Rich Staffon 879-0880 223 Area Wildlife Manger
Martha Minchak, 218 723-4768 224 Asst Area Wildlife Manager
Chris Balzer 879-0880 233 Asst. Area Wildlife Manger
Contact Rich for information or Martha for information about hunting in general and Chris for information about specific trails and areas in the region north of Duluth.
Released
1/09 Unfortunately despite wide local public support to the contrary the St. Louis County Board pressed the DNR for the open unless closed option - the least restrictive system legal in Minnesota. Open unless closed creates serious environmental problems and human use conflicts. Except for a few areas the entire forest is "managed" or "open unless posed closed" creating a situation ripe for abuse by motorized recreation users intent on access by motorized vehicle to every nook and cranny of the entire forest. Only a few areas are either limited or closed and these amount to less than 5% of the total acres of the forest! Too bad St.Louis County refuses to follow Aitkin's lead and go with the limited option which can lead to well planned and maintained trail systems for all types of users including those who do and do not prefer motorized equipment to hunt and fish and enjoy the forest!
http://www.co.aitkin.mn.us/Departments/Land/recreation.html Aitkin County chose the "limited" classification and as such can make much more diverse choices.
MINING Non Ferrous Mining In NE Mn
A foregone conclusion ... Jobs Jobs Jobs?
A threat to our ecosystem and every lake river and stream in MN?
We are smack in this issue in the CVSF and we need to be better informed as a community. Inform yourself, inform your friends, do the analysis you need to do to be sure our state chooses wisely.
Our legislators Bakk and Dill and most of the "Range Coalition" are behind this mining project. You have to be the one to be informed and speak your mind.
You are a resident, a constituent and a person who drinks this water.
This bill was put forth by legislators last session, with the strong support of the Minnesota Environmental Community. MEP member Friends of the Cloquet Valley State Forest supported those legislators' efforts. The legislation was not permitted to even get a hearing - it was blocked by the Range Deligation. It is unknown if any protection will be sought by any legislators in the coming session.
The range delegation controls many committees in the legislature due to their seniority. This is simply how the legislature works - senior members get to control committees.
In a 2003 Study the correlation between water quality and lake property values was established in a study by two Bemidji State University professors. Prof. Patrick Welle and Prof. Charles Parson examined 1,205 properties sold between 1996 and 2001 on 37 lakes in six regions in northern Minnesota: Aitkin, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, Walker, Park Rapids and Bemidji. They found water clarity was the most significant factor in determining the purchase price in every region. Read the study : Welle Parson Study from BSU
Methyl Mercury impacts cognition and the impact of it's harm can can be calculated. Methyl Mercury is increased by Sulfuric Acid Drainage from Non - Ferrous Mining
Recently the EPA participated in a meeting with Congressman Cravaak, that meeting was described by the participants in a press conference after the meeting. The EPA did not participate in that meeting. Instead they have released a report on that meeting. It is linked here: REPORT MADE BY KEN WESTLAKE, Region 5 NEPA Enforcement Coordinator of the USEPA TO THE EPA REGARDING THE MEETING ON 3 14 11
EPA's purpose is to ensure that:
all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work;
national efforts to reduce environmental risk are based on the best available scientific information;
federal laws protecting human health and the environment are enforced fairly and effectively;
environmental protection is an integral consideration in U.S. policies concerning natural resources, human health, economic growth, energy, transportation, agriculture, industry, and international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental policy;
all parts of society -- communities, individuals, businesses, and state, local and tribal governments -- have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks;
environmental protection contributes to making our communities and ecosystems diverse, sustainable and economically productive; and
the United States plays a leadership role in working with other nations to protect the global environment.
Recent Audio and Video regarding Non Ferrous Mining in Minnesota
Lawsuit Filed to Block Minnesota Agency's $4 Million Loan to PolyMet Mining Company
DULUTH, Minn.— Five conservation groups today filed a lawsuit against Minnesota’s Iron Range Resources Board, challenging a $4 million loan to a company that is pursuing a large open-pit sulfide mine but has yet to get environmental approvals. The loan to PolyMet Mining Company was approved at the Board’s Dec. 16 meeting, and would be used by PolyMet to purchase lands required for a proposed land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service. Click here for more from CBD : http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/mining/pdfs/Complaint-PolyMet-2011.pdf
Marc Fink, Center for Biological Diversity, (218) 525-3884
Polymet Land Exchange
Those who wish to have their comments reflected in future actions will need to have their comments in by November 28th.
Our concerns include the fact that the land proposed for exchange is located at the headwaters area of the St. Louis River and that the lands are a corridor for wildlife. Much of the surrounding land has been developed and harmed - this large tract remains as a healthy area and needs to stay that way. The Weeks Act created a situation where the US Government could buy land and protect it. The deed says that the land can be mined but damage to the surface must be avoided and damage must be repaired 6 months after mining ceases and that damage to the surface must be minimized. In the case of Polymet extensive damage is planned that cannot and will not be "mitigated" and which will leach heavy metals and Acid Mine Drainage into surrounding surface and ground waters. We oppose the exchange of this land for other land - the deed should be respected. The mine could be performed as an underground mine but the costs are not optimal -thus the company is seeking to do away with the protections in the deed and develop and enormous open pit sulfide based copper nickel mine in the watershed of Lake Superior! The protections are there for just that reason - protection of our forest and water.
Information and comments will be incorporated into PolyMet's supplemental EIS expected Summer 2011
"This scoping package will be sent to interested parties for a 45-day comment period, anticipated to occur in October and November of 2010. The USACE and the SNF will use these scoping comments to identify significant issues that will guide the analysis of impacts associated with the land exchange. The scoping package will also be available for review, along with supplemental large scale maps, on the internet at the following Web site: www.fs.usda.gov/goto/superior/projects.
The Supplemental DEIS is expected in the summer of 2011, with the final environmental impact statement anticipated six-to-nine months later."
Responsible Official and Nature of Decision To Be Made
The Responsible Official for the proposed land exchange is the Forest Supervisor for the Superior National Forest. The Responsible Official will decide in a Record of Decision whether to proceed with the proposed land exchange.
This scoping information describes a proposed land exchange between the United States of America, acting through the USDA Forest Service - Superior National Forest and PolyMet Mining, Inc.
(PolyMet). PolyMet has proposed the NorthMet Mine and Ore Processing Facilities Project (“NorthMet Project”) which would result in construction and operation of an open pit copper/nickel/cobalt/precious metals mine, an ore processing plant, and tailings basin 6 miles south of Babbitt in St. Louis County, Minnesota. As proposed, the NorthMet project would involve approximately 2,840 acres currently in federal ownership which are managed by the US Forest Service as part of the Superior National Forest.
The mining and processing portion of the NorthMet Project is described in detail in the Draft EIS developed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MnDNR) and US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and released to the public in November 2009.
The proposed land exchange is considered a “connected action” to the NorthMet project; meaning that it is part of the overall project proposal and therefore will be included in the analysis of environmental impacts. The purpose and need for the land exchange is to eliminate conflicts between federal land management responsibilities of the Forest Service and the private mineral estate, in which PolyMet holds an interest. In addition to national forest lands encompassed in the proposed NorthMet mine site, the Forest Service proposes to include an additional 3,810 acres of federal property in the land exchange as a means to avoid intermingled and inefficient ownership patterns and eliminate conflicts if minerals development were to expand in the future. Many of these federal lands are adjacent to lands extensively impacted by past and ongoing mining activities.
[Federal Register: October 13, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 197)]
[Notices]
[Page 62756-62758]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13oc10-24]
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Superior National Forest, Minnesota
Intent to prepare a supplemental draft environmental impact statement for the construction and operation of an open pit copper/nickel/cobalt/precious metals mine, an ore processing plant, and
tailings basin proposed by PolyMet Mining, Inc., near Babbitt and Hoyt Lakes in St. Louis County, Minnesota. The supplement will add an analysis of a land exchange between the proponant and the US Forest Service, Superior National Forest.
AGENCIES: Department of the Army, US Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Defense; Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent (NOI) to prepare a supplemental draft environmental impact statement (SDEIS). (The original NOI to prepare a draft EIS for the proposed Polymet Mining, Inc. Northmet project was published by the US Army Corps of Engineers in Volume 70, Number 126 of the Federal Register, pages 38,122-38,123, July 1, 2005.)
SUMMARY: The SDEIS will supplement and supersede the Draft EIS of October 27, 2009 (DEIS), which was produced jointly by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR), released for public comment on November 6, 2009. The
SDEIS will respond to concerns about wetlands and water quality issuesassociated with the NorthMet mining and ore processing proposal, located in Northeast Minnesota, as identified by the US Environmental Protection Agency and other commentors. The SDEIS will also incorporate potential effects from a proposed land exchange between the USDA Superior National Forest (SNF) and PolyMet Mining, Inc. (PolyMet). The SNF will join the USACE and MNDNR as a third lead agency responsible for EIS preparation because the land where the mine is proposed is owned by the SNF.
Cooperating Agencies for preparation of the SDEIS include Minnesota Bands of Chippewa/Ojibwe (Bois Forte and Fond du Lac). Others who have requested to become cooperating agencies include the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa/Ojibwe. Federal laws and policies, which the joint lead agencies are required to consider, will be outlined in the EIS for both mine permiting and land exchange processes.
DATES: The SNF is currently developing scoping materials for the land exchange portion of this project. This scoping package will be sent to interested parties for a 45-day comment period, anticipated to occur in October and November of 2010. The USACE and the SNF will use these scoping comments to identify significant issues that will guide the analysis of impacts associated with the land exchange. The scoping package will also be available for review, along with supplemental large scale maps, on the internet at the following Web site: www.fs.usda.gov/goto/superior/projects.
The Supplemental DEIS is expected in the summer of 2011, with the final environmental impact statement anticipated six-to-nine months later.
ADDRESSES: Mining and Ore Processing Proposal: No additional scoping requested. Land Exchange: Send written comments regarding the land exchange to James W. Sanders, Forest Supervisor, 8901 Grand Avenue Place, Duluth, MN 55808. Written comments may also be submitted electronically to:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mining and Ore Processing Proposal:
Contact Mr. Jon K. Ahlness for issues associated with the mining proposal, Section 404 Wetlands issues, and Clean Water Act questions; by letter at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 180 Fifth Street East, Suite 700, St. Paul, MN 55101-1678, by telephone at 651-290-5381, or by e-mail at jon.k.ahlness@usace.army.mil.
Land Exchange: Contact Mark Hummel, SNF Deputy Forest Supervisor, for additional information or questions about the proposed land exchange, by letter at 8901 Grand Avenue Place, Duluth, MN 55808, by e-mail at mhummel@fs.fed.us, or by phone at 218-626-4303.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Mining and Processing Proposal
Purpose and Need for Action
The purpose and need of the NorthMet mining and ore processing project is to produce base and precious metals, precipitates, and flotation concentrates from ore mined at the NorthMet deposit by uninterrupted operation of the former LTVSMC processing plant site. The processed resources would help meet domestic and global demand by sale of these products to domestic and world markets.
Proposed Action
PolyMet has applied to the St. Paul District of the USACE for a permit to discharge fill material into waters of the United States, including jurisdictional wetlands, to facilitate the construction and operation of an open pit copper/nickel/cobalt/precious metals mine in the low grade poly-metallic disseminated magmatic sulfide NorthMet deposit in northeastern Minnesota, approximately 6 miles south of the town of Babbitt.
Responsible Official and Nature of Decision To Be Made The responsible official for the USACE, the District Engineer for the St. Paul District, will decide in a Record of Decision, whether to issue a Clean Water Act, Section 404 permit for the discharge of fill materials into the waters of the United States, including jurisdictional wetlands.
No Additional Scoping for Mining and Processing Proposal
USACE and SNF are not requesting scoping comments on the NorthMet mining and ore processing project at this time. Comments have already been received in response to the original scoping notice of October 25, 2005, and in response to the Draft EIS of October 27, 2009. The proposed mining and ore processing action still falls within the scope of analysis identifed in the October 25, 2005, Final Scoping Decision Document, produced jointly with the MNDNR. Scoping will be conducted for the land exchange.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Land Exchange
Purpose and Need for Action
The purpose and need for the land exchange is to eliminate conflicts between the United States and the private mineral estate.
(The SNF has concluded that the proponent does not have the right to remove the surface of public lands by operating an open pit mine unless the lands in question were exchanged into private ownership. PolyMet maintains that specific language in the mineral reservation allows open pit mining.)
Another purpose and need for the land exchange is to consolidate land ownership so as to improve management effectiveness, improve public access to federal lands and reduce boundary lines.
The proposal meets three Forest Service Strategic Plan Goals: (1) Provide and sustain benefits to the American people (desired outcome is forests with sufficient long-term multiple socioeconomic benefits to meet the needs of society); (2) conserve open space; and (3) sustain and enhance outdoor recreation opportunities.
Of the approximately 6,650 acres of land proposed for exchange to private ownership, the NorthMet mine site would encompass approximately 2,840 acres. The remaining federal property proposed for inclusion in the land exchange, approximately 3,810 acres, would improve intermingled and inefficient ownership patterns and eliminate conflicts if minerals development were to expand in the future. Many of these federal lands are adjacent to lands extensively impacted by past and ongoing mining activities.
The nonfederal lands offered for consideration by PolyMet are located throughout the SNF and compliment existing federal ownership by eliminating or reducing private inholdings. The non-federal tracts consist of forest and wetland habitat as well as some lake frontage, potentially enhancing public recreation opportunities.
Proposed Action
The proposed action is a land exchange between the United States of America, acting through the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture SNF and PolyMet. The land exchange would transfer approximately 6,650 acres of federal land from public to private ownership, and approximately 6,722 acres of land from private to public ownership. An in-depth analysis of this proposed exchange will be disclosed in the supplemental draft and final environmental impact statements for the NorthMet project. The NorthMet project is described in the October 27, 2009 Draft EIS developed by MNDNR and USACE.
This exchange is proposed under the authority of the Weeks Act of March 1, 1911 as amended; General Exchange Act of March 20, 1922; Federal Land Exchange Facilitation Act of 1988; and the Federal Land, Policy and Management Act of October 21, 1976.
The federal land consists of a single contiguous tract of mostly forested land, approximately 6,650 acres in size, located in the west/central part of the SNF on the Laurentian Ranger District in the historic Iron Range of Northeastern Minnesota. The tract lies immediately south of the SNF proclamation boundary and is bounded on the south by the former LTV Steel Mining Company (LTVSMC) railroad grade and the Dunka Road. The Dunka Road is a private road with sections owned and leased by Cliffs Erie, PolyMet and Minnesota Power.
Access is primarily via the Dunka Road and the LTVSMC railroad grade.Nonfederal properties to the north and west of the federal land have been extensively impacted over the years by open-pit mining, mine waste rock stockpiles, tailings basins, mine processing facilities, railroad grades, and general mining activities. The federal land encompasses many acres of the 100-mile Swamp, a large black spruce, tamarack and cedar wetland. Yelp Creek and the Partridge River flow through the tract. Mud Lake is also located on the federal land.
The nonfederal lands include five different tracts of land that total approximately 6,722 acres and include predominately forest and wetland habitat.
The largest nonfederal tract, identified as Tract 1, consists of approximately 4,650 acres (Hay Lake tract), located on the southeastern portion of the Laurentian Ranger District, west of and adjoining County Road 715 and north of the town of Biwabik in St. Louis County. The Hay Lake tract includes Hay Lake, identified as a Wild Rice Water by the MnDNR, and Little Rice Lake, which is used by trumpeter swans, a State Threatened species. Approximately eight miles of the upper Pike River flow through Tract 1.
Tract 2 (``Lake County lands'') consists of approximately 320 acres of land formerly owned by Lake County. The tract includes various 40-acre parcels on the Laurentian Ranger District southeast of Seven Beaver Lake that are mostly surrounded by National Forest lands and offer significant wetland habitat.
Tract 3 (``Wolf Lands'') consists of approximately 1,560 acres of land on the Laurentian and Tofte Ranger Districts, west and southwest of Isabella, MN. The tract includes four separate parcels that block in or compliment National Forest ownership and, like Tract 2, offer significant wetland habitat.
Tract 4 (``Hunting Club'' lands) consists of approximately 160 acres on the LaCroix Ranger District, 5 miles southwest of Crane Lake.
Two small unnamed lakes are partially included in the tract, as well as a large percentage of wetland habitats. Tract 4 is surrounded by National Forest, St. Louis County lands, and private ownership.
Tract 5 (``McFarland Lake'') consists of approximately 32 acres on the Gunflint Ranger District in northeastern Cook County. The tract blocks in National Forest ownership and includes lake-front property on McFarland Lake, an entry point to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Access to the property is available by water from a landing off County Road 16 (Arrowhead Trail) approximately ten miles north of Hovland, MN. All tracts were assembled by PolyMet for the purpose of this proposed exchange.
Responsible Official and Nature of Decision to be Made
The Responsible Official for the proposed land exchange is the Forest Supervisor for the SNF. The Responsible Official will decide in a Record of Decision whether the proposed land exchange would result in an overall benefit to the public good.
Scoping Process
Public scoping for the proposed SNF and PolyMet land exchange will include notices in the newspaper of record, mailing of the scoping package (detailed information of the purpose and need for the project, the proposed action, description of the project area, maps, and proposed federal and non-federal lands involved in the proposed exchange) to interested and affected publics and posting of the project on the agency's project planning web pages and notice in the Forest Service quarterly Schedule of Proposed Actions.
Comment Requested
This notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides the development and incorporation of the proposed land exchange into the Northmet Project environmental impact statement. Comments received, including the names and addresses of those who comment, will be considered part of the public record on this proposal and will be available for public inspection.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook
1909.15, Section 21).
Dated: September 29, 2010.
Tamara E. Cameron,
Chief, Regulatory Branch, St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers.
Non Ferrous Mining : See Save Our Sky Blue Waters the SOS Blue Waters group is a leader in our region with regard to non ferrous mining in Northeastern Minnesota.
Photos of Spotted Knapweed along Pequaywan Lake Road
Spotted Knapweed is an invasive species which is spreading rapidly across St. Louis County and the rest of Minnesota. It has been put on the state's primary invasive species list If you see Spotted Knapweed you should report it and you should avoid driving or walking through it. Spotted Knapweed exudes an allelopathic chemical thus inhibiting growth of other plants. It can also cause brain and liver problems for horses and other livestock.
To report Spotted Knapweed download this form and send it in. :
