A federal judge on Thursday rejected a second attempt by opponents of the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota to invalidate the mineral rights leases needed for the project.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden said new arguments and evidence raised by the opponents in the 2020 lawsuit would not have changed the outcome of the case, which challenged the Interior Department’s 2019 decision to renew the decades-old leases for the site near Ely.
The plaintiffs included the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, several businesses in the Ely area, and other groups that said the Interior Department failed to conduct a sufficiently extensive environmental review, and therefore unlawfully renewed the leases.
Federal judge delivers new blow to foes of Twin Metals mine
May 13, 2021 GMT
FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2011, file photo, a core sample drilled from underground rock near Ely, Minn., shows a band of shiny minerals containing copper, nickel and precious metals, center, that Twin Metals Minnesota LLC, hopes to mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota. A federal judge on Thursday, May 13, 2021, rejected a second attempt by opponents of the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota to invalidate the mineral rights leases needed for the project. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2011, file photo, a core sample drilled from underground rock near Ely, Minn., shows a band of shiny minerals containing copper, nickel and precious metals, center, that Twin Metals Minnesota LLC, hopes to mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota. A federal judge on Thursday, May 13, 2021, rejecte
The agency had already said they would look at whether its 1993 rules would protect the BWCAW. 7:53 pm, May 12, 2021 ×
Canoeists paddle a quiet stretch of the Kawishiwi River near Ely on a day trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. (2002 file / News Tribune)
Minnesota regulators will review the state rules for copper-nickel mining within the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness after a judge on Wednesday upheld an agreement allowing for the review and dismissed a challenge by Twin Metals, which is proposing such a mine in that watershed.
Judge Laura Nelson in State District Court in St. Paul remanded the issues to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources so it could institute appropriate administrative proceedings to consider and make findings and issue an order regarding the alleged inadequacy and that Twin Metals motion to dismiss fails.
Rep McCollum reintroduces bill to ban copper-nickel mining in Superior National Forest duluthnewstribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from duluthnewstribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Opponents of copper-nickel mining say the bill won t go anywhere in Congress. 6:53 pm, Apr. 15, 2021 ×
U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Hermantown, speaks at the University of Wisconsin-Superior’s Lake Superior Research Institute in September. (2020 file / News Tribune)
Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Hermantown, introduced a bill that would speed up the federal permitting process for mining projects on federal land.
The bill would require permitting to finish within two and a half years, prevent duplication of work by federal agencies if it s already done by a state agency and set performance standards and other timelines to track permitting agencies
In a news release Thursday, Stauber said it targets the most burdensome regulations that have delayed good mining projects for years. Two pro-mining organizations National Mining Association and Mining Minnesota expressed their support in the release.