Mining Engineering Commons^™

Navigating Wastewater: Minnesota Mining Wastewater Permit Challenges And Evolving Compliance Standards, Madelaine Adamich

Journal of Earth and Life Science

February of 2021 marked the beginning of Minnesota clearly establishing that groundwater qualifies as a Class 1 water in a legal battle involving United States Steel, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, WaterLegacy, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and eventually the Minnesota Supreme Court (MNSC). Minnesota has a water classification system, as required by the federal Clean Water Act, with 7 classes of use. Class 1 waters are waters used for domestic consumption (MPCA 4, n.d.). According to Minnesota Statute § 7050.0220, the acceptable level for sulfate is 250 mg/L in Class 1 …

Nepa And The Dynamics Of Public Participation In The Environmental Review Process: An Analysis Of The Northmet (Polymet) Mining Project Near Hoyt Lakes Minnesota, Amber Neumann

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Hypothesis: That comments collected from agency “experts” during the scoping phase of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process would be disproportionately represented as changes in subsequent drafts of NorthMet’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Methods: Tabular analysis of data collected from the Minnesota DNR publication of Response to the Public Scoping Projects PolyMet Mining Inc.; NorthMet Project. 2005

Results: There is an excellent cross section of comment sources represented in changes to subsequent drafts of NorthMet’s EIS. A lot of overlap exists between various types of participants and their concerns, resulting in many of the successful comments stemming from …