Minnesota court sends PolyMet air permit case back to agency
Source: Associated Press
Minnesota court sends PolyMet air permit case back to agency
July 19, 2021
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northern Minnesota encountered a setback Monday when the state Court of Appeals ordered regulators to revisit a critical air emissions permit given to the project.
The court ruled that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency hadn’t sufficiently justified granting the permit after opponents raised allegations that PolyMet was planning a much larger mine.
Environmental groups and a Native American tribe pointed to a report that PolyMet filed with Canadian regulators that suggested PolyMet was considering expanding the mine to four times the size that the air permit would allow.
The appeals court last year said the MPCA hadn’t adequately evaluated whether the air permit understated the company’s real plans, only to have that ruling overturned by the Minnesota Supreme Court. The high court ruled in February that the MPCA wasn’t required by federal law to investigate the allegations of “sham permitting.”
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-government-and-politics-environment-and-nature-courts-minnesota-4bb5fc99c363bcc62589147ffe9844dc
FILE - This Feb. 10, 2016 file photo shows a former iron ore processing plant near Hoyt Lakes, Minn., that would become part of a proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine. The proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northern Minnesota encountered a setback Monday, July 19, 2021, when the state Court of Appeals ordered regulators to revisit a critical air emissions permit given to the project. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)