Hearings on the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine and a bill to strengthen the damage deposit mining companies would have to provide before doing toxic sulfide mining have been set for today and Wednesday.

The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee will hear testimony from environmental organizations, government organizations including Fond du Lac tribal officials, citizens and mining officials beginning at 6 pm. Monday in State Capitol Room 15.  Testimony on Sen. Jim Carlson’s bill to toughen financial assurance will be 6 p.m. Wednesday in the same location. There also will be a hearing in State Capitol Room 107 at 12:30 p.m. Monday on mining and the PolyMet proposal.

Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy members are encouraged to attend the two evening meetings. The room is expected to be crowded, so arriving an hour early is encouraged.

“I’m glad the Legislature is finally giving Minnesotans who have concerns about the negative impacts of sulfide mining a chance to be heard,” said Paul Danicic, executive director of the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. “With this mining being proposed in the heart of our lake country and at the headwaters of three major watersheds, we must take its threats seriously.”

Tonight's hearing will be a chance for the public to discuss its concerns about the draft environmental impact statement for the proposed PolyMet mine near Hoyt Lake. At public meetings hosted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in December, only industry officials and supportive legislators were allowed to speak while the public was told to give their statements to court reporters.

However, MCEA, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness and others found grave problems with the impact statement done by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Among other concerns, the impact statement predicts water pollution for up to 2,000 years, a “low margin of safety” for the stability of its tailings basins of toxic waste and significant potential for increased mercury contamination in fish and wildlife.

Also, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently weighed in with significant concerns. The EPA gave the document its lowest possible rating, something it has done less than 1 percent of the time, and was especially concerned that it barely mentioned financial assurance, how much and in what form PolyMet would have to deposit money ahead of time to clean up any mess.

Likewise, the Fish and Wildlife Service said the document should have analyzed the proposed 6,700 acre land swap PolyMet must complete with the Forest Service and should include a biological assessment on the damage the mine will do to threatened Canada Lynx and gray wolf. The Fish and Wildlife Service criticized the section on mine closure for its lack of details on preventing acid mine run-off and the lack of explanation on why they couldn’t do underground mining rather than open pit.

“The DNR, the Corps of Engineers and the project proposers have a lot of work to do if they plan to bring the impact statement for PolyMet up to the standard set in the law,” said MCEA Executive Director Scott Strand. “The public deserves to know exactly how the company plans to address the water pollution problems this project will produce, how much it will cost, and how much money needs to be set aside now so taxpayers don’t have to pay for the clean-up later. Sen. Carlson’s bill fixes the problem by requiring that financial assurance requirements be addressed in environmental impact statements, so the public has a real chance at meaningful input into the process.”

The Wednesday hearing will be on Carlson’s bill, SF 2349, which will protect Minnesota taxpayers from footing the bill for multi-million dollar clean-ups such as those other states have faced after mining companies walk away from the mines and leave water pollution behind.

The bill, which takes its language from current federal guidelines, requires the DNR to include the cost of long-term water treatment in the financial assurance calculation. It also broadens the definition of “responsible person” so companies can’t elude their responsibilities by establishing shell companies.

To protect taxpayers, the bill also establishes what kind of bankruptcy-proof fund the money will be paid into and identifies which state agencies will develop the amount of money that must be deposited, how it will be reviewed annually, and how the public can comment on it each year.

“The pollution from these new mines will be around long after the mining jobs are gone, so it is only fair to our children and grandchildren that we put in place financial assurances now, so they aren't stuck paying the clean-up bills for decades to come," said Minnesota Environmental Partnership Executive Director Steve Morse.