Milepost 7
a tailings basin for mine waste in Beaver Bay.
Milepost 7’s owner, Northshore Mining, has proposed a significant expansion of the facility. As reported by the Duluth News Tribune, the “basin holds 40-years worth of tailings behind dams and on top of a 2,100-acre footprint. An expansion project planned by Cliffs would expand that footprint by 850 acres — a 40% increase in the basin’s surface area.” Without proper review and controls, an expansion like this would raise the risk of releases of pollutants downstream into Lake Superior, threatening the people of the North Shore.
In the 1970’s, the Milepost 7 tailings basin was created as a way to avoid dumping mine waste directly into Lake Superior. Fifty years later, questions about the stability and safety of the tailings basin remain. Perched high above the shore and near the Beaver River, if the dam were to fail, the tailings would once again flow into Lake Superior. This is an issue that has resonance for the local community and legal significance for the whole state.
You can read more about the proposal in this March 2022 article, when MCEA first began advocating for a thorough environmental review of the proposed expansion.
The DNR has yet to issue a decision, and is currently scheduled to release it on November 30.
This page is the answer to the September, 2023 newsletter trivia question.