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Forest Service issues draft decision on PolyMet land swap

Forest Supervisor plans approval

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 11/19/15

DULUTH—Superior National Forest Supervisor Brenda Halter has released a draft decision granting approval to a land exchange that would clear the way for creation of Minnesota’s first …

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Forest Service issues draft decision on PolyMet land swap

Forest Supervisor plans approval

Posted

DULUTH—Superior National Forest Supervisor Brenda Halter has released a draft decision granting approval to a land exchange that would clear the way for creation of Minnesota’s first copper-nickel and precious metals mine.

The document, known as a Record of Decision, or ROD, gives the go ahead for an exchange of 6,650 acres of federal land surrounding PolyMet’s NorthMet deposit for 6,690 acres of currently non-federal holdings elsewhere within the forest boundary. The draft ROD does call for a minor modification of the list of lands slated for exchange in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, or FEIS, released by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Nov. 6. It also calls for a $425,000 payment to PolyMet to compensate for disparities in the appraised values of the lands proposed for exchange.

The Forest Service releases a draft decision in order to give the public the opportunity to object or resolve issues before a final decision is issued. In this case, the 45-day public comment period began Tuesday, Nov. 17, when the Forest Service announced its availability in the Duluth News Tribune. A final decision regarding the land exchange will be made by the Forest Supervisor after all objections are addressed. That decision is not expected until sometime next year.

The land exchange resolves a legal conflict over PolyMet’s proposal to establish an open pit mine on the site, which is currently prohibited in parts of the Superior National Forest due to the Weeks Act. That’s a law, passed in 1911, that provided funding to acquire lands for conservation as part of national forests in the eastern U.S., but which also prohibited the use of acquired lands for certain environmentally-destructive uses, such as open pit mining.

Halter said her decision comes after years of analysis of the complex project and after weighing the costs and benefits. “In any land exchange there are clearly things ‘gained’ by the federal estate and clearly things ‘lost’ to the federal estate. I believe the analysis provides the information on the potential effects of the land exchange as well as the effects of construction, operation and reclamation of the proposed mine needed to issue a draft decision on the land exchange at this time.”

A copy of the Draft Record of Decision is posted on the Superior National Forest website at: www.fs.usda.gov/goto/ superior/northmet. 

Instructions regarding objections may be found in the Draft Record of Decision. The Superior National Forest website also displays a link to the NorthMet Final Environmental Impact Statement.