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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Some things are best left in the ground

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A researcher at Arizona State University estimates there is $3.316 billion worth of metal particles in American sewage. No one is suggesting it’s feasible to recover this treasure, but it does suggest the magnitude of waste in an economic system that values market forces to the level of religious fervor.

The proponents of copper-nickel sulfide mining in NE Minnesota like to emphasize that “we need these metals.” So who is “we?” Like most commodities markets, the worldwide supply of copper fluctuates not solely on the demand for the metal as a useful material, but also due to arcane financial manipulations designed to meet the desires of predatory investors. It’s another way in which markets can corrupt – not only people and economies, but ecosystems. As physicist Amory Lovins has written: “Economies are supposed to serve human ends, not the other way around. We forget at our peril that markets are a good servant, a bad master, and a worse religion.”

If copper-nickel sulfide mining is not prevented in this region, and false-market faith prevails, then at least the corporations should be compelled by law to establish a long-term escrow account to mitigate the inevitable environmental damage. Long and tragic experience suggests a bare minimum of $500,000,000, though a billion dollars might be more realistic. If the copper-nickel mining interests are as confident in their pollution controls as they claim, then they should be willing to ante up.

In this context, it’s instructive to note that traces of oil and dispersant from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have been detected in pelican eggs in Minnesota. There are some materials in some locations that should simply be left in the ground.

Peter M. Leschak

Side Lake, Minn.