This letter to the editor was published at www.startribune.com

State should say no to sulfide mining. That is the question being asked by many people across the state. At this moment the Minnesota DNR and the Army Corps of Engineers are creating an environmental impact statement on a new type of mine being proposed for northern Minnesota just 20 miles from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and 50 miles from Voyageurs National Park.

This is not your typical iron ore mine. This is a mine that contains, among its copper, nickel, platinum and silver, significant deposits of sulfide. The sulfur in the resultant mine tailings could leach off into the surface and ground water, creating streams and creeks that flow with unearthly colors of yellow and red.

If you think that water that runs yellow or red may be toxic, you’d be correct, as it contains heavy metals and sulfuric acid, which kills fish, birds and other aquatic life. The watershed for these proposed sulfide mines includes the Kawishiwi River ,which flows into the Boundary Waters Wilderness, and includes the St. Louis River, which flows into Lake Superior.

Unlike many dry Western states, Minnesota is rich in water resources that are especially vulnerable and are a great part of Minnesota’s outdoor heritage for anglers, canoeists, duck hunters and, of course, wildlife. Our neighbors in Wisconsin have a moratorium on mining metallic sulfide ores written into law. In effect the Wisconsin law says: “Industry can mine metallic sulfide ores in Wisconsin when it can show one mine in the United States or Canada that has operated and been closed for ten years without significant damage to its watershed.”

If we allow sulfide mining in Minnesota, in 20 years the mine will be exhausted, the profits having gone to multinational corporations. Minnesotans of the future will be left with the consequences in perpetuity.

JOHN RUST
President, Walter J. Breckenridge Chapter, Izaak Walton League of America, Brooklyn Park