For more than a year, rail congestion in the Upper Midwest has created high-profile delays for the iconic Empire Builder passenger train. Oil and coal trains out of the western Dakotas and Montana have clogged rails from Williston to Chicago. This week, however, brought the issue to another level. Wisconsin Public Radio reported yesterday that…

The IRRRB today approved a major investment in a biochemical company’s expansion to Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota, on the Mesabi Iron Range. Here’s the press release: EVELETH, Minn.—The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) approved $21.2 million in funding to renewable biochemical company Segetis, Inc. at today’s board meeting in St. Paul. Segetis plans to…

Segetis, a Golden Valley-based biochemical company, is planning a $105 million expansion to Hoyt Lakes on the eastern Iron Range. They’re asking for $21 million in support from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board at its April 22 meeting. The promise: 545 jobs and $55 million in annual economic impact. That appears to be…

The 90-day comments period for the PolyMet Environmental Impact Statement closed yesterday. More than 50,000 people and organizations offered questions, support and opposition to the proposed copper/nickel mine near Hoyt Lakes in northern Minnesota. That is, by all accounts, a record. The final and perhaps most important comment issued was the final opinion of the…

Marshall Helmberger reported in the Timberjay this week and on Northern Community Radio this morning that hydrologists have discovered an error in part of the PolyMet EIS (Environmental Impact Study) (link: subscription only until next week). The Star Tribune also picked up on the story. The error causes some serious flaws in the projection model used to assess most…

Almost 1,500 people packed into the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center last night for the first of three public hearings about the PolyMet Environmental Impact Statement. The purpose of the PolyMet EIS hearing was to allow feedback on the document released late last year, which details the possible environmental impact of the controversial new copper/nickel…

On a recent edition of TPT’s Almanac, supporters and opponents of a controversial new mining project in northern Minnesota took to the stage for a short, white-hot debate (second segment) that represents everything I hate about covering this issue. The more you dive into it, the more you find yourself in the morass of your own…

Baird Helgeson’s story in the Sunday Dec. 15 Star Tribune explores the schism in the Minnesota DFL over the issue of mining copper and rare minerals in northern Minnesota. It’s a good read that highlights what I’ve been talking about here at MinnesotaBrown. This debate is personal, cultural, even existential for the people involved. GOPers…

UPDATE: You can find the EIS document here at the DNR website. I’ll be on Minnesota Public Radio’s Daily Circuit today with Tom Weber talking about the release of the Environmental Impact Statement for the PolyMet mining project in northern Minnesota. My segment is slated for the 11 a.m. hour. It looks like they’re dedicating…

This Friday, U.S. officials will release the environmental impact statement for the proposed PolyMet mine near Hoyt Lakes in northern Minnesota. The project, which would mine copper, nickel, palladium, and other nonferrous minerals, has been part of a long-boiling political and cultural controversy for more than a decade. And while the EIS won’t resolve that…

KARE 11 filed this report about the PolyMet nonferrous mining project in northern Minnesota. Though it was already well known to those familiar with the project, the largest single owner of PolyMet (about 30 percent) is Glencore, an international company with mining interests all over the world. KARE 11 explored Glencore involvement in PolyMet in…

PolyMet Mining is up with a new ad in the Duluth, Minnesota, TV market entitled “PolyMet, Yes.” It’s part of a larger public relations campaign. As you can see, Polymet’s new ad focuses on the products that would be made with the minerals PolyMet wants to mine. Structured around the word “Yes” the ad seeks…

Northern MN mining controversy remains in the news here. We had a steady go of it a couple weeks ago. Then the government shut down and yet the debate continues. A Star Tribune report late last week showed that the mining company PolyMet has acknowledged that its proposed mine’s tailings pond would require 500 years…

This morning I was a guest on Minnesota Public Radio’s Daily Circuit program, talking northern Minnesota mining politics with co-host Tom Weber. It’s been a busy couple weeks of mining news with debate over the approaching release of PolyMet’s Environmental Impact Statement, Rep. Rick Nolan’s vote in favor of a pro-mining deregulation bill and a…

PolyMet’s Environmental Impact Statement won’t be released to the public until November, according to the Minnesota DNR. State and federal agencies reportedly have concluded their review of the mining company’s proposed plan to extract nonferrous minerals from northern Minnesota, but other agencies have input that needs to be included. This represents another delay, albeit a…