The Timberjay has the full story HERE.

The advocacy group Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness filed a suit earlier this year claiming the 450-foot tower on a ridge near Fall Lake in the Ely area violates the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act because it will be visible from the BWCAW. The tower is presently designed to be illuminated day and night with strobe and beacon lighting.

The agreement for AT&T to suspend construction came at a hearing on August 4 considering a temporary injunction on construction of the tower.

A trail date has not been set, but one is not expected before December.

The Ely Echo reports HERE that the Board of Supervisors for Fall Lake Township “scoffed” at the suit which asks Hennepin County District Court to stop construction of the proposed tower and declare that its construction violates the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act. The group is concerned about the visual impact of the tower on visitors to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Supervisors and members of the public in attendance at the meeting noted that lights from the tower would not be the only lights in the area visible in the BWCAW. The Echo story was written by Nancy McReady, president of the Conservationists With Common Sense, an advocacy organization promoting wider access to and multiple use of the BWCAW.

The Echo’s editorial board commented on the topic in THIS editorial.

Down the road in the Twin Cities, Nick Coleman of the StarTribune weighed in in favor of the Friends’ of the Boundary Waters lawsuit, HERE. He called the suit a “reasonable position,” one that “can be supported by any lover of the woods and waters but that does not brush aside the legitimate interests of local residents.”

The court will hear arguments on the suit on August 4. AT&T Mobility has agreed to temporarily halt construction of the tower until the matter is resolved.

The Minnesota DNR outlined the procedures for the new version of the document HERE.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will prepare the document jointly, addressing the proposed land exchange between PolyMet and the U.S. Forest Service, developing and incorporating additional project modifications, alternatives, and mitigation measures to minimize environmental impacts, and considering the EPA’s and other public comments and recommendations, the DNR said.

The Timberjay reported, HERE, that the rewrite could delay the project by up to a year.

The $600-million PolyMet project, if approved, is expected to create some 400 jobs during the 20-year life of the mine.

Minnesota Public Radio covered the story last week. You can read or listen to their story HERE.

The Duluth News Tribune wrote about the story as well, HERE.

The Ely-based company, Duluth Metals, with the backing of Chilean Mining giant Antofogasta has probed the area along Spruce Road and has found a rich deposit of copper, nickel and precious metals in the earth. Mining proponents say the deposit is an important domestic metal source which has the potential to provide hundreds of jobs.

Environmental advocates are concerned that mining the metals could do serious damage to water quality and the pristine nature of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The sought-after metals occur in sulfide rock, which can acidify water when not handled properly. The surface water above the Duluth Metals deposit flows across the Boundary Waters.

While environmental permitting for a mine in the area is estimated to be three years into the future, the need for metals and local jobs will likely battle against the protection of the water quality in the country’s most visited wilderness area in the years to come.

The Duluth News Tribune has the full  story HERE.

The EPA criticized the original  report for not addressing the issue of funds to be set aside for future clean-up nor adequately addressing wetland and endangered species destruction and water quality concerns.

Minnesota DNR and Corps of Engineers officials are still deciding how to proceed, but acknowledge that they may produce a supplement to the Draft EIS which would address the issues of concern.

The $600-million PolyMet project, if approved, is expected to create some 400 jobs during the 20-year life of the mine.

Lake Vermilion State Park, image courtesy MN DNR, © Tom Thulen

The StarTribune has a story on the deal’s closing HERE.

Governor Tim Pawlenty, a strong proponent of the purchase, signed documents yesterday transferring ownership of the acreage. The $20-million deal appeared undone more than once during negotiations between the State and US. Steel, but in the end the purchase will add the first new State Park in Minnesota in 30 years.

Some opponents of the land purchase hoped the parcel would be opened to private development which could have brought increased tax revenue to the area. Critics also question whether funds will be available to develop the park. Only $2-million of the $20-million state appropriated for the park is allocated for development.

The Duluth News Tribune has a story about park opposition HERE.

A trail system from the adjoining Soudan Underground Mine State Park into Lake Vermilion State Park will be built this summer. By fall, a more extensive system of cross-country skiing and snowmobile trails is expected to be completed. DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten said that under a best-case scenario, the park would need six years for full development.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources web page on the park can be found HERE.

The Superior Resource Advisory Committee’s purpose, according to USFS officials, is “to enhance local community collaboration with federal land managers by jointly proposing, reviewing, and making recommendations regarding proposed projects that will benefit resources on National Forest System lands in Cook, Lake and St. Louis Counties.”

The purpose of the first meeting of the newly-formed committee will be to orient the new Superior RAC members on their roles and responsibilities. In addition, the committee will elect officers, develop rules and operational guidelines; and discuss a public forum on submitting project proposals.

The meeting is open to the public. Visitors are encouraged to call ahead to 218-626-4300 to facilitate entry into the building.

Written comments should be sent to Superior National Forest, RAC, 8901 Grand Avenue Place, Duluth, MN 55808. Comments may also be sent via email to r9_superior_NF@fs.fed.us or via facsimile to 218-626-4312.

Read the Superior National Forest full media release on the Superior RAC HERE.

The closures are in force to protect against the over-fishing of concentrations of spawning walleyes.

Closures will take effect April 1 at:

– Sea Gull River from Sea Gull Lake through Gull Lake to Saganaga Lake approximately 1/3 mile north of the narrows, closed through May 28.

– Saganaga Falls on the Minnesota – Ontario border where the Granite River enters Saganaga Lake, closed through May 31.

– Maligne River (also known as Northern Light Rapids) on the Ontario side of Saganaga Lake, closed through May 31.

– The channel between Little Gunflint and Little North lakes on the Minnesota – Ontario border, closed through May 31.

– Cross River (inlet to Gunflint Lake) from the Gunflint Trail to Gunflint Lake, closed through May 28.

Due to an anticipated early spring ice-out this year and a corresponding early completion of walleye spawning, the following areas, which are normally closed to fishing for one or two weeks at the beginning of the fishing season, will not be closed this year:

– Tait River from White Pine Lake to the Forest Road 339 crossing.

– Junco Creek from the first log dam above County Road 57 downstream to Devil Track Lake, and including a portion of Devil Track Lake near the river mouth.

Closures apply only to fishing; travel is permitted through closed areas.  All closed areas will be posted.

The DNR’s full media release on the closures is HERE.

Marshall Helmberger of the Timberjay reports the story HERE.

Helmberger notes that the share price of PolyMet has fallen from a high of $3.76 in mid-January to a low of $2.09 earlier this month, after Environmental Protection Agency comments on the project’s DEIS found more than two dozen “inadequacies.”

PolyMet’s share price at the close of trading last week was $2.22.

PolyMet is still confident the project will go forward in a timely fashion.

“The fundamentals of this project are unchanged and remain robust,” PolyMet president and chief executive officer Joe Scipioni said in a media release last week.  “We are confident that technical criticisms will be fully addressed when alternative plans and project changes are incorporated. Our construction budget makes provisions for many of these alternatives and changes.”

The Duluth News Tribune reports, HERE, on last night’s House Environment Committee hearing.

During the two-hour hearing, the committee considered testimony from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, mining industry representatives, and environmental advocates.

The panel is weighing a bill by Representative Alice Hausman, a DFL-er from St. Paul, which would apply existing state and federal financial assurance rules to non-ferrous mines like those proposed for northeastern Minnesota by PolyMet Mining Corporation and other firms.

Last week, the Minnesota Senate’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee held a similar set of hearings, prior to Senator Jim Carlson, a DFL-er from Eagan, withdrawing his financial assurance bill in that chamber.