Minnesota appeals court reverses PolyMet mining permits News
Neta623 / Pixabay
Minnesota appeals court reverses PolyMet mining permits

The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday reversed two mining permits issued for PolyMet Mining Corporation, hindering the mining companies plan to construct a copper-nickel mine in the northeastern part of the state.

The permits were issued by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), but Chief Judge Edward Cleary said that the DNR erred in not holding a contested case hearing on the permits to fully vet objections by environmental groups and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The court also said the agency erred when it issued PolyMet’s permit to mine without imposing a fixed term on that permit. The three-judge panel ordered the DNR to hold a contested hearing, which will take place before an independent administrative law judge.

The permits were already suspended in September after Glencore, a commodity trader, took a 72 percent stake in PolyMet and after a Vale tailings dam collapsed in Brazil in January, killing more than 200 people.

The DNR said it was carefully reviewing the decision, which has “implications not only for this project but for the role of contested case hearings in the state’s permitting framework more broadly.”

The DNR and PolyMet have 30 days to ask the Minnesota Supreme Court to hear the case. PolyMet is still working to secure $1 billion in funding for the mine’s construction.

THIS DAY @ LAW

American colonists throw tea into Boston harbor in protest of Britain-imposed tea tax

A group of American colonists known as the "Sons of Liberty" boarded an East India Company ship carrying tea disguised as Native Americans on December 16, 1773, throwing the cargo overboard in protest of the British Parliament's taxes on tea imported by Americans. The protest would result in five acts of Parliament known as the "Intolerable Acts," including the Boston Port Act, which closed Boston Harbor to all ships. Read an eyewitness account of the Boston Tea Party.

President Truman proclaims state of emergency in response to China entry into Korea War

On December 16, 1950, US President Harry S. Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency during the Korean War in response to Chinese intervention.