Army Corps revokes key Northmet copper | PeakRider Solutions Co.,Ltd

HOYT LAKES — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has revoked a key discharge permit for the project vying to become Minnesota's first copper-nickel mine because it "does not ensure compliance" with the water quality standards of the downstream Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

But NewRange Copper Nickel, the joint venture between PolyMet and Teck formed earlier this year to see the advance Northmet copper-nickel mine and processing facility near Hoyt Lakes and Babbitt, can still apply for the permit again, the Army Corps said.

In a 27-page decision released Tuesday, Col. Eric Swenson, district commander of the Army Corps' St. Paul District, wrote that it was revoking the project's Section 404 permit, which allows the company to discharge dredged and fill material into over 900 acres of wetlands.

"With the finding that there are currently no conditions that can ensure compliance with the water quality requirements of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, I have determined that revocation of the subject DA (Department of Army) permit would be in the public interest," Swenson wrote.

Swenson cited the Fond du Lac Band's specific concerns that the project would cause additional pollution from mercury and specific conductance, a measure of dissolved solids like sulfate.

The Army Corps issued the permit in March 2019, but the Fond du Lac Band has long argued that potential pollution from the proposed mine and processing facility would damage its wild rice and other resources.

The band sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because the agency never notified the band on whether the project "may affect" its waters. The band argued it should have because under the Clean Water Act, the band is considered a state and was entitled to the same kind of notification and objection process.

A federal judge, and later the EPA's Office of Inspector General, agreed.

The permit was suspended in March 2021 as the EPA considered whether the project "may affect" Fond du Lac, and by June 2021, the EPA determined it "may affect" the downstream waters of the Fond du Lac Reservation and state of Wisconsin.

That opened the door for the band and state to object to the Section 404 permit.

The band objected, prompting a hearing before the Army Corps.

Just as the hearing began in May 2022, the EPA recommended the Army Corps not renew the permit as "there were no conditions that EPA can provide to the Crops that would ensure that the discharges from the CWA Section 404 permitted activities would comply with the band's water quality requirements for its waters."

The Northmet project is proposed near Babbitt and Hoyt Lakes, 70 miles upstream from the Fond du Lac Reservation, and in the St. Louis River Watershed. The St. Louis River also forms the Minnesota-Wisconsin border from the edge of Jay Cooke State Park in Carlton to Duluth-Superior Harbor.

This is a developing story; check back for updates.