Which do you trust more, politicians or bureaucrats?

Today's Star Tribune has an interesting and potentially encouraging editorial:

Legislative hearing is imperative after leaked e-mail, new documents sow PolyMet doubts

We might be more supportive of the idea of a legislative hearing were it not for the legislature's long and convoluted history of bending over, both forward and backward, for the mining industry in this state. The most recent example we can think of centers on obfuscating or eviscerating the state's long-standing (but unenforced) water quality standard for sulfates. Here's the recent history on that topic. A review will note a significant, but not surprising, involvement by members representing the Iron Range. The description doesn't tell the whole story, but it is telling: Wild rice water findings established and listing authorized, application of water quality standards nullified and restricted, report required, and money appropriated. Please be sure to check who served on the conference committee that reconciled the Senate and House versions.

The St. Louis River, between PolyMet and Lake Superior

Photo by J. Harrington

Let me be more candid than tactful: neither politicians nor regulatory bureaucrats have an enviable record of putting public health and environmental protection ahead of business interests. I spent part of my career involved in the crafting of discharge permits for publicly owned treatment works [POTW] (wastewater treatment plants), including one for the largest POTW in Minnesota, the Metro Plant. At least one of those permits was subject to a contested case hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge. I'm not sure if discharge permits for industrial wastewater are subject to contested case hearings or not. If not, they should be. It would be a much better way to develop a complete record for any subsequent judicial review than the system we now have.

Here's the reality: Discharge permits allow private or governmental entities to dispose of waste products to commons that belong to humans and all other living creatures. We've seen a number of instances in which corporations or regulators have endeavored to avoid strict controls in the regulatory process. Minnesota's mining sector is but one of several egregious instances.

We deserve better than the existing system, even it it underwent a few tweaks. In some instances, others are endeavoring to create a better system for the provision of a social license to extractive industries. A spokesperson for Governor Walz has said:

“In order for any mining project to move forward, it would need to meet strict environmental standards that include a significant and transparent public process,” Tschann said. “This is especially important for a project that is located so close to the Boundary Waters.”

We note that Minnesota is becoming increasingly infamous for standards that are neither strict nor transparent in protecting the environment or the state's citizens and non-mining businesses from the negative effects of mining. We doubt that a legislative hearing would add anything to either rigor or transparency, especially if legislators have a prior history of "helping mining." At the moment, the Legislative Auditor's Office and staff have a better, and better deserved, reputation for both rigor and transparency. I'd really like to see and hear what they have to say.

We're not the only skeptics in the crowd, either. Check Skipping down Memory Lane with PolyMet.

A Song: Strephon, your breach of faith and trust

By Laetitia Pilkington

Strephon, your breach of faith and trust 

     Affords me no surprise; 

A man who grateful was, or just, 

     Might make my wonder rise. 

That heart to you so fondly tied, 

     With pleasure wore its chain, 

But from your cold neglectful pride, 

     Found liberty again. 

For this no wrath inflames my mind, 

     My thanks are due to thee; 

Such thanks as gen'rous victors find,

     Who set their captives free.

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