PolyMet NorthMet permit fails to hold water

The Minnesota Supreme Court decision was announced this morning. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources must conduct a contested case hearing on the permit per the opinion issued.

We conclude that the court of appeals adopted an incorrect legal standard to evaluate the DNR’s decision to deny the petitions for a contested case hearing. By disregarding the DNR’s discretion, the court of appeals erred in its interpretation of Minn. Stat. § 93.483, subd. 3(a) (2020). Under a substantial-evidence standard, we conclude that a contested case hearing is required on the effectiveness  of the proposed bentonite amendment for PolyMet’s proposed tailings basin. Regarding the other factual issues raised in respondents’ petitions, however, we conclude that the DNR did not abuse its discretion in denying the petitions for a contested case hearing because substantial evidence supports  those decisions. We further conclude that the court of appeals was correct in reversing the decision to grant the permit to mine because the DNR erred by issuing the permit without an appropriate fixed term. Finally, we conclude that the court of appeals erred in reversing the two dam-safety permits. Accordingly, we affirm in part and reverse in part the decision of the court of appeals and remand to the  DNR to conduct the contested case hearing  required by this decision and, thereafter, to determine and fix the appropriate definite term for the permit to mine as necessary.4

The entire decision can be found here. We've not yet read it in its entirety. We suggest you do so if you're interested in Minnesota's mining rules and how they're applied to nonferrous mines. As we've read so far, it appears the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources was given a few more opportunities to continue digging the hole they've already put themselves in.

The Decision

By Jane Hirshfield

There is a moment before a shape

hardens, a color sets.

Before the fixative or heat of   kiln.

The letter might still be taken

from the mailbox.

The hand held back by the elbow,

the word kept between the larynx pulse   

and the amplifying drum-skin of the room’s air.

The thorax of an ant is not as narrow.

The green coat on old copper weighs more.   

Yet something slips through it —

looks around,

sets out in the new direction, for other lands.

Not into exile, not into hope. Simply changed.

As a sandy track-rut changes when called a Silk Road:

it cannot be after turned back from.

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