Was the environmental review process "a neutral evaluation" or "puffery"?

Was the environmental review process "a neutral evaluation" or "puffery"?

Wastewater from Minnesota’s proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine would have to be treated indefinitely to prevent pollutants from escaping, according to a final environmental review released ...

Insights on recent news events from Ryan Winkler, Pat Garofalo, Don Ness and Amy Koch.

At Tuesday night’s hearing over a controversial plan for the PolyMet open pit copper mine, a sharply divided crowd traded talking points about the risks and rewards of copper mining. It is a good bet that few were swayed from their original opinions by the three hours of testimony, the 59 speakers, the guy who performed a Pete Seeger-inspired anti-mining song, the prophecies of a pristine wilderness despoiled or the happy visions of an Iron Range restored to prosperity by “mining done right.”

Otto shook up both her role as state auditor and her campaign for re-election last month when she cast the lone “no” vote as the state’s Executive Council took up 31 exploratory nonferrous mining leases in northeastern Minnesota. The leases went ahead anyway, but in voting against them, Otto became the first statewide elected official to express concern about the state’s move toward the new process of nonferrous mining

A coalition of environmental groups has announced it plans to spend more than a quarter of a million dollars this summer on a public awareness campaign centered on proposed sulfide mines in northern Minnesota.

The path through any budget session leads to a negotiating table at which the governor and legislative leaders work out the most politically palatable taxing and spending deal they can muster. But the budget is never the only game in town. Before the session endgame gets played out, a network of committees will play host to various and sundry dramas involving policy issues before state government.

On its face, the vote taken recently by the state’s top constitutional officers to delay the granting of mineral rights leases on the Iron Range for six months was democracy in action: government bending to a public outcry and pledging to explore the issues raised.