The Minnesota State Supreme Court declined to hear a petition for review by environmental groups to a lower court decision regarding the environmental review for the NorthMet copper-nickel-precious metals project owned by PolyMet.
Two environmental groups petitioned the court for review of a unanimous May 28 Court of Appeals decision that upheld the scope of the environmental review prepared for the NorthMet Project by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. It also rejected the groups’ request for the agency to prepare a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
“This action effectively closes out any remaining challenges to the state related to the environmental review and allows us to sharpen our focus on financing, building and operating Minnesota’s first copper-nickel-precious metals mine,” PolyMet President and CEO Jon Cherry said.
Groups filing the petition were Twin Cities-based Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.
The Court of Appeals ruling covered three consolidated appeals filed in 2018. The Final EIS for PolyMet’s NorthMet Project was published in November 2015 by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
