US Army Corps revokes permit for NewRange mine, cites threat to downstream tribe’s water standards

The Corps said NewRange Copper Nickel can submit a new permit application with modifications to make it comply with the tribe’s water quality requirements.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday it has revoked a crucial federal permit for the proposed NewRange Copper Nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota, a project popularly known as PolyMet, saying the permit did not comply with the water quality standards set by a sovereign downstream tribe.

The Corps said in a statement that it revoked the Clean Water Act permit, which it had previously suspended, “because the permit does not ensure compliance with water quality requirements of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.” The tribe’s reservation, on the St. Louis River, is downstream from the mine and processing plant site near Babbitt and Hoyt Lakes.

“This is a huge victory,” said Paula Maccabee, an attorney for WaterLegacy, one of the environmental groups that have been fighting the proposed mine in court and in the regulatory process for several years. “It’s a victory for tribal sovereignty, it’s a victory for science, it’s a victory for the law. Although PolyMet has suffered other setbacks, this is by far the most consequential victory for human health, water quality and tribal sovereignty.”

The Corps said NewRange Copper Nickel is free to submit a new permit application with modifications to the project to make it comply with the tribe’s water quality requirements. But Maccabee said the Corps’ decision memo makes it clear that it would be difficult for the company to successfully address all the issues raised by the tribe and the Environmental Protection Agency.

NewRange said it’s considering its options as it digests the decision and decides on its response. Some other key permits also remain tied up by legal challenges.

“The Corps’ decision is one that requires careful review, determined action, and further engagement with regulators and all key stakeholders,” the company said in a statement.

PolyMet Mining and Teck Resources finalized a 50-50 joint venture in February that renamed the project NewRange Copper Nickel. They hope to complete the copper-nickel mine that PolyMet had been developing for several years, and to eventually build a separate mine next door in an even larger ore body that Canada-based Teck controls. PolyMet Mining’s largest shareholder is Swiss-based minerals and mining giant Glencore.

The Corps initially awarded PolyMet the Clean Water Act permit in 2019. At the time, Corps officials said the project complied with all applicable federal laws and regulations.

But it suspended the permit in 2021 at the request of the Environmental Protection Agency so that the EPA, in response to a court ruling, could study the effects downstream on both the Band’s reservation and the Wisconsin waters of the St. Louis River, which forms a part of the Minnesota-Wisconsin border. The Corps then held a public hearing in May of 2022 on whether the permit should be reissued, revoked or modified.

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