Mining Basics
Polymet
Polymet
Copper Mining
Mount Polly
Glencore
Glencore acquired Sherwin Alumina (Sherwin) in 2007. In 2014, Sherwin proposed substantial cuts to workers’ income and benefits, the cuts eliminated overtime pay for scheduled days off and wage increases, increased employee contributions to healthcare, and, for new workers, eliminated pensions, disability, early retirement, and widow’s benefits.The United Steel Workers rejected these cuts and were then locked out of the mine for two years. In January 2016, Sherwin filed bankruptcy. Several months later, Sherwin announced the plant’s closure
Sherwin Alumina Co., Gregory, TX
Columbia Falls Aluminum Company, Columbia Falls, MT
Glencore purchased the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company (CFAC) in 1999. Between 1999 and 2016, operated at a fraction of its capacity, production was halted, Glencore permanently closed the plant, and it was declared a Superfund site. Between 2009 and 2015, Glencore led hundreds of laid-off workers to believe that the plant would be reopened or that they would receive severance pay. However, the plant was never reopened, and the discovery of hazardous materials in surface and groundwater, soil, and a nearby river led to the EPA designating CFAC a Superfund site
PCA
From the Timberjay, June 26, 2019
EDITORIAL: An award for polluting
The story of the Dunka Pit’s “operator award” reveals MPCA’s downfall
“The current permit does not have effluent limits for sulfate, hardness, and specific conductance and thus there is no permit noncompliance associated with these parameters. The permit does not have an effluent limit for nickel as an individual parameter for the constructed wetland treatment systems – the permit instead includes an effluent limit for ‘additive toxicity’ of which nickel is a component. All five wetland treatment system discharges routinely meet the permit ‘additive toxicity’ effluent limit.”
There is a lot in this answer, but let’s be clear about the most basic issue— the MPCA’s approach to mining pollution far too often is to eliminate any requirement to comply with a specific effluent standard. As long as the company takes its monthly water samples and sends the results to the MPCA, they are in full compliance with their permit, even if the test results show the facility is polluting Minnesota waters. This approach by the MPCA not only allows mining companies to continue to pollute, it actually indemnifies the company against lawsuits that citizens might otherwise be allowed to file.
Politics of Polymet
- Bipartisan support
- DFL caught in Labor vs Environment
- DFL caught in Neo-liberal frame that restricts job creation to the private sector
- General Labor Council headed by building trades who already have a contract to build the mine
Tactics
- Lawsuit to expose bad permitting process
- Pressure AG to investigate improper permitting
- Expose PCA lack of enforcement
Current Status
- Lawsuit victory
- Polymet is furthest along and will act as allow to clear the way for much more mining
Allies
Polymet
By boberetezeke
Polymet
Why we should oppose Polymet
