Note: Listing here does not necessarily imply that we agree with everything on these sites.   However, we feel they contain important information for citizens and regulators to consider.

Clean, Sustainable Economic Opportunities

Superior Food Web is conducting a 15-county study to determine the economic benefits of growing an integrated local food-production industry.  The potential job-creation and the economic multiplier effect of keeping consumer dollars in system are huge.

See the film, Ely:  At the Crossroads.  Growing and sustaining employment through innovation, while maintaining and enhancing this world-class natural environment –- this is the challenge and opportunity of healthy, self-sufficient communities in these economic times.   Ely, in the midst of Minnesota’s prized lake country, stands at the edge of both Iron Range and wilderness.

Sulfide Mining links

The U.S. EPA (Environmental protection Agency) has extensive information about acid mine drainage (AMD).

Minnesota DNR webpage on PolyMet's NorthMet Project EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) tracks the status of the copper-mine proposal.  The Draft EIS has received the poorest possible marks from the US EPA..   

MERCURY, MINING IN MINNESOTA, AND CLEAN WATER ACT PROTECTION: A REPRESENTATIVE ANALYSIS BASED ON THE PROPOSED POLYMET PROJECT by WaterLegacy legal counsel, Paula Maccabee, published in the William Mitchell Law Review, Volume 36.

EARTHWORKS (formerly the Mineral Policy Center) National group advocating protective mining regulation from the federal level. Lots of good technical and regulatory information from a concerned citizen's perspective.

• Predicting Water Quality at Hardrock Mines: Methods and Models, Uncertainties, and State-of-the-Art An EARTHWORKS  A white paper summarizing and analyzing the ground-breaking studies of non-coal mines by Ann Maest, PhD, and Jim Kuipers, P.E.
• Comparison of Predicted and Actual Water Quality at Hardrock Mines: the reliability of predictions in Environmental Impact Statements  A study of plans vs. results shows that 78% polluted.

Mining Madness, Water Wars: The Great Lakes in the Balance; exploring the sulfide mining threat to Michigan  A National Wildlife Federation (NWF) documentary.  Michigan has strong laws, but lacks enforcement. This 33 minute film explores the MDEQ's failures and biases, the threat of acid mine drainage to Lake Superior, Kennecott's stained record, Anishnabe treaty rights, top-notch scientists' analyses and more.

MAJOR PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS OF METALLIC SULFIDE MINING, a report by Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness (Scroll down to the report)

MinnPost Stories (search for "Sulfide Mining"): 

•    Is anyone protecting Minnesota's waters?     by C.A. Arneson, MinnPost   May 24, 2010
•    Questions linger in Arrowhead about proposed sulfide-metals mining and potential effects By Ron Way | Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008
•    New mining era for northeastern Minnesota -- and new environmental worries By Ron Way | Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008
•    In Minnesota, our wealth is our water -- so keep questioning sulfide mining By C.A. Arneson | Friday, Jan. 2, 2009

Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy: State and mining companies could be violating Minnesota law, October 07, 2008

• BWCABoard.com A blog on Boundary Waters Community Copper-Nickel mining near the BWCA 
• Friends of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: A wealth of information about sulfide mining and the situation in Minnesota
  •    Sulfide Mining page
  •    Safe Mines to Protect our Water
  •    An extraordinary incursion of the public forest By CAROLYN J. SAMPSON, August 14, 2008

Minnesota Mining Economics by Dr. Tom Power.  Study of historical Iron Range counties' data shows that decades of relatively steady economic growth and job creation have progressed due to sustainable businesses.  Mining employment has declined steadily with automation, despite record taconite production in the past decade. 

Mining the Data:  Analyzing the Economic Implications of Mining for Nonmetropolitan Regions, by William R. Fruedenburg and Lisa J. Wilson  2002

A POSITION PAPER ON PERPETUAL WATER TREATMENT FOR MINES by David M. Chambers, Ph.D., CENTER for SCIENCE in PUBLIC PARTICIPATION, June 2000

WATER Rights and Conservation

A League of Women Voters Series -- Healthy Legacy II:  Water, March 6 - May 8, 2010   Our Troubled Waters, Urban Water and Land Use, Conservation--Preserving Our Water

Women and Water Rights: Rivers of Regeneration an exhibit and events February 23 to March 25, 2010.  We are facing a global water crisis:* 18% of the world’s population lack access to safe drinking water, and 42% lack access to basic sanitation. More than 2.2 million people die each year from diseases associated with these conditions. As water scarcity grows, so will these numbers.  By 2025, it is estimated that two thirds of the world’s population will live in areas facing moderate to severe water stress.   See the U.N.  Water for Life Factsheet.

Another Water Management Is Possible Campaign is a populist alternative to government and corporate control of water resources, holding that water is the common public property of all the people in the world, not anyone's private property.  The campaign's inception was founded as a response to a pivotal event:  March, 2009 the 5th World Water Forum held in İstanbul in order to discuss the water policies of the world.

Precious Waters, a movie about effects of sulfide mining in and near the wilderness, the industry's history of failed predictions and toxic pollution, and the potential impacts on northeastern Minnesota from proposed mines.

EPA Office of Water  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has an extensive website containing information on water science, ground and drinking water, wastewater management, and wetlands, oceans, and watersheds.

Environmental groups

• Minnesota Environmental Partnership - 2010 Protect Minnesota campaign, Safe Mines Campaign, Safe Mines Legislation, Fact Sheet
• EARTHWORKS (formerly Mineral Policy Center)
• Friends of the Boundary Waters and PreciousWaters.org

• Sierra Club North Star Chapter's mining campaign
  
• Minnestoa Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA)  Sulfide Mining page
• Save our Skyblue Waters  A wealth of information about sulfide mining industry, Minnesota and other regulation, metals markets and companies, etc.
• Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness
• SAVE the Wild UP  Michigan's Upper Peninsula sulfide mining news.
• CheckMyLake.org  A public information site hosted by Conservation Minnesota. Track your favorite lakes.