In public discussion regarding the Iron Range, two legacies are commonly omitted. One is the environmental, or the impacts to nature. The other, which cannot be separated from that, is the social.
One myth repeated by many officials is that there are no "significant" environmental problems from mining. They will claim the water resources of the area remain relatively clean, and other impacts are minimal.
While in comparison to other areas of the state, the north and northeast remain relatively unimpaired but is largely a case of small populations and little agriculture. The St. Louis River, however, is impacted, with much of its northern portion physically altered by mining. The lag time for these impacts affecting the mainstem of the river will be in centuries. The river is impacted, whether by increased mercury, erosion or extirpated species such as Wild Rice. Sub-watersheds such as the East Swan River are completely destabilized by mining and minor urbanization. Reservoirs have been created. Parts of small watersheds no longer contribute to the St. Louis River at all. When now active pits are abandoned and fill, their water will exit at different places, much like the Canisteo pit near Bovey. Wild Rice in the Sandy River was eliminated by Minntac's outflow from its tailings pond. Numerous smaller streams have been channeled. Groundwater has been impacted, with cities boring new wells as aquifers drain out the side of pits during dewatering. The pit lakes, despite the fantasy designs depicting pleasant lakes surrounded by suburban style cabins, will actually be much more like the former pit lakes now. A small zone with adequate habitat for fish, but the depths rich in toxic hydrogen sulfide, far too polluted for anything to survive, except for some very exotic species hardly familiar except to biologists. The entire landscape has been altered over a large area, and many of the impacts may not be known for centuries. Much of it is nothing more than a very large and abandoned industrial brownfield.
Socially, the area suffers also. The cities are in decline and have been for three decades now. They are aging, and drug use is common. It is simply no longer a case of leaving for economic reasons, but leaving also for social reasons. Life in a world of closed down bars and shuttered store fronts is not appealing. The surrounding countryside does fare slightly better, as for many this is where they actually want to live in the region. Why would you live in a ghost town of rentals and overly perceived crime when your goal is to have a forty acre country home ten miles out of town? This is no longer the world of seventy years ago where living in a city made a difference in your access to certain things, except maybe for broadband, the new electricity of infrastructure. This is not New York.
This is not uncommon. Most mining regions end like this, whether the old Gogebic Range of the Upper Peninsula, Anaconda, Butte and Libby, Montana or the old Cuyuna Range of north central Minnesota. Everywhere mines existed, there are environmental legacies our descendants will curse us for, as we have left them nothing more than pollution and abandoned places. Some are worse than others. Our pyramids are shrinking, aging towns, old trailer courts, brownfields and billions of wasted resources spent cleaning up the mess.
The question is, why should or will the Range be any different?
The Range communities, because of State investment and subsidy, simply lasted longer then those other places. This perhaps creates a misconception that they will avoid the same fate. But truthfully, why should Hoyt Lakes or Babbitt, both built specifically for mining projects, not end like Pine Point, Northwest Territories?
To be continued...
One myth repeated by many officials is that there are no "significant" environmental problems from mining. They will claim the water resources of the area remain relatively clean, and other impacts are minimal.
While in comparison to other areas of the state, the north and northeast remain relatively unimpaired but is largely a case of small populations and little agriculture. The St. Louis River, however, is impacted, with much of its northern portion physically altered by mining. The lag time for these impacts affecting the mainstem of the river will be in centuries. The river is impacted, whether by increased mercury, erosion or extirpated species such as Wild Rice. Sub-watersheds such as the East Swan River are completely destabilized by mining and minor urbanization. Reservoirs have been created. Parts of small watersheds no longer contribute to the St. Louis River at all. When now active pits are abandoned and fill, their water will exit at different places, much like the Canisteo pit near Bovey. Wild Rice in the Sandy River was eliminated by Minntac's outflow from its tailings pond. Numerous smaller streams have been channeled. Groundwater has been impacted, with cities boring new wells as aquifers drain out the side of pits during dewatering. The pit lakes, despite the fantasy designs depicting pleasant lakes surrounded by suburban style cabins, will actually be much more like the former pit lakes now. A small zone with adequate habitat for fish, but the depths rich in toxic hydrogen sulfide, far too polluted for anything to survive, except for some very exotic species hardly familiar except to biologists. The entire landscape has been altered over a large area, and many of the impacts may not be known for centuries. Much of it is nothing more than a very large and abandoned industrial brownfield.
Socially, the area suffers also. The cities are in decline and have been for three decades now. They are aging, and drug use is common. It is simply no longer a case of leaving for economic reasons, but leaving also for social reasons. Life in a world of closed down bars and shuttered store fronts is not appealing. The surrounding countryside does fare slightly better, as for many this is where they actually want to live in the region. Why would you live in a ghost town of rentals and overly perceived crime when your goal is to have a forty acre country home ten miles out of town? This is no longer the world of seventy years ago where living in a city made a difference in your access to certain things, except maybe for broadband, the new electricity of infrastructure. This is not New York.
This is not uncommon. Most mining regions end like this, whether the old Gogebic Range of the Upper Peninsula, Anaconda, Butte and Libby, Montana or the old Cuyuna Range of north central Minnesota. Everywhere mines existed, there are environmental legacies our descendants will curse us for, as we have left them nothing more than pollution and abandoned places. Some are worse than others. Our pyramids are shrinking, aging towns, old trailer courts, brownfields and billions of wasted resources spent cleaning up the mess.
The question is, why should or will the Range be any different?
The Range communities, because of State investment and subsidy, simply lasted longer then those other places. This perhaps creates a misconception that they will avoid the same fate. But truthfully, why should Hoyt Lakes or Babbitt, both built specifically for mining projects, not end like Pine Point, Northwest Territories?
To be continued...
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