The Reality of Regulation

It’s politics, not protection.

I write this as a former regulator.

Whenever a government official, elected or not, speaks of Polymet, the tone is always “concerned” and assures the public that “they want to get this right.” They will then, as is true in almost any public political statement, deflect responsibility and disperse credit while erasing history. Evidence based politics has never existed when it comes to mining. The same is true with the realities of regulation.

We are much better off than before the now existing laws, whether state or federal. The Environmental review process does place limits and requirements on such projects, and pollution regulation does save us, our children and the natural world from much harm. But, laws must actually be enforced for protection to work. That is where the failure almost always lies.

There are many good regulators and scientists who work in Government. They attempt to do their jobs with great care and concern despite all the forces against them. The cynical, ladder climbing opportunists, political appointees and corporate servants exist everywhere, and that’s where the problem starts. The old Roman axiom “Cui Bono?” which asks “Who benefits?” is still true. Human greed has not changed at all, and in these days of revolving door lobbyists and essentially legalized bribery, it might be worse. Given two kids in school and loans to pay off, self-censorship is as common as direct orders to shut up, and not mentioning the potential problems or over-permit discharges is more common than the public knows.

Mining in Minnesota is big business, and unfortunately, it is the also the state’s business. There are statutes obligating state government to develop and support mining. There is an entire division (Lands and Minerals) of the Department of Natural Resources devoted to “developing” and “diversifying” the state’s resources, which does everything from having a mineral core library to supposedly ensuring reclamation or compliance with state rules. Thus, the politicians and spokesman will say “Everything is just fine”, as we have “thorough regulation and review processes.”  Actually, the corporate spokesmen and lobbyists complain of regulation as burdensome and limiting of their fine industry, working behind the scenes with Range politicians to hand over vast chunks of public resources with no oversight for profit. Some elements of the DFL protest and fight back, but Range politicos work with Republicans to get their way. Government is not the public’s friend when it comes to mining, but instead it acts at the political level like a reluctant watchdog, only the shock collar is held by mining supporters. Any bark earns a shock and the dog learns quickly what the master does not like.

In order to understand this, one simply has to look at what exists now to understand the reality of regulation.  The entire northern part of the St. Louis River Watershed is physically altered. Not a tiny bit, but the entire area. Most in the public don’t understand the meaning of this, and they shouldn’t have to. What is Minnesota’s largest tributary to Lake Superior and itself the potentially richest producer of fish in Northeast Minnesota, in its headwaters, is a mangled mess. This means more erosion and more pollution, not just for now, but for centuries. Your children, grandchildren and their grandchildren will deal with the consequences of this. There has not been monitoring for groundwater impacts, which is true for all of Minnesota. Cities and citizens on the Range have had to move or deepen their wells because of mine pit pumping, with the companies never compensating them. We have given them free water and allowed them to pollute it. Wetlands lost have either never been replaced, never met standards or are allowed to be placed in Aitkin County out of the watershed. The politician’s response, including Gov. Dayton, has been to try and make it easier or allow them to move replacement into the Red River valley or to allow already existing wetlands to be used as replacement.  It has long been known by employees and locals that at dusk, certain Taconite plants activate parts of the plant knowing that regulatory authorities are not monitoring at that moment and blow more dust and pollution out their stacks. The outflow at the former LTV Dunka pit has been flowing off permit for over ten years now. Despite their assurances and years of experiments at mostly public expense, they never did solve the pollution problem there.  At Minntac’s Tailngs basin, the sulfates and extra flow had killed Wild Rice on the Sand River, and the state and federal governments had to force them to change their practices.  The reality is this: without the Federal Government regulations, the citizens of Minnesota would be at the utter mercy of mining companies. The state government is almost wholly owned by the mining companies, and this includes a large piece of the DFL. It cannot be trusted.

Despite what is said, this is not a science based decision. It is a political decision based on profits. Once built, the necessity of keeping it going despite the cost to us, our children, grandchildren and ever on, will override any harm. Just as now, the words ‘Save our Jobs” will be repeated, as the desperate people trapped there will search for a way to keep their lives. They will be used like pictures of starving orphans. The words “profits” and “pollution” will never be spoken.  

The latest proposal, which says that water treatment will be needed a minimum of 500 years, if not perpetually, says enough. There was no Jamestown, Saint Augustine or Quebec City 500 years ago. Cortez had not invaded Mexico. The Iroquois were just beginning to dominate the Northeast and the Mississippian mound culture still had large cities throughout what is now the central and southern U.S. The Cheyenne and Dakota were still in Northeast Minnesota. There was no British empire. The very idea that anyone can argue for this proposal as a solution is an absurdist joke and should be laughed out of the room. It is as if the Holy Roman Empire made a proposal for regulating a river diversion on the Rhine until the year 2000.  If you wish to argue for the financial assurance, I have some Swedish Kroner from the Empire of Gustavus Adolphus, along with some Weimar Republic Deutschmarks I would like to cash in. It is imaginary money worth nothing, especially without any water.

This decision is about people. It is about our descendants and what we will leave them. I empathize with people needing incomes, much more so than any cynical mining official or politician. Our society has plenty of resources to help them, it is just currently being sucked up by fraudulent military contractors. If I could, I would give them income and jobs they might actually value. I can’t. But we cannot solve their desperation by handing over our world to mining companies, who will wreck where we live, leave the mess and take their money and run. They will abandon the people there just like the piles of overburden, as they always have, as they have done before and are doing now. None of that will change. I cannot do that to my children, my grandchildren, their grandchildren and the countless others who will have to live with it. I cannot do that just so I can afford a flatscreen tv. It means nothing. This is our world. There is no escape. Here is where we live.