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Today's Question Blog
MPR News Staff

Should mining be allowed in the BWCA watershed?

The closed LTV Steel taconite plant remains abandoned near Hoyt Lakes, Minn. However, the site, which closed in 2000, could see new life as a part of Minnesota's first copper-nickel mine owned by PolyMet. Polymet now has permission to begin the permit application process. Jim Mone | AP
The closed LTV Steel taconite plant remains abandoned near Hoyt Lakes, Minn. However, the site, which closed in 2000, could see new life as a part of Minnesota's first copper-nickel mine owned by PolyMet. Polymet now has permission to begin the permit application process. Jim Mone | AP

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A core sample awaits examination and logging Thursday morning at Twin Metals' Ely, Minn. offices, in this 2012 file photo. Derek Montgomery for MPR

"The day after Gov. Mark Dayton laid out his opposition to mining on state lands near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, mining opponents looked ahead to a pending federal decision that will have further bearing on whether copper-nickel mines are to be developed within the watershed of the protected wilderness," writes MPR News reporter Dan Kraker.

At issue are two federal mineral leases that Twin Metals Minnesota holds near Birch Lake and the South Kawishiwi River, southeast of Ely, Minn. Those leases expired at the end of 2013, and the company's application to renew those leases has been pending with the federal Bureau of Land Management for more than three years.

Today's Question: Should mining be allowed in the BWCA watershed?

Further reading: Water coverage from MPR News