To the editor,
Past work done by Foth Engineering, one of the consultants working on the PolyMet and Twin Metals projects in northeastern Minnesota, has come under fire in a new report authored by hydrogeologist Robert E. Moran. Moran, who reviewed Foth’s work on the Flambeau Mine near Ladysmith, Wis., identified numerous questionable practices that have come back to haunt the community.
After an extensive review of historical and modern Flambeau Mine documents, Moran concluded: “Flambeau ground and surface water quality is being and has been degraded—despite years of industry public relations statements touting the success of the Flambeau Mining Company (FMC) operation.”
He added: “For decades, some of the most relevant data and the most significant water-related impacts have been withheld from public view.”
He noted:
• All routine Flambeau groundwater monitoring data are from filtered samples, from which some, if not most of the chemical components have been removed, thereby lowering the original concentrations.
• The number and location of monitoring wells along the mine’s so-called “compliance boundary” (where drinking water standards are enforced by the state) are inadequate. There is only one nested well along the entire 3.5-mile boundary encircling the mine, and it appears to be positioned outside the main ground water flow path identified by FMC.
• FMC’s Flambeau River surface water monitoring is “totally inadequate.” No sampling has been done in the river immediately adjacent to the backfilled pit, even though Foth’s own modeling showed that groundwater flowing through the waste rock in the pit would “flow directly into the bed of the Flambeau River.”
Moran also commented on the inaccuracy of some of Foth’s predictions regarding the extent of groundwater pollution expected at the Flambeau site and stated:
“The narrative ‘predictions’ made by [Foth] in the various permit-related and annual reports appear to be largely naive geochemically and hydrogeologically … most useful for obtaining permits, less so for generating quantitatively-reliable predictions.”
Moran concluded his report by stating: “In short, the Flambeau Mine is the poster child for a severely-flawed permitting and oversight process that has likely generated long-term public liabilities.”
To read the full 116-page report, go to: https://deertailscientific.wordpress.com/independent-research/
Laura Gauger
Duluth, MN
