Maslon attorneys have proudly assisted several environmental groups pro bono in their efforts to protect water quality in northern Minnesota in challenges to a copper-sulfide mine project in the Lake Superior watershed near the Boundary Waters. This week, the firm celebrated a victory: The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) violated state law in suppressing concerns of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about PolyMet’s water permit.

Maslon attorneys Bill Pentelovitch, Margo Brownell, and Evan Nelson represented three groups that challenged MPCA's earlier decision to issue permits necessary for PolyMet’s proposed mine (the NorthMet mine): the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Center for Biological Diversity, and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. Maslon attorneys were instrumental in a January 2020 two-week evidentiary hearing that proved MPCA took extraordinary steps to keep the federal EPA’s concerns out of the public record, and proved that MPCA took these steps so that there would not be negative press or additional public scrutiny of the proposed mine. Further, by keeping these concerns out of the public record, MPCA avoided its responsibility to offer substantive responses to EPA’s concerns before finalizing its permit. Following trial, Maslon attorneys were key to the appeal process and provided oral argument at the Minnesota Supreme Court.

In its Aug. 2, 2023, opinion, the Minnesota Supreme Court ordered that the MPCA reopen the permit review process to either allow EPA to submit written comments (to which MPCA must respond) or to respond to the comments that EPA would have submitted earlier. The court concluded that the MPCA’s decision to issue its permit “was arbitrary and capricious due to the presence of several danger signals suggesting the agency did not adequately consider whether the NorthMet project has the reasonable potential to cause or contribute to an exceedance of water quality standards within the Lake Superior watershed, and because appellants may have been prejudiced by the arbitrary and capricious permitting process, we remand to the MPCA to remedy the procedural irregularities and resulting deficiencies in the administrative record."

Other Maslon attorneys who assisted with the case pro bono include Judah Druck, Mike Sheran, Jevon Bindman, and Jim Long, with additional contributions from legal staff Beth Hawkinson, Carla Staniforth, and Jeff Cluever.

Chris Knopf, executive director of Maslon’s client organization Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, said this week the case is about government honesty and transparency.

"For almost two decades, we’ve seen PolyMet attempt to skirt regulations and violate the law in an effort to force through its mine," Knopf said. "Today, the Minnesota Supreme Court found that there was clear evidence that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency failed to seriously address issues with this permit. It’s unfortunate that it took five years to hold MPCA accountable for its failure to do its job, and to protect human health and the environment."