Court: Fond du Lac’s suit against U.S. Forest Service to block PolyMet land transfer can move forward

Patrick Schultz, Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for Minnesota, issued an order Friday saying the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has legal standing to challenge a land transfer between the U.S. Forest Service and the PolyMet mine. The land transfer would open the door for the company to pursue its plans to operate an open-pit copper-nickel mine on that land.

PolyMet challenged Fond du Lac’s legal standing to bring the lawsuit, arguing the Band had no legal interest in the land exchange.

Schultz disagreed. He ruled the Treaty of 1854 between the Fond du Lac Band and the U.S. government gave the Band treaty-protected rights to hunt, fish, and gather on the lands in question, so it has legal standing to bring the case.

Events: This Land is not Empty; Rethinking Thanksgiving; and PolyMet hearing before MN Supreme Court

In this post:

• This Land is not Empty, Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery, Nov. 16
• Rethinking Thanksgiving: From Land Acknowledgement to LANDBACK, Nov. 20
• MN Supreme Court hears oral arguments on PolyMet mining permit, Nov. 30

EPA puts PolyMet permit in serious doubt based on mine’s projected harms to Fond du Lac Band waters, and more

In this post:

• EPA comes out against PolyMet mine based on threats to Fond du Lac Reservation waters
• Indigenous women push Biden,Army Corps to stop Enbridge Line 5
• Online presentation: Networks among colonial elites who profited as treaty signers
• Indian Country in particular threatened should Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade

Treaty People Gathering, June 5-8; Mississippi canoe paddle May 9, and more

• Treaty People Gathering: Rise, Protect, Stop Line 3, June 5-8
• Indigenous women-led Mississippi canoe paddle opposing Line 3, May 9
• ‘No More Pipeline Blues’: Bonnie Raitt and the Indigo Girls support water protectors
• Sam Grant: Connecting the Derek Chauvin trial with Enbridge Line 3
• MPCA still won’t own up to its flawed approval of the PolyMet Mine, harm to Fond du Lac Band

News: David Smith’s death 10 years ago echoes George Floyd’s; key PolyMet decision expected Thursday, and more

In this blog:

• Washington Post: How Minneapolis police handled the in-custody death of a Black man 10 years before George Floyd
• WaterLegacy: Key PolyMet decision expected this Thursday, Sept. 3
• The Intercept: Trump Supporters Rush to Defend One of Their Own Who Killed Protesters in Kenosha
• The Koncow Maidu’s Trail of Tears in California
  

Faith leaders asking for more scrutiny of the PolyMet mine proposal in northern Minnesota

Our friends at  Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light are asking faith leaders of all traditions to add their names to a sign-on letter asking for better scrutiny of the PolyMet mine proposal in northern Minnesota.

Specifically, the letter asks Gov. Tim Walz and key agency heads to “accept the Court of Appeals decision that a fair and open contested case process is needed now for the PolyMet sulfide mine.”

Some 200 faith leaders already have signed the letter and it will be delivered to Gov. Walz’s office tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light will continue gathering faith leader signatures in the coming months, so it’s not too late to sign.