Stauber Statement on the Biden Administration’s Recommendation to Cancel PolyMet’s 404 Permit

Today, Congressman Pete Stauber released the following statement regarding the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recommendation for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cancel PolyMet's Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for the NorthMet project.

"Today's recommendation by the EPA is just another appalling, yet unsurprising, political decision by the Biden Administration to halt domestic mining and energy projects. This Administration is following through on the promises of the President, who in May of 2021 voiced his opposition to domestic mining.

"It's important that we watch the Biden Administration's actions and not just listen to his words. PolyMet is one of the most vetted projects in Minnesota history, and is even mentioned in the Administration's 100-day Supply Chain Review. Like other projects in the region, PolyMet has a Project Labor Agreement with building trades unions. If this Administration were serious about securing our supply chains for national security, electric vehicles, and renewable energy projects, why are they trying to shut down one of the mines about to break ground for copper, nickel, cobalt, and more?

"The recommendation to revoke the NorthMet Section 404 permit is just the latest in a long list of anti-energy and anti-mining actions by the radical Biden Administration, which include revoking the Twin Metals leases in northern Minnesota, cancelling the Keystone XL Pipeline permit, pausing oil and gas leases on Federal lands, blocking a land exchange for the Resolution Copper Mine in Arizona, and suspending the Ambler Mining Road in Alaska.

"Our federal agencies should be focused on empowering our domestic energy industry to mine here in Minnesota to meet the rising mineral demand by using American workers, American technology, and the strictest environmental standards. Instead, the Biden Administration prefers to rely on foreign sources controlled by the Chinese Communist Party mined with child slave labor in the Congo. This is shameful.

"Meanwhile, I look forward to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducting this first-of-its-kind contested case hearing in a professional manner. The Army Corps has a strong track record of reaching their decisions based on the facts and science, and not the political whims of Washington, just like they did the first time around on this Section 404 permit."

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