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Well, it’s the eve of the election. The PolyMet mine is a good example of what is at stake. Strong environmental regulations, or whatever you would call what this administration has done.

This opinion article in MinnPost today – Two years after the much-litigated PolyMet permits were issued, some facts aren’t in dispute – is well worth a read.

 This polluted water would be stored in a 900-acre pond, which would need to be maintained continuously by pumps, and held back, indefinitely, by a dam taller than the dome at the Minnesota Capitol.

The dam holding back the massive amounts of pollution and waste would be made from mine tailings stacked on top of other mine tailings stacked on top of unstable peats and slimes — the “upstream” design. This is the type of dam that failed catastrophically at Brumadinho in Brazil and at Mount Polley in Canada. It’s the type of dam that has been banned in countries around the world, including Brazil, Chile and Peru. And engineers have been clear they fear more catastrophes await if this design continues to be used.

Insanity.