Sec. 2. Findings
693 words·~3 min read·
/bill/115/hr/3115/ih/section-2A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress makes the following findings: On January 9, 2017, the Forest Service issued a Final Record of Decision approving the NorthMet Land Exchange between the United States and Poly Met Mining, Inc., a Minnesota Corporation, involving National Forest System land in the Superior National Forest in Minnesota. The Final Record of Decision is based on the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the NorthMet Mining Project and Land Exchange. The Final Record of Decision was issued as the result of a complex, multi-year review under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and other laws and a public-input process that included— the October 2009 publication of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the mining operation; a 2009 Forest Service Feasibility Analysis of the Land Exchange and Forest Service inclusion as a co-lead agency on the land exchange and proposed mining operation; a September 2010 Agreement to Initiate a land exchange between Poly Met and the Forest Service; the December 2013 completion of a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement analyzing the mining operation and the land exchange; the November 2015 completion of a Final Environmental Impact Statement on the mining operation and the land exchange; the November 2015 issuance of a Forest Service draft Record of Decision approving the NorthMet Land Exchange; and the December 2016 execution of a Memorandum of Agreement under section 306108 of title 54, United States Code (former section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act).
The 6,650 acres of Federal land proposed for conveyance to Poly Met in the NorthMet Land Exchange is National Forest System land, the surface estate of which is administered as part of the Superior National Forest, but which is underlain by the privately owned NorthMet ore body. Poly Met owns and controls the mineral rights to the NorthMet ore body through long-term mineral leases and proposes to build an open pit mine to recover the minerals. The United States owns the remainder of the property rights, including the surface that would be removed to access the minerals as proposed by Poly Met, and this separate ownership of the surface and subsurface, known as a split estate, raises fundamental legal and land management conflicts.
The Federal land was purchased by the Forest Service, for National Forest System purposes, under the authority of section 6 of the Act of March 1, 1911 (commonly known as the Weeks Law; 16 U.S.C. 515 ), and the Forest Service has taken the position that the mineral rights that were reserved when the lands were acquired by the United States in 1935 do not include the right to surface mine as proposed by Poly Met. Due to the incompatibility between National Forest management objectives and Poly Met’s intended mining operations, in the absence of a land exchange, the Forest Service is not willing or able to authorize such private, surface mining operations on lands of the Superior National Forest.
Poly Met disagrees with the Forest Service position and argues that the mineral rights it seeks to utilize provide for access to the minerals by any mining method, including open pit or surface mining. This fundamental conflict raises the possibility of litigation between Poly Met and the Forest Service that has no certain outcome and could set an adverse judicial precedent, not only for the 6,650 acres of Federal land, but also for other lands owned by the United States that were acquired under the authority of section 6 of the Act of March 1, 1911 (commonly known as the Weeks Law; 16 U.S.C. 515 ).
The NorthMet Land Exchange would permanently resolve this fundamental conflict and risk to the United States. Consummation of the NorthMet Land Exchange will not authorize Poly Met’s mining proposal to occur because other governmental entities, primarily the State of Minnesota and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, will still have the responsibility and authority to make decisions related to approval of the mining proposal. Under the NorthMet Land Exchange, the United States will acquire 6,690 acres of non-Federal private land that will be open to public use and enjoyment and managed as a part of the Superior National Forest.
Connectionstraces to 2
Citation graph
cites case law
Cites 2Cited by 0 across 0 sources