Earlier in March, over 150 Great Lakes enthusiasts gathered in Washington D.C. for Great Lakes Days. Keynote speaker, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, discussed the Obama Administration’s disappointing budget cuts to integral Great Lakes programs.
MEP Executive Director Steve Morse made a comment at a question-and-answer session with Gina McCarthy at Great Lakes Days. He took this opportunity to discuss the importance of protecting the Boundary Waters from sulfide mining. Steve noted that in order to protect the water-rich area of the Boundary Waters, which connects with the Great Lakes, the EPA needs to stands its ground through the environmental review process for the PolyMet sulfide mine. In Steve’s words, the EPA has been the only government agency that’s really held the PolyMet sulfide mine project to account so far. Steve explained that the Boundary Waters area is not the right place for a sulfide mine, and he concluded by stating, “I hope EPA will stand its ground through the review process and the permitting process because you’re the only people who are doing the job.”
Way to go, Steve, for standing up in D.C. for the protection of the Boundary Waters from PolyMet!