Amidst fear and trembling at what President-elect Trump plans to unleash on our environment and climate, there is some excellent news. The Obama administration acted out of concern for the earth with two recent decisions denying easements over federal lands here in the Midwest.
The first decision many Minnesotans have been following—the fate of sulfide mining operations proposed on the south edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness near Ely, Minn. Twin Metals Minnesota (a joint venture of Canadian and Chilean mining companies) had leased the mineral rights under federally owned Superior National Forest acres for many decades, as they explored for precious metals and began planning a huge underground copper-nickel mine.
The conglomerate failed to renew their mineral easement in 2014 and, in the meantime, the Department of Interior and the U.S. Forest Service considered the science and massive public input about the extent and likelihood of water contamination in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Based on the virtual impossibility of mitigating those impacts, their decision was to not renew the mineral easements.
Even better, they also initiated a process to withdraw nearly a quarter million acres of surrounding national forestland from future mineral rights easements, for twenty years.
(There is also a second sulfide mine under consideration twenty miles south, PolyMet Mining, which was not affected by this ruling. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is currently considering whether to issue permits for that mine, despite an environmental review that raised multitudes of concerns about water quality and human health, and the cited need for continuous corporate site maintenance for 500 years.)
The second recent decision which was greeted with jubilation relates to the Dakota Access Pipeline and opposition by Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Thousands of supporters, indigenous tribes from around the world and 3,000 U.S. veterans were coalesced at the protest camps. They pointed out the complete unfairness of the process, encroachment on Sioux ancestral lands and the threat of drinking water pollution. They insisted that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which controls federal lands around Lake Oahe where the Missouri River was damned, should reject the final easement requested by the pipeline company to drill under the river, before completion of the 1400 mile pipeline. Citing the failure to do a proper environmental review, and failure to consult with sovereign tribes as required by law, supporters burrowed in for a long standoff.
When word came down that the Army Corps decided to deny that easement and, furthermore, to conduct a full environmental review on alternate routes as should have been done before, there was joy and celebration for the thousands gathered in the camps.
In other good news farther from the Midwest, millions of acres of Atlantic and Arctic ocean waters under U.S. control were protected from future offshore drilling for oil and gas, an Obama decision that prevents oil contamination of precious ocean and shoreland ecosystems. It also begins the ultimate process of leaving fossil fuels in the ground, the only way humanity can in the long run slow the devastating climate change currently underway. Canada announced similar steps for Canadian Arctic waters.
Every conservationist knows that victories are ever temporary. Future decision makers and future industrial developers will always continue to arise. No decision is ever final.
Each of these decisions will surely be challenged in court and by a new Congress and President. Yet, as along as we remain a country of law, based on the Constitution, providing for extensive public input and good science, this is how we decide the fate of our lands and waters.
For today, as a cabin owner in the watershed of the proposed mine, and a person who devoted her career to cleaning up the entire length of the Mississippi River watershed, and even as an occasional visitor to the Pacific Ocean, I can celebrate. Even if only for a short time.
Potato Gratin a la Savoyarde
Note—Looking for scalloped potatoes without the cream? Ignore the fancy name and try this recipe, from The Victory Garden Cookbook. It was a hit at our choir potluck this year, using my own turkey stock.
Peel and thinly slice (1/8 inch) 3 pounds of potatoes. Drop in cold water.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Saute up to 4 cups thinly sliced onions in 4 tablespoons of butter until wilted and golden. Grate 1 to 1-1/2 cups Swiss cheese or Gruyere and set aside.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter into a 10 x 14 inch oval casserole, or 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Dry potatoes and spread half in the pan. Add salt, pepper and 2 teaspoons rosemary (fresh is best.) Top with half the onions and less than half of the cheese. Repeat, ending with the rest of the cheese.
Pour in 2 cups of hot beef, chicken or turkey stock (or reconstituted bouillon)—about halfway up the potatoes. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until potatoes are tender, the top is brown and the liquid is almost gone.
Option: skip the onions and put all the melted butter—6 tablespoons— in the bottom of the pan.