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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Court Decision on MN Mining Permits Could Set Precedent

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Wednesday, January 15, 2020   

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The future of a proposed copper-nickel mine for northern Minnesota is uncertain after an appeals court reversed the approval of key permits. One expert says the ruling could have a lasting effect.

This week, the court said the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources erroneously granted the PolyMet permits by not including a "contested-case" hearing in the review process to focus on objections to the mine. That sends the permits back to the agency, so it can hold such a hearing under the direction of an administrative law judge.

Senior Attorney Scott Strand with the Environmental Law and Policy Center thinks the ruling will extend beyond the PolyMet project.

"It won't be just PolyMet, but it'll be Twin Metals as well," says Strand. "And on any other, future mining projects, I think we're gonna see a requirement that there be a full development of a record, that it be more contesting the facts on which the DNR is basing its proposed decision."

Strand says the ruling linked back to decades-old state laws that hadn't fully been interpreted yet because projects like PolyMet are new to Minnesota.

The proposed mine has run into several legal challenges. Opponents argue that mine runoff could spill into the St. Louis River and Lake Superior.

Both PolyMet and the DNR say they're still deciding whether to appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Strand says in addition to Minnesota, Monday's ruling might be felt elsewhere in the country.

"The law that governs administrative agencies is, they're similar in a lot of other states," says Strand. "And so, I would suspect that in a lot of other states, where a similar set of circumstances present themselves, people may well cite this opinion."

Opponents of the court's decision say it puts hundreds of future jobs in jeopardy.

The legal wrangling comes as another copper-nickel mine known as Twin Metals, proposed for northern Minnesota, is under state review.


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