Operators of the Minnesota-based Twin Metals mining project announced Monday that they have sued the Biden administration to reclaim mineral leases that were canceled by the Interior Department earlier this year, the latest in efforts to open the mine that have stretched beyond a decade.
Twin Metals said it will seek to “reverse a series of arbitrary and capricious actions by federal agencies” preventing the development of its proposed copper and nickel mine — two minerals that are critical for the development of electric vehicles in the United States.
AS CLIMATE CRISIS DEEPENS, RIVERS DRY UP, UPENDING LIFE FOR MILLIONS
Supporters of the mine project have noted the project could help further the Biden administration’s goals of prioritizing critical minerals manufacturing and EV production in the U.S.
In the lawsuit against the Interior Department, Twin Metals argued it should be granted the right to the regulatory review, which would determine whether the underground mine can meet state and federal standards.
The leases were canceled in January by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which said it determined that the leases had been “unlawfully reinstated” by the Trump administration in 2019. Then-President Barack Obama also declined to renew the leases in 2016.
The lawsuit will seek to restore the leases and restart the environmental review process as required by law for the company’s mine plans.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“We are standing up for our right to a fair and consistent environmental review of our proposed mining project,” Dean DeBeltz, Twin Metals’s director of operations, said in a press release on Monday. “Our plan is backed by decades of exploration and analysis and is rooted in the most environmentally sophisticated design, which is tailored for the project location and mineral deposit. It deserves a fair evaluation by federal regulators based on its merits.”
