State officials are asking for scientific data from the Trump administration as they prepare to do their own environmental impact statement — separate from the federal government — on the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine near Ely. They want information from a mineral lease study which was halted — but what if they don’t get it? “Frankly we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it,” says DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen. “Certainly our hope is that they will understand that expectation and that we will receive the data we’ve requested.”
This past May, the Trump administration sparked a firestorm of criticism from environmentalists when it reversed a decision by the Obama administration and reinstated mineral-rights leases for the proposed Twin Metals mine.