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Oct. 7, 2020
About this Update
To provide information about the State’s environmental review of Twin Metals Minnesota’s project proposal, the Minnesota DNR is issuing monthly updates to those who have signed up to receive them on the State web portal for Twin Metals Minnesota project. This message is the monthly update for activity during September 2020.
Each monthly update provides information on the status of Minnesota’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process and identifies new documents that have been posted on the Minnesota DNR’s webpages for the project since the prior monthly update. Going forward, we anticipate each update to be sent between the 7th and 9th day of the subsequent month. This will enable us to more efficiently include (and link to) any new documents that may be posted at the end of the subject month.
Minnesota DNR is the responsible governmental unit (RGU) for the State’s EIS. Please note that the federal government is preparing a separate EIS for the Twin Metals project. Information about the Federal EIS is available here. [Please note that the Federal EIS link is not set up to open with Internet Explorer; an alternate browser is needed.]
State EIS Process Status
Preparation of an EIS for any large and complex project is a multi-year process. Minnesota DNR is currently early in the scoping phase of the EIS process for the proposed Twin Metals project. The scoping process helps us ensure the future EIS assesses the proposed project’s potentially significant environmental impacts, but also helps define project alternatives, potential mitigations, timelines, and additional data needs.
Revised proposal: Twin Metals Minnesota submitted its Project Proposal to Minnesota DNR on December 18, 2019. Since then, we have completed our initial review of the project proposal, determined that it was incomplete, and on June 15, we requested additional information from Twin Metals. On July 24, 2020, Twin Metals submitted its revised Project Proposal to Minnesota DNR along with its responses to our comments. At this time, we are continuing to review the information submitted by Twin Metals.
The scoping process is iterative. As is typical for a project of this complexity, we anticipate multiple rounds of Minnesota DNR comments followed by revisions from Twin Metals.
Contractor RFP: The proposal period for the Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by the Minnesota DNR on August 31 remains open. Minnesota DNR is seeking a consultant to assist in our review of the proposed project. Based on the complexity of the proposed project and the level of public interest, it is important for DNR to retain additional capacity and technical expertise early in the review process. Twin Metals is required to reimburse all costs associated with the EIS, including contractor assistance. We are accepting consultant proposals through November 3, 2020.
New Documents Available
No new documents were posted to our project website in September 2020.
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