A Ramsey county District Court judge has found that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) did not engage in any procedural irregularities in connection with the processing of the national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit for the NorthMet copper/nickel/precious metals project, says dual -listed PolyMet Mining.

In his decision, Judge John Guthmann rejected the allegations that MPCA engaged in a systematic effort to keep evidence out of the administrative record. Those allegations had been made by the relators Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, WaterLegacy, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.

Guthmann made his findings after presiding over a seven-day hearing in St. Paul in January and briefing from the parties.

According to PolyMet, he found no evidence that the MPCA attempted to suppress Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) comments. The court observed that the process for PolyMet’s permit involved “significantly more interaction between the EPA and the MPCA than with the usual NPDES permit”.

The district court’s conclusion that no procedural irregularities occurred in the processing of PolyMet’s permit will be incorporated into the broader challenge to that permit currently pending before the court of appeals. In that case, environmental groups and the Fond du Lac Band have challenged the MPCA’s decision to issue the permit and its denial of a contested-case hearing. The court of appeals will decide the schedule for briefing and oral argument.

“We are pleased with the district court’s ruling and look forward to defending the challenge to the water permit currently pending in the court of appeals,” said chairperson, president and CEO Jon Cherry.

“We remain confident the water quality permit meets all applicable standards and will ultimately be upheld by the courts.”

The district court decision follows on the heels of the Minnesota Supreme Court this spring granting the company’s and regulators’ petitions to review court of appeals’ rulings on its permit to mine, dam safety and air quality permits.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has scheduled oral argument in the permit to mine appeal for October 13.