Biden administration renews study of mining near Boundary Waters

No friend of mine. The AP and WCCO report: “The Biden administration dealt a serious blow Wednesday to the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota, ordering a study that could lead to a 20-year ban on mining upstream from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. … The government said it has filed an application for a ‘mineral withdrawal,’ which would begin with a comprehensive study of the likely environmental and other impacts of mining if it were permitted in the watershed that flows into the Boundary Waters.”

Congratulations to the attorneys. The Star Tribune’s Evan Ramstad reports: “Bremer Financial Corp. has spent more than $20 million on attorneys fees fighting its owner, the Otto Bremer Trust, since their leaders disagreed on how to sell Minnesota’s fourth-largest bank two years ago. … The company’s chief executive, Jeanne Crain, revealed the figure in response to questions by the trust’s attorney in a court hearing Wednesday. … ‘I would say it is an investment to maintain the quality of Bremer,’ Crain said to the attorney, who portrayed the costs as paid by ‘the owner’s money.’ … Earlier testimony in the hearing showed the trust had spent $16 million on attorneys and other legal fees in the dispute.”

Winston Smith case files released. The Star Tribune’s Rochelle Olson, Maya Rao and Libor Jany report: “The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has released most of its case file in the June shooting death of Winston Smith by members of a federal law enforcement task, force, containing more than a thousand pages of documents, audio and photos. … The case file does not yet contain body camera and dash camera footage from officers responding after the shooting because it has not yet been fully redacted, said BCA spokesperson Jill Oliveira. The shooting was not captured on any type of video.”

Hey speaking of Libor Jany: “Star Tribune reporter Libor Jany named Journalist of the Year by National Association of Black Journalists” [Star Tribune]

Check out this aerial footage of the aftermath of the Greenwood Fire. KSTP’s Kirsten Swanson reports: “As Aaron Kania walks slowly along a dirt road that borders McDougal Lake, he gazes at a forest that’s been reduced to black, charred earth. ‘It’s something you’ll never forget in your lifetime,’ Kania said. The area south of State Highway 1 was one of the hardest-hit areas in the Greenwood Fire’s footprint. Exposed soil is mixed with ash and other debris. The air still smells as though a campfire is burning nearby. Trees that grew for hundreds of years are now sticks and stumps.. … By the end of its run, the Greenwood Fire burned 26,797 acres, or more than 41 square miles. The blaze destroyed 15 homes and cabins and leveled more than 50 sheds and outbuildings.”