The drainage of pollutants from an abandoned mine near Ely coupled with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency allegedly lax oversight of the situation has environmental advocates concerned about the state’s ability to oversee the large copper-nickel mines proposed for the area.
Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar and Eighth District Congressman Jim Oberstar are working to solve a licensing issue that has proved cumbersome for small-boat operators and fishing guides in northeastern Minnesota and elsewhere.
Ely Mayor Roger Skraba has been charged with three counts of federal wilderness violations in the BWCA. He is accused of entering the wilderness area without a permit, possessing a motor vehicle within the wilderness, and removing property.
A law passed in May that will allow loaded firearms in Voyageurs and other national parks is not in effect yet. That’s the message Voyaguers officials are spreading, noting that the law doesn’t take effect until February 22, 2010.
A three-year prison sentence for Boundary Waters terrorizer Jay Andrew Olson was upheld by the Minnesota Court of Appeals this week. Olson was one of six men convicted of participating in a drunken shooting spree that frightened campers on Basswood Lake in the BWCA in August of 2007.