Call Gov Dayton,Say No to Polymet or any other mines, mtg Oct 25th at 9am, sign petition now.

Via a friend: http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/6606/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=15656 ATTN: MINNESOTA: call Gov. Dayton to tell him to not say yes to Polymet or any other mines!!. and/or: go to this meeting: "attend the Executive Council meeting on Friday, October 25 at 9:00 am in Room 318 of the State Capitol in St. Paul.


Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has refused to do environmental review and give citizens input before mineral leases are auctioned. Once leases are sold, drilling can start and it is too late to protect property rights, drinking water or streams.

Ask Governor Dayton and the other members of the Executive Council to let Minnesota residents and property owners have a say about mineral lease sales. Tell them not to approve proposed leases until court review is completed.

More than 170 citizens in Northern Minnesota petitioned the DNR for environmental review of leases proposed for auction in 2012. When the DNR denied their petition for an environmental assessment worksheet, they appealed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals denied that sale of mineral leases can ever trigger environmental review. But the case is not over. A petition was filed earlier this month on behalf of the citizen petitioners, asking that the Minnesota Supreme Court overturn the court of appeals decision.

Your help is very important now.

At the DNR’s request, the Executive Council has scheduled a meeting on Friday, October 25, 2013 at 9:00 am in Room 318 of the State Capitol to approve the proposed metallic mineral leases.

You can help make sure that the Executive Council does not approve the proposed leases before the Minnesota Supreme Court makes its decision:

1) Write a letter, using the form below, to the Executive Council, asking that they wait to hold a hearing or approve mineral leases until after the Minnesota Supreme Court makes its decision and the process of judicial review is done.

2) Attend the Executive Council meeting on Friday, October 25 at 9:00 am in Room 318 of the State Capitol in St. Paul. This is a public meeting and you will be able to speak. Please reply to allen (at) waterlegacy.org if you can attend the meeting.

Members of the Executive Council are:

Governor Mark Dayton
Lieutenant Governor Yvonne Prettner Solon
Attorney General Lori Swanson
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie
State Auditor Rebecca Otto

Please edit the letter below to include your own background and any of the following points in your own words:

• More than 170 citizens signed a petition for environmental review. Mineral leasing has the potential to affect millions of Minnesotans throughout the state as interest in prospecting surges. The state owns mineral rights under 24 percent of Minnesota.

• Mineral leasing immediately impacts property rights of surface landowners, and prospecting can have effects on noise, recreational businesses, drinking water, trout streams and other natural resources.

• An environmental assessment worksheet (EAW) is necessary to protect landowners, recreational businesses and natural resources and to give the public the chance to participate in decisions about prospecting and mineral leasing before it is too late. Some places are just wrong for drilling and mining.

• The Executive Council decided in December 2012 to hold off its decision on the 2012 mineral leases until judicial review was completed.

• As a result of the petition for review to the Minnesota Supreme Court filed by Matthew Tyler earlier this month, the judicial process isn't done.

• Deferring the October 25 special session of the Executive Council would be the fairest and most reasonable thing to do.

Please forward this action alert to your friends and neighbors who might also be interested in sending a letter to the Executive Council or speaking up at the Executive Council meeting.

Thanks for taking action!