Along the border of Minnesota and Canada sits the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The BWCAW is an enormous preserve of forest and lakes that stretches nearly 100 miles across the border. The preserve is one of a kind and offers an experience unlike any other. Those who spend their vacations enjoying this serenity may want to drink it in while they can because it is being threatened by toxic pollutants resulting from mining. It is the governments and our responsibility to protect the few areas not tainted by man left in North America like the Boundary Waters.

Minnesota is very rich in precious minerals and has an ever expanding mining industry. The traditional mining in Minnesota for over a century has been iron mining. Iron mining produces rust which is an issue all in its own, but it is relatively easy to contain.

The much more hazardous mining that has rapidly expanded over the past decade is sulfide mining. Sulfide mining produces sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid seeps out of the extracted metals and contaminates rivers, lakes and groundwater. Not only is it harmful to humans, but it also has a devastating effect on ecosystems, often deteriorating fish and wildlife populations.

Sulfide mining is fantastic when speaking in economic terms. It provides valuable minerals that can’t be collected from iron mining such as gold, copper, platinum, palladium and nickel. From an environmental viewpoint, however, this is an outrageous proposition. One can only imagine the panic that has overcome conservationists now that the construction sulfur mine sites are being discussed, one of which is only several miles from the Boundary Waters.

When sulfide ores are exposed to oxygen, they undergo a chemical reaction that is known to be unsafe and create long lasting pollution. This reaction produces sulfuric acid, which is best known for its use in car batteries. The pH level in exposed lakes is often under two; this is too acidic for the vast majority of life.

To put this inanity into perspective, the PolyMet project next to the boundary waters plans to excavate and contain a pile of waste rock the size of over 500 football fields, but, if any of the sulfide in this waste rock comes into contact with oxygen or water, it begins to pollute.

North Eastern Minnesota took a major hit during the 2008 recession and does have a higher than average unemployment rate and it is true that these sulfur mines will create many jobs. The issue with job creation through mining is that there are only so many valuable resources in one area and once those resources have been collected, the industry packs up and skedaddles, leaving another ghost town in its wake where jobs are lost once again.

The best ways to prevent sulfide mining are to spread awareness, know the facts, write a letter to the local newspaper, use social media, engage others in dialogue and contact your elected officials. If something is not done to prevent the construction of these mines, the entire Minnesotan ecosystem is being put at risk. Save the BWCAW and protest sulfide mining.