On June 13, 2019, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) reported that, in December 2018, many EPA scientists expressed concern that the PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota would allow the release of heavy metals and pollutants into nearby surface and groundwater, in violation of the Clean Water Act. However, their detailed written comments were never submitted to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) never objected to MPCA’s PolyMet permit. The scientists' concerns were communicated to the MPCA orally, but were not included in the public written record – and thus did not become part of the administrative record, which also includes legal review. Fowley, a former EPA attorney, called the exclusion of scientists’ comments from the record “highly unusual.” He had “never heard of [another] situation where EPA personnel have read written comments on a permit to state personnel over the phone."
The scientists’ written comments, which highlighted the lack of specific restrictions on the amount of pollutants the mine could discharge, were only released to the public through a Freedom of Information Act case between the EPA and a St. Paul-based environmental advocacy group, WaterLegacy. PolyMet’s mining project has continued despite the legal controversy and environmentalist’s concerns.