For 20 years, a proposed copper-nickel mine near Babbitt has tried to convince Minnesota regulators that it can safely store toxic mining waste next to some of the state's cleanest lakes and rivers. It hasn't succeeded yet — and it shouldn't get another chance without proving it.

The mine's operator, NewRange Copper Nickel (formerly PolyMet), says the project holds "21 of 24 permits required to begin NorthMet operations," according to the company's own announcement. What that claim leaves out: the missing permits are the ones that matter most, including the core permit to mine, which Minnesota's Court of Appeals and Supreme Court both struck down after finding serious flaws in the science behind it.

That science problem isn't a technicality. Tony Runkel, lead geologist at the Minnesota Geological Survey, reviewed the company's studies of the bedrock beneath its planned waste site and found that "well-known techniques" for tracking how water moves underground were never used, according to his comments on the project's environmental review. Without that work, no one can say with confidence that toxic waste won't reach nearby surface water and groundwater.

An earlier fix — mixing bentonite clay, the same material used in cat litter, into the waste pond to seal it — was rejected by a state administrative law judge, after the company's own engineer testified that 298 million gallons of water would move through the waste every year regardless.

Minnesota's water isn't a place to gamble on unproven engineering. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) should require this project to start its environmental review from scratch, not build on permits the courts have already thrown out.

Sign the petition to tell the DNR: don't cut corners on Minnesota's clean water — require a full, new environmental review before this mine moves forward.