This is a report from MPR on efforts by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and other groups to chose water over nickel.
The initiative, called Water over Nickel, aims to raise awareness of the risks associated with the proposed Tamarack Mine. It would be an underground nickel mine that Talon Metals wants to build near the tiny town of Tamarack, about 50 miles west of Duluth.
Talon has positioned the project as a major link in a domestic supply chain to build batteries for electric vehicles, a key component of broader strategies to develop a carbon-free economy to combat climate change.
But the Mille Lacs Band, along with its allies, including the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, argue a mine would endanger water resources in the Mississippi and St. Croix River watersheds, along with drinking water for Band members who live only about a mile away from the proposed mine site.