Tony Hayward to oversee environment and safety at Glencore

Former BP CEO Tony Hayward has been hired by Glencore to oversee environment and safety, reports MinnPost. Hayward led the British oil company during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

Glencore International, a Swiss commodities trader, is a strategic partner with PolyMet at the planned hardrock sulfide mine near Hoyt Lakes and Biwabik. "Glencore has options to boost its stake to 24% in PolyMet under current agreements," reports the Wall Street Journal.

The environmental permitting process continues at the site.

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MinnPost's Don Shelby, fresh from a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, explains his concerns about Hayward and the PolyMet mine:

PolyMet is just the first of many hardrock mining operations in line to seek permits. PolyMet is outside the BWCA watershed. If there is a pollution problem, it will affect the Embarrass, Partridge and St. Louis Rivers and Lake Superior. The others, if they are permitted to operate and then discharge toxic waste, as nearly every other such mining operation has, the pollution will flow into the pristine boundary waters where I just drank unfiltered lake water. The discharge of toxic waste into the BWCA is not just a pollution problem, it will be, for millions of people, the end of the world. That's not a pollution problem.

Related

Statewide: Should regulators judge PolyMet on Glencore's record?

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