REGIONAL— A new timeline for the PolyMet environmental review process suggests it will be well into 2016 before a final environmental impact statement, or EIS, is approved. The Department of Natural Resources, which is overseeing the EIS process, posted the update on their website this week.

According to the new timeline, DNR officials now expect to publish the final EIS in early November, which will mark the start of a 30-day public comment period. Once the comment period is completed, the co-lead agencies will have about four weeks to consider the comments and possibly respond as part of a record of decision on the adequacy of the final document. The DNR now expects to issue its final decision in early February 2016.

But the federal process followed by the co-lead U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could take considerably longer because of additional steps mandated in federal law. At this point, the DNR is only estimating that a final decision will be made by those agencies sometime in 2016.

The completion of the EIS does not necessarily allow the project to move forward. DNR officials note that the document is informational only, and makes no decision on the merits of the project, or whether its should go forward.

But barring potential lawsuits, completion of the EIS is expected to clear the way for PolyMet to apply for the 21 separate permits it will need to actually begin mining. That process, itself, could take more than a year, and will include some significant negotiations over mitigation strategies and financial assurance.

PolyMet is proposing the state’s first copper-nickel mine, a roughly $600 million project that is expected to eventually employ about 300 mine workers and create a number of related spinoff jobs. Critics contend that the sulfide ore body that PolyMet plans to mine has the potential to generate acid runoff that could harm downstream waters. The company says strategies developed as part of the environmental review should help to mitigate those dangers.