MINE XII: PolyMet: Slow and Steady Progress
Mesabi Daily News, Hibbing Daily Tribune, Grand Rapids Herald-Review and the Chisholm Tribune Press
Bill Hanna
Jon Cherry took little time pondering the question and his response.
After all, he’s heard the same query repeatedly the last few years. And his answers have varied only when significant project updates were inserted from time to time.
“Obviously we wish it would be going faster,” Cherry said in a recent telephone interview from company Twin Cities offices, regarding final permitting work for the PolyMet copper/nickel/precious metals venture near Hoyt Lakes and Babbitt.
“But the process is being followed, and it will be very good — the best — when done,” he added.
[…]
Or, put another way: If such slow and stringent approval would have been needed to extract minerals to build the country, horses would have been regularly shoed and wagon wheels fixed well beyond their commercial life expediency.
The project holds great job and financial promise for the Iron Range — especially the east end, which has been economically devastated ever since LTV Mining shut down in 2001.
County Board Gives Trump Letter Final Approval
Duluth News Tribune
John Myers
The St. Louis County Board of Commissioners Tuesday gave final approval to a resolution asking the Trump administration to overturn a late Obama administration ban on copper mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Read More: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4218056-county-board-gives-trump-letter-final-approval
Our View: Trump Can Undo Order to Change Rules on Mining
Duluth News Tribune
Editorial Board
Mining hadn’t even been proposed yet. There was still just mineral exploration in far Northeastern Minnesota, the drilling down into the Earth to see what was there, to see if there was enough to help satisfy our nation’s hunger for the copper and other metals that power our everyday existence, our necessities like cell phones, cars and lights.
[…]
Twin Metals was $400 million into that process and into what could be $3 billion of private investment in our state with the promise of nearly 1,000 badly needed, good-paying, family-supporting jobs.
Fox 21
Melissa Lentz
PolyMet Mining, Inc. has submitted their updated water appropriation permit application to the Department of Natural Resources.
Federal Land Block Opposed with 4-3 Committee Vote
Mesabi Daily News
Jerry Burnes
A controversial resolution will go before the full St. Louis County Board next week after a committee of the whole passed it with a 4-3 vote Tuesday.
The resolution, if passed by the full board on Feb. 14, will put the county on the record against a federal government proposal to withdraw hundreds of thousands of acres from future mining leases. A previous resolution failed on Jan. 24.
What the Fight Against a Land Withdrawal Stands For
Mesabi Daily News
Editorial Board
Paying the bills. Putting food on the table. Supporting a family and local community.
A year ago, Iron Range lawmakers were in the thick of negotiations over a jobless benefits extension for laid-off miners to give them relief from the harsh 2015 downturn. Those miners trekked back and forth to St. Paul to make their voices heard. It was fairly consensus leading up to the March 2016 extension that miners needed help from the government to support themselves, their families and their communities during economic hardship.
Nolan Outreach to Trump Administration on Mining Draws Fire
Associated Press
Staff
U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan has asked the federal government to reverse an Obama administration decision to block minerals exploration and mining in more than 234,000 acres of the Superior National Forest near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
Duluth News Tribune
Hal Quinn
Our dependence on imported minerals is a potential economic Achilles heel of our own making. The problem is not that the United States lacks good geologic resources. Quite the opposite. We possess an estimated $6.2 trillion in minerals reserves. But while our resource base is enormous, so, too, is the bureaucracy and regulatory regime tasked with managing it.
Daudt Asks Trump to Reverse Copper Mining Decision
Duluth News Tribune
John Myers
From one Republican to another, Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt on Monday sent President Donald Trump a letter asking him to, among other actions, reverse the Obama administration decision revoking mineral leases for the proposed Twin Metals copper mine near Ely.
Read More: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4204454-daudt-asks-trump-reverse-copper-mining-decision
Goodnight Lakes, Goodnight Mines, We’ll Take Care of Both
Mesabi Daily News
Leah Ryan
Ask us what we think of Twin Metals, and we will tell you that mining needs to be done correctly so that it doesn’t harm our natural resources. Where would we be without our mines? Where would we be without our forests? Where would we be with out our pristine lakes, in the land of 10,000 lakes?
Our federal government needs to allow an environmental review to be conducted on Twin Metals to determine if there is a potential to hurt our Boundary Waters. Don’t just cast the whole project aside on unsubstantiated “what ifs.”
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area is ours. It is where we live, it is the water we drink, it is where we expose our children to all the wonders of nature. We would never put any of that at risk. We understand the importance of providing for our children and their children — part of that is to provide them with safe natural resources and jobs for the future.