Land Exchange Approved for PolyMet
BusinessNorth
Staff
The land exchange allows the company to receive approximately 6,650 acres of surface land above and around the NorthMet ore body. It currently is owned by the Forest Service. In return, PolyMet will transfer four parcels of land totaling 6,690 acres to the Forest Service.
St. Paul, Minnesota (Jan. 9, 2017) – Jobs for Minnesotans today released the following statement in response to the federal Final Record of Decision approving the land exchange for PolyMet Mining’s NorthMet project:
“Jobs for Minnesotans celebrates this important milestone for copper-nickel mining in Minnesota. The federal Final Record of Decision for PolyMet’s land exchange validates the project’s comprehensive environmental review process culminating in the Final Environmental Impact Statement. Furthermore, this decision acknowledges that this land exchange is in the best interest of the public.
The NorthMet project has been thoroughly examined by multiple state and federal agencies, and this decision takes us one step closer to bringing hundreds of jobs to an area of the state that desperately needs the economic opportunities that this project will provide. Following this momentous decision, we are confident that PolyMet will work efficiently with the agencies to complete the permitting process in a timely fashion.”
About Jobs for Minnesotans
Jobs for Minnesotans, a coalition representing business, labor and communities, supports statewide opportunities for prosperity and middle-class jobs from sustainable natural resource development in Minnesota. The organization is committed to the principle that our state can preserve both job opportunities and the environment for future generations. Jobs for Minnesotans was co-founded in 2012 by the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council representing 55,000 workers and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce representing 2,300 companies and 500,000 employees. For more information, visit jobsforminnesotans.org, follow @JobsforMN on Twitter and find the coalition on Facebook.com/Jobs4MN.
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Media Contact: Nancy Norr, Board Chair
nnorr@mnpower.com
Office: 218.723.3905
Cell: 218.590.6978
People from Ely Also Back Mining
Mesabi Daily News
Larry Musich
In a Nov. 27 article in the Star Tribune (“Loved and loathed, she’s drawn line in BWCA”), anti-mining activist Becky Rom claimed that when she meets with members of Congress and officials at the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Land Management, or Department of the Interior, she and her fellow advocates “always say, ‘Hi, we’re from Ely.’ ”
Well, Ms. Rom: Hi, I’m from Ely, too! Ely was founded as a mining town. The Lake Vermilion gold rush brought many pioneers to the area in 1865. Although hardly any gold was found, it was discovered that the area did contain large deposits of iron ore. Thousands of new immigrants came to America at this time. Soon they came to the Minnesota Iron Range looking for work. When the Duluth, Mesabi and Iron Range Railway extended its rails from Tower to Ely in 1888, Ely began mining operations with the opening of the Chandler Mine. Ore was shipped to docks on Lake Superior in Two Harbors and Duluth.
Duluth News Tribune
David Ross (President of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce)
In their defense, we believe they have noble intentions. They are kind, sensitive and caring individuals. Their campaign literature states that they “want to represent all Duluthians, no matter our age, race, gender, class, occupation and political affiliation.” Duluth City Councilors Em Westerlund and Gary Anderson are, and do, all of these things. Unfortunately, if unchallenged and unchecked, they may soon become one more thing — job killers.
A few months ago, they led the charge to have the Duluth City Council add a discretionary, imprudent roadblock to PolyMet Mining’s rightfully onerous and demanding mining application and approval process. Fortunately, more balanced members of the Duluth City Council voted down their misguided initiative.
Counterpoint: Mining Opponents Ignore Facts, History and People
Star Tribune
Larry Musich
Ely was founded as a mining town. The Lake Vermilion gold rush brought many pioneers to the area in 1865. Although hardly any gold was found, it was discovered that the area did contain large deposits of iron ore. Thousands of new immigrants came to America at this time. Soon they came to the Minnesota Iron Range looking for work.
Those opposed to mining have no interest in these historical facts. But it was the miners and their families who made Ely thrive, which allowed businesses to develop like Ace Hardware, barbershops, drug stores, Penney’s, Wards, Sears, etc. — and even Canoe Country Outfitters!
Read More: http://www.startribune.com/counterpoint-mining-opponents-ignore-facts-history-and-people/408862225/
Duluth News Tribune
John Swanson (Vice President of Major Projects Execution for Enbridge)
A Dec. 11 commentary in the News Tribune by Winona LaDuke (Native View: “Enbridge must be held accountable in northern Minnesota”) contained several misstatements and inaccuracies about Enbridge that deserve clarification.
Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Project provides a vital link between North American production regions and Minnesota, Wisconsin and other North American refinery markets. Enbridge proposes replacing Line 3 to maintain high safety standards and to reduce future maintenance activities that result in disruptions to landowners and the environment. The line undergoes systematic preventative maintenance activities and inspections to ensure safe operation, and these activities will continue until the new line is put into service. To suggest we need to “clean up” the “old” Line 3 is patently false.
Commentary: Enbridge Meeting Coverage Lacking in Context
The Bemidji Pioneer
Shannon Gustafson (Communications Supervisor for Enbridge)
I’m writing in response to the Bemidji Pioneer’s coverage of an Enbridge event on Dec. 13 (“‘You couldn’t hear, you couldn’t sit’) to provide additional perspective of events that evening.
While it is true that activists were asked to leave the event following disruptive outbursts, including threatening behavior and obscene language that interrupted the meeting, the story neglected to provide context for why the meeting was held.
Read More: http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/opinion/4186605-commentary-enbridge-meeting-coverage-lacking-context
Jobs for Minnesotans, Klobuchar Object to Twin Metals Ruling
BusinessNorth
Staff
Jobs for Minnesotans – a coalition representing business, labor and communities – has released a strong objection to the federal decision that mineral leases near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), formerly held by Twin Metals Minnesota, will not be renewed.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar also released a statement saying that Mesabi Range mining decisions should be based on traditional environmental reviews, not rule-making by the Departments of Agriculture and Interior.
Our View: Twin Metals Ruling Cheats Public, Process
Duluth News Tribune
Editorial Board
Here’s how you’d expect this to work, based on longstanding practice, our laws, and the rules and regulations we all agree to follow, lest we fall into chaos otherwise.
An entity identifies the presence of valuable minerals in the ground and puts together a plan to safely and responsibly extract those minerals so they can be used by all of us in our cellphones, cars and other daily necessities. Our government and regulatory agencies then carefully review the plan, gathering input from the public, experts and others and making sure the plan really will work and will comply with stringent state and federal environmental protection laws and other measures. Everyone agrees the review is so critical it can take years to complete; no one even balks at that.
One could assume then that by issuing the ruling they did last week — a ruling to pretty much kill a potential underground precious metals mine near Ely — the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service had concluded such a review process and had determined, scientifically or otherwise, that what was being proposed wasn’t possible or couldn’t be done in an environmentally safe or responsible way.
Opinion: BLM Ignored Voice of Middle Class People
Mesabi Daily News
Steve Giorgi
“KEEP OUT;” “NO JOBS HERE,” are the signs that we can post north of Hinckley, as the rulings keep rolling out from distant places regardless of the majority opinion of the residents in the impacted area. These leases have been renewed consistently since 1966. The United States Forest Services’ own guidelines determined in 2004, in the Superior National Forest Land & Resource Management Plan, that mining within the SNF was a “desired condition.” Twin Metals most recent renewal was also in 2004 and was done with no fanfare, protest, public hearings. They simply made their renewal application, followed all regulatory procedures and standards, and the leases were renewed.