St. Paul, Minn. (Oct. 1, 2019) – Jobs for Minnesotans released the following statement addressing the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s decision today regarding Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Project:
“Today’s swift decision by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to advance the process for the Line 3 Replacement Project is energizing and encouraging for the communities who have been waiting too long for these benefits to the economy and the environment. We urge the agencies to continue to move expeditiously through the timeline and final reviews and scoping for the Environmental Impact Statement of the Line 3 Project.
“This project is the most thoroughly reviewed project in Minnesota history, and at each stage the agencies have agreed it deserves to move forward. We look forward to seeing this project, and the jobs and benefits it will bring to our communities, come to life for the betterment of our state.”
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, Chair
nnorr@mnpower.com
218.590.6978
St. Paul, Minn. (Oct. 1, 2019) – Jobs for Minnesotans released the following statement regarding yesterday’s U.S. District Court Decision to dismiss all lawsuits challenging the NorthMet copper-nickel mine project land exchange between the U.S. Forest Service and PolyMet:
“We applaud the Court’s ruling that these lawsuits lacked standing to challenge the land exchange for the PolyMet NorthMet project. It is unfortunate that Litigation has become a delay tactic and expected step in the process for copper-nickel mine projects. Yesterday’s decision validates the strength of the process and of the NorthMet project and the value it will bring to our communities.
“This ruling brings PolyMet a step closer to bringing to life the promise of 360 direct, much-needed and family sustaining jobs for our region.”
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, Chair
nnorr@mnpower.com
218.590.6978
St. Paul, Minn. (Sept. 27, 2019) – Jobs for Minnesotans released the following statement following the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s action today on Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Project:
“Today’s action by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Project was expected given the Minnesota Court of Appeals decision back in June. Jobs for Minnesotans is encouraged by the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision last week and the quick action of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to move expeditiously through the final reviews of the Line 3 Project.
“The Line 3 Project is the most thoroughly reviewed project in the state’s history. We look forward to seeing this Project move forward for the betterment of Minnesota communities and environment in the coming months.”
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, Chair
nnorr@mnpower.com
Cell: 218.590.6978
Duluth News Tribune
Chris Vreeland, Marlene Pospeck, and Mark Skelton
*Chris Vreeland is mayor of Hoyt Lakes. Marlene Pospeck served as Hoyt Lakes mayor from 1997-2012. And Mark Skelton served as Hoyt Lakes mayor from 2012-2018
We find it sad and more than a little irritating to watch and listen to former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson emerge as a battering ram against the PolyMet copper-nickel mine in our hometown of Hoyt Lakes on the eastern part of the Iron Range.
[…]
We want the whole state to prosper, not just the Twin Cities metropolitan area. That’s a sore point for us because as proud as we are of our hometown, it’s never fully recovered since LTV’s heartbreaking pullout. We need the infusion of jobs, tax base, and life-sustaining people energy that the PolyMet mine will bring. We celebrate, along with our community, every single job already created and applaud each new job posting.
St. Paul, Minn. (Sept. 17, 2019) – Jobs for Minnesotans released the following statement addressing the Minnesota Supreme Court decision today regarding Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Project:
“The Minnesota Supreme Court made the right decision today for the state of Minnesota – denying the petitions for review on the Line 3 Replacement Project, the most thoroughly reviewed project in Minnesota’s history.
“Jobs for Minnesotans now urges the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) to move forward with and outline an expeditious timeline for the additional review of the Project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement as ordered by the MN Court of Appeals without delay.
“The Line 3 Replacement Project has real impacts to real people across the state, and Minnesota communities are waiting with urgency for this project to be permitted. Not just for the $2.6 billion investment in the state’s energy infrastructure or the 6,500 family-sustaining local jobs that will bring many Minnesota skilled tradespeople home, but also to protect the environment which is progressively more at risk as this review process continues.”
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, Chair
nnorr@mnpower.com
Cell: 218.590.6978
Duluth News Tribune
Brad Shamla
Enbridge is willing and able to make a huge private investment in the protection of Minnesota’s environment and has the proven financial strength to do so. We also have the financial strength to operate and maintain our systems for decades to come, including any operational issues that may arise — just as we have done for the past 70 years.
The replacement of Line 3 is projected to cost $2.6 billion and will create 8,600 jobs in Minnesota during construction. In terms of economic impact, that is about $334 million in payroll to workers, plus a $162 million construction-related gain for local economies through the purchase of local products and materials and the use of local hotels, restaurants, and services.
Twin Metals, Labor Share Strong Partnership
BusinessNorth
Bill Hanna
Twin Metals Minnesota and the building trades sealed a strong partnership Wednesday in advance of the company’s construction phase for the company’s proposed copper/nickel/precious metals underground mine.
Bathed in sunshine under a canopy of partly cloudy skies, company and labor officials were joined by supportive elected officials for a signing ceremony of a project labor agreement between Twin Metals and and Iron Range Building and Construction Trades Council.
It commits Twin Metals to hire union workers for the construction phase of the underground mine once permits are granted.
St. Paul, Minn. (August 6, 2019) – Jobs for Minnesotans released the following response to the Minnesota Court of Appeals decision to stay a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System/State Disposal System(NPDES/SDS) permit to PolyMet Mining Inc. for its NorthMet copper-nickel mine project:
“We hope the court’s review is both swift and thorough, in order to lift any cloud from the permit and expedite the start of construction of PolyMet’s copper nickel mine, a $1 billion project which will result in the creation of 360 mining jobs. The stay was granted pending review of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) procedures in granting the permit last year.
“While Jobs for Minnesotans has confidence in the underlying technical soundness and public benefit of the PolyMet proposal, we also support the constitutional right of all citizens to seek recourse through the courts to object to agency decisions such as granting water permits. “In this case the MPCA responded promptly to concerns of Environmental Protection Agency staff members by making numerous changes – where necessary – clarifying terms of PolyMet’s final water permit.”
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, Chair
nnorr@mnpower.com
Cell: 218.590.6978
St. Paul, Minn. (August 5, 2019) – Jobs for Minnesotans released the following response to the Minnesota Court of Appeals decision rejecting a challenge to Minnesota Department of Natural Resources rules on non-ferrous mining by groups opposed to permits granted to PolyMet Mining Inc. for a copper-nickel mine near Hoyt Lakes on the Iron Range:
“Once again the Court of Appeals has upheld the strength and validity of the State of Minnesota’s regulatory and environmental review processes. Opponents of the PolyMet NorthMet project also recently tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade the Legislature to approve new legislation that would have had the same effect.
“It’s unfortunate but true that investment in job-creating development projects in Minnesota today must involve calculating the costs and delays of inevitable legal challenges to regulatory decisions by well-financed opposition. Lawsuits, no matter how spurious, are now an intrinsic phase of the process, stretching out the time before people in the state can begin to experience the benefits from the project.
“But reasoned judgments ultimately prevail, as a group of Jobs for Minnesotans board members were reminded on a visit four years ago to the Eagle Mine, a modern, sustainably operated underground copper-nickel mine near Marquette, Mich., on the Upper Peninsula. On the very day of our visit the court ruled in favor of the mine owners in the last of the lawsuits filed against the project, which had been fully permitted seven years before operations began in 2014.
“Today the Eagle mine and its associated mill employ 400 full-time workers and is expected to have a $4.3 billion impact on the Michigan economy before its scheduled closure in the mid-2020s. We look forward to the day Minnesotans start to benefit from the 360 well-paying PolyMet jobs, plus those from the $1 billion construction project to get it started.”
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, Chair
nnorr@mnpower.com
Cell: 218.590.6978
St. Paul, Minn. (July 23, 2019) – Jobs for Minnesotans released the following response to Presidential Candidate Jay Inslee’s attack on the Line 3 Replacement Project:
“Jobs for Minnesotans firmly believes replacing Line 3 is in Minnesota’s best interest because it will protect communities and the environment. There is no alternative to replacing the aging Line 3 pipeline on which the state relies for energy security and economic competitiveness.
“The Line 3 Replacement Project has already been the most thoroughly reviewed project in the State of Minnesota’s history. Minnesotans do not need a politician from the west coast trying to weigh in on Minnesota process and law for his political gain. The Line 3 Replacement Project will impact real people and real communities through bringing a $2.6 billion investment to the state and more than 6,500 quality jobs to Minnesota workers including 2,100 family-sustaining construction jobs.”
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, Chair
nnorr@mnpower.com
Cell: 218.590.6978