Mesabi Daily News
Opinion: Lory Fedo (Board Member, Jobs for Minnesotans)
Your conversations are important and all of us, together, need to unite and fight hard for the economic future of ourselves and our children. Whether we are mining iron ore, copper, palladium or nickel, mining is and will be a huge part of OUR future — that is worth fighting for.
As you are talking to others here are more FACTS to share:
- According to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, today the average mining wage job is $83,359. Compare this number to the average annual wage for all industries in the US, which is $50,475.
- Every American depends on more than 100 pounds of minerals per day.
- Metals, both ferrous and non-ferrous, are essential for our modern way of life.
- Mining will happen — the questions are by who, where, how and meeting what standards?
The lengthy permitting process for new mines in Minnesota stonewalls investment and simply takes too long. It has cost more than $70 million and taken more than nine years to date for PolyMet’s environmental review. And it’s still not done. We can and need to do better.