Mesabi Daily News
Bill Hanna

Hodnik was effusive in his support for the PolyMet venture, that is currently in the supplemental draft environmental impact statement public comment phase.

“We are lucky to be a mineral-rich area. Minnesotans should be proud of our copper/nickel/precious metals deposits,” he said.

Hodnik also said he “doesn’t doubt for a minute” that the project will be successfully completed and producing jobs and paychecks for workers. “This is about our way of life. So, let’s get it done,” he said.

Read more: http://www.virginiamn.com/news/local/article_45ab373c-9ddc-11e3-9716-001a4bcf887a.html

Mesabi Daily News
Opinion: Jim Hofsommer

Here’s a question to ponder: After going on 10 years and $80 million later, why doesn’t the PolyMet project we’ve been hearing so much about even have a permit yet? If things don’t speed up pretty soon, a whole generation of workers could have — and should have — been employed by this project will all be dead of old age.

Perhaps some of the warm, fuzzy responses given as testimony by a gaggle of Enrads (environmental radicals) at the recent hearings are an indication for these endless delays. This testimony — for, or against — was supposed to be a factual analysis of the latest Environmental Impact Statement was sufficient, but some of the comments bordered on the incredulous to downright comical.

For all these years we have heard repeated so many times the hundreds of good-paying jobs, the millions of hours of construction work and the lode of ore so abundant that it may be the largest deposit in the world, that many of us can repeat these statistics in our sleep. For many Rangers, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to provide a decent life and employment for hundreds of families, to keep our kids in the area, and to lower the unemployment rate of the Range — which has chronically been significantly higher than the rest of the state.

Read more: http://www.virginiamn.com/opinion/letters/article_597cf5cc-9c40-11e3-838f-0019bb2963f4.html

Hometown Focus
Jan Saxhaug

It’s no secret that mining is a critical industry to the economy of Northeastern Minnesota which is home to the Iron Range after all. Sitting atop vast deposits of iron ore and precious metals and strategically located near the Port of Duluth, the region has been able to develop the highly specialized infrastructure and workforce needed to take advantage of these rich natural resources.

Read more: http://www.hometownfocus.us/news/2014-02-21/Mining_Features/MINING_FOR_GROWTH.html

TPT Almanac

A Political Panel
Republicans Andy Brehm and Fritz Knaak sat on our couch alongside Democrats Javier Morillo-Alicea and Sarah Walker.

St. Paul, Minn. (Feb. 10, 2014) – On Tuesday, Feb. 11 in St. Paul, Minn., Jobs for Minnesotans, a business-labor partnership, will attend the Natural Resources and Agriculture Finance Committee hearing about financial assurance for proposed copper-nickel mining projects in Minnesota. Members of Jobs for Minnesotans will be joined by allies who support the strong financial assurance laws already in place in Minnesota and the process that will adequately address financial assurance during permitting.

Minnesota has the opportunity to prosper from the world-class deposit of precious metals in northeastern Minnesota and generate economic benefits for decades. The more than 55,000 union members and the 2,500 businesses that are part of Jobs for Minnesotans trust the process in place during the permitting phase of project development to ensure maintenance costs for the project after closure are funded appropriately.

“We have the strongest financial assurance laws in the country. These laws were developed in collaboration with environmental organizations and will ensure taxpayers have bankruptcy-proof protection. Taxpayers will not only be protected, but will see significant financial gains from PolyMet and other proposed copper-nickel mining projects,” said Harry Melander, Jobs for Minnesotans co-founder and president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council.

“We’re confident that the multiple state and federal agencies currently managing the review of PolyMet’s SDEIS will regulate and protect Minnesota’s treasured natural environment and trust the DNR and our existing laws to address financial assurance as the project moves into permitting,” said David Olson, Jobs for Minnesotans co-founder and president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

“We stand to gain hundreds of jobs from PolyMet in addition to two million construction hours before any ore is produced. Our members see this project as an economic opportunity that will sustain families long into the future. These laws are already on the books, so let’s keep this project moving and strengthen the economy,” added Melander.

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Jobs for Minnesotans was co-founded in October 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. This coalition represents businesses, middle class workers, labor, local governments and other supporters of job creation in the state of Minnesota. Jobs for Minnesotans was created to educate and provide information about the direct and ancillary job creation that the strategic metals mining can produce for the state.

Media Contacts:
Harry Melander
612-865-3585
harstpbt@mtn.org

Nancy Norr
218.590.6978
nnorr@mnpower.com