Pioneer Press
Doug Belden

The comment period on an environmental review of what would be Minnesota’s first copper-nickel mine will not be extended past March 13, the state Department of Natural Resources said Thursday.

The DNR, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Forest Service, received requests to extend the comment period but concluded the 90 days allotted was sufficient, according to a letter from the three agencies. More than 19,000 comments have been submitted so far, officials said.

Read more: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_25241717/polymet-mine-environmental-review-comment-period-no-extension

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.