News

Mesabi Daily News
December 5, 2009

We appreciate the opportunity to participate in the public comment process on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for PolyMet Mining Company, and to add our voices to the thousands of Minnesotans who want to create jobs and produce metals that we all use every day, and protect our environment for future generations.

PolyMet Mining Company offers the state of Minnesota a win-win-win opportunity that we cannot afford to pass up.

PolyMet is an economic win. It will create jobs at a time when the unemployment rate is more than 7 percent and as high as 14 percent in some cities on the Iron Range. During construction, PolyMet will require 1.5 million hours of labor, so skilled workers will be on the job and not on the bench. Once fully operational, PolyMet will provide jobs to more than 400 workers at good salaries that families can live on. In St. Louis County alone, the spin-off jobs are anticipated to be more than 500.

PolyMet also will generate millions of dollars in state, local, and federal taxes each year.

PolyMet is a strategic win. The copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, gold, and cobalt that PolyMet will produce are essential to our way of life. They are found in electrical wiring, hybrid cars, wind turbines, stainless steel, jet engines, cell phones, computers, blood sugar test strips, artificial joints, catalytic converters, and a myriad of other products, but the United States imports from 40 percent to 90 percent of these metals.

We import them from countries that don't follow our stringent environmental laws, that subject miners to unsafe working conditions, and that contribute to the global pool of pollution circulating in our atmosphere. Then, we contribute to greenhouse gas emissions by shipping them to another country for processing before we ship them to the U.S.

And PolyMet wins by demonstrating environmental safety - not only because it is more environmentally sound than importing metals, but also because PolyMet has shown that it will operate in a way that protects our air, our water, and our land.

The DEIS is an impressive review of the project and all its potential impacts - along with alternatives that make it even better than originally proposed. The DEIS documents the many steps the company will take to operate in an environmentally sound manner - from being a minor source of air emissions, to the exhaustive waste rock stockpile management efforts. When mining ceases, financial assurances will be available to pay for closure if, for some reason PolyMet is unable to do so.

As elected officials representing the Iron Range, we are confident that after more than four years of PolyMet working with scientists and biologists and spending upwards of $20 million, that the DEIS is covering all the bases. The products that will be mined are extensively used in our society. The data shows a safe mining operation, one that has the controls to address the environmental concerns.

We want mining to take place in Minnesota, where we know that the regulations are stringent and that regulators are tough on enforcement. We want mining to take place in Minnesota, so that we can call upon our long tradition of mining excellence and show the world how nonferrous mining can be done the right way. Finally, we want it done in Minnesota, so our country has its own supply of precious metals and will not have to rely on foreign dictators or polluting countries to make the products our green economy will need to be successful.

The DEIS should receive an adequacy determination. Permitting on this win-win-win project should begin immediately.

Sincerely,

David J. Tomassoni, Thomas M. Bakk, Tom Saxhaug, state senators; Loren Solberg, Tom Rukavina, David Dill, Tom Anzelc Anthony Sertich, state representatives