News

Mesabi Daily News
December 5, 2009

All elected officials with a political stake in the PolyMet copper/nickel/precious metals project near Hoyt Lakes are unequivocal in their support for the venture, with the exception of Democratic U.S. Sen. Al Franken. His backing remains conditional.

In advance of one of the most critical weeks for the project, which would produce an estimated 400 permanent jobs, hundreds more spin-off jobs and 1.5 million hours of construction work in a recession that continues to hold the American worker hostage, federal, state and local officials in a bipartisan way have come out with strong statements backing the nonferrous mining project.

Public hearings on the draft Environmental Impact Statement will be Wednesday at Mesabi East Schools in Aurora - an open house from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., with the comment portion running until 10 p.m. - and Thursday at the Schwan National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn.

Opponents of the project cite environmental concerns and point to other sulfide mining projects in the country that created cleanup problems and fear contamination to groundwater in the area, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

But supporters say the minerals in the PolyMet initiative have a much lower sulfide level than in other areas where nonferrous mining has been done. In addition, they point to stringent Minnesota environmental guidelines, extensive environmental review done and advanced technology in the process. They also point to the need of the nonferrous metals to stoke the nation's "Green" economic initiatives.

Here are some examples of words of support from elected officials:

· When a staffer of Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was asked if the senator supported the PolyMet project without conditions, the answer was a simple and emphatic "Yes."

· All Iron Range legislators signed on to a letter of support that reads in part: "PolyMet Mining Company offers the state of Minnesota a win-win-win opportunity that we cannot afford to pass up."

· Eighth District U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., was effusive in his praise of the project in a letter to Stuart Arkley, Environmental Impact Statement project manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. His letter read in part: "PolyMet has earned my support from the outset because of its responsible, innovative approach to nonferrous mining and processing; the DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) does an excellent job of describing the many steps PolyMet will take to minimize environmental impacts."

· In another letter to Arkley, this one from Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty appointees Iron Range Resources Commissioner Sandy Layman and Dan McElroy, commissioner of Department of Employment and Economic Development, support of the PolyMet project is strong. The letter reads in part: "... we support this project, sincerely believing that it can be undertaken in an environmentally responsible manner, recycling valuable industrial assets to extract minerals our modern society requires, and is so doing, creating wealth and quality jobs upon which we build sustainable communities."

Franken, however, is still withholding his firm support of the project, which is similar to his position during the 2008 U.S. Senate campaign. After a long recount and court process, Franken defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman by a handful of votes.

At that time, Franken said he was hopeful the project would move ahead but wanted to wait on the EIS for a final commitment. The draft EIS, which required more than four years of environmental review at a cost of more than $20 million to the company, was released more than a month ago. Franken, through a Washington spokeswoman, now says he "... certainly supports going forward with the process (and is sending folks to the hearings) but I don't think you can go ahead with the project before the EIS review is done - the public input is an important part of the project."

Representatives of Rep. Oberstar and Sens. Klobuchar and Franken will be at both meetings, Wednesday at Mesabi East Schools in Aurora, and Thursday at the Schwan National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn., officials said.

Most Range legislators will also be in attendance.

"I will be about both hearings. The draft EIS has been an extremely comprehensive one. This is about jobs and the ‘Green' economy. Those minerals are needed for catalytic converters, copper in windmills, artificial joints ... we have these minerals in the ground on the Range. Now we mostly import them from other countries. We have them; let's mine them," said state Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm.

"I'm signed up to speak in Blaine on Thursday. And my vision will be not only to mine the copper and nickel and other precious metals, but to build manufacturing plants on the site to build the wire and pipe with the minerals and have a distribution center there so we can capture all the value.

"In a new low-carbon world, that proposal is a business model. It takes a lot of carbon to ship out the mineral elsewhere. This would be the lowest carbon business model possible," said DFL state Sen. Tom Bakk of Cook, who is seeking his party's gubernatorial nomination.

"We all care about the environment in northeast Minnesota because we choose to live there. I rely on the expertise of those in positions to judge it can be done in an environmentally-safe way. I'm a lay person, not a scientist," said DFL House Majority Leader Tony Sertich.

"I've said at all the gubernatorial forums to the other candidates, ‘You all want to have a ‘Green' economy ... well, it takes copper and nickel and cobalt and everything else. And we've got those minerals," said state Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, who is one more than 10 candidates seeking his party's governor's nomination.

Rukavina will be at both hearings. Will he be able to speak at the one in Blaine? "They'll have to arrest me to keep me from speaking," he said.

The 90-day public comment period on the draft EIS began Nov. 6 and runs through 4:30 p.m. Feb. 3, 2010.