News

Duluth News Tribune
December 20, 2009

 Like Steve and Jane Koschak, who were featured in the Dec. 6 story, “PolyMet mine splits Iron Range,” my husband and I were born and raised in Ely, we both graduated from Ely schools, and we have seen our schools and hospitals suffer due to a decreasing population, a lack of good-paying jobs and a tax base to sustain them.

This year the graduating class in Ely was 39. That is a definite sign of a dying community.

My husband works at Northshore Mining, and his job provides our family with a good income that includes benefits. It allowed me to be a stay-at-home mom while our two daughters were young. We have lived on Fall Lake for 35 years, and in all those years, we have not noticed any change in Fall Lake, even though there has been iron ore and taconite mining in the area for close to 100 years.

We know the importance of our tourism industry and can appreciate the Koschak’s concerns for Birch Lake, where they have one of the area’s nicest resorts. But most tourism jobs are part-time and seasonal, and they do not pay enough to support families.

We disagree that PolyMet will pollute Birch Lake, as PolyMet is not in the Kawishiwi Watershed.

The jobs that PolyMet will provide will support workers and their families for the next 50 years. These full-time, year-round jobs will pay livable wages with benefits and will help revitalize our communities with even more spin-off jobs.

We support the PolyMet project as well as other mining projects. We have the resources here and we are confident that under the watchful eyes of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency our environment and lake waters will be protected with new technology.

Nancy and Doug McReady

Ely