End of an era
In a recent email from Alfred Walking
Bull, The Circle’s editor, I was reminded that this edition
of the newspaper would include Jim Northrup’s valedictory column.
He’s leaving these pages after 25 years of enlightening and
entertaining us with “Fond du Lac Follies.” So, we’ll have to
look for his next book or elsewhere to learn about his travels, his
family in Sawyer and his chronicles of the Ojibwe lifeway: ricing,
sugar bush and the language camp keeping alive Ojibwemowin.
I and many others will miss Jim’s
writing in The Circle. But it was a good long run. Mazal tov!
(as we say).
PolyMet and the race for auditor
The controversy over
copper-nickel mining has entered a Minnesota electoral contest –
the race for state auditor, of all things. The incumbent, Rebecca
Otto, is being challenged by Matt Entenza, who registered at the last
minute to run in the DFL primary. Previously, in 2010, Entenza placed
third in the DFL primary for governor, with 18 percent of the vote.
Entenza’s political play seems to
involve the Iron Range, a dependable DFL stronghold, where Otto’s
stock has gone done since she cast the lone vote last year, as a
member of the Minnesota Executive Council, against granting
exploratory leases for copper-nickel (sulfide) mining. On Oct. 18,
2013, the Executive Council approved 31 mining leases for exploratory
leases. The exploratory drilling leases were approved, on a 4-1 vote,
by the state’s constitutional officers. “At least two Iron Range
legislators said they could no longer support fellow DFLer Otto in
her re-election campaign because of her position on the issue,”
reported the Mesabi Daily News.
Aaron J. Brown, on his Minnesota Brown
blog (minnesotabrown.com), has mentioned that the Mesabi Daily News
“has led a drumbeat of criticism” of Otto, which “coincides”
with the appearance of the “anonymous Dump Otto campaign based on
the eastern Iron Range. That campaign appears to originate from
within a network of pro-mining advocates in the region.”
Faithful readers of “Political
Matters” (both of you) will recall that my December 2013 column
focused on the state auditor’s concerns about financial assurances
from PolyMet. In a Star Tribune commentary published last November,
Otto wrote: “Minnesota law requires mining companies to provide
financial assurances. A financial assurance is a damage deposit
provided by the mining company before mining begins to ensure that
cleanup and reclamation can be done after the mine closes. Financial
assurances, if sufficient, protect taxpayers from having to foot the
bill for cleanup costs.”
As I’ve mentioned again and again,
hard rock mining in the American West has often left behind a
catastrophic mess of pollution, with governments left on the hook for
clean-up costs when mining companies went bust. Otto pointed out that
cleaning up the pollution from “nonferrous mines is costly and
difficult to predict. State regulators estimate that the PolyMet
Mining site in northern Minnesota, for example, will require water
treatment for up to 500 years. How do we calculate such financial
risk 500 years into the future?”
In fact, the Environmental Protection
Agency, which is monitoring the environmental review of PolyMet’s
proposed NorthMet mine near Babbit, is looking for additional
information about the timeframe for water monitoring, if
copper-nickel mining proceeds. The Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) is reviewing some 50,000 comments on the Supplemental
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS), then a final EIS will
be published; and the cooperating agencies – including the Fond du
Lac, Bois Forte and Grand Portage bands – and the public will have
at it again.
Getting back to the curious politics
of copper-nickel mining Up North, a knowledgeable observer told me
that elected officials are mainly uncomfortable with the issue. Gov.
Mark Dayton has staked out a neutral position, waiting for the
environmental review process to be completed. Senators Franken and
Klobuchar express the view that sulfide mining should proceed, if the
project satisfies the regulators. Rep. Rick Nolan, who represents
Minnesota’s Eighth District in the U.S. House, is more supportive
of the copper-nickel mining proposal. On PolyMet’s company website,
you can find a headline: “Rep. Rick Nolan remains avid PolyMet
support” (the link goes nowhere).
In a letter submitted to the Minnesota
DNR, Nolan said: “After a great deal of study and review, I am
convinced the NorthMet Mining Project and Land Exchange proposal
encompasses the state of the art technologies necessary to protect
our environment, promote health and safety, and create good paying
jobs we need to assure the future of our region.”
