During his brief public comment during a hearing on Jan. 16 in Duluth, state Sen. David Tomassoni summed up Minnesotans' frustration with opponents of copper-nickel mining: When is enough, enough?
Tomassoni was among the vast majority of supporters attending the first of three hearings on PolyMet's supplemental draft environment impact statement for its proposed copper-nickel mine near Hoyt Lakes. Heckled as he spoke to the crowd, the senator rightly questioned critics of the proposal, wondering if anything PolyMet did would ever be good enough.
If the supplemental draft is 2,000 pages, it is too long. If it were 100 pages, that would be too short. If the comment period were doubled, that wouldn't be enough, he said.
For those of us concerned about job creation in this state, we know how critical the PolyMet project — and all copper-nickel mining projects — will be to our future development. Millions of construction hours hang in the balance. Hundreds of permanent, family-supporting jobs are waiting for struggling Iron Range communities. Our construction trades and business community know the potential, and it is time to acknowledge that systems are in place to do this right.
As co-founders of Jobs for Minnesotans, an organization advocating for economic development in Minnesota, we support the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and recognize its efforts to accomplish both environmental stewardship and job creation in our state.
In today's global economy, copper and nickel have become common elements in nearly everything we use — from our cellphones to computers to tablets to the wires that carry electricity through our homes. The push for hybrid and electric vehicles depends on producing nickel for high-voltage car batteries. And when environmentalists point to the need to find new energy sources, they conveniently forget that there are more than 4.5 tons of copper in a wind turbine.
We use these metals, we need these metals and we can mine these metals here in Minnesota.
PolyMet's environmental-review process has been lengthy and thorough. We trust the multiple state and federal agencies that have been involved in developing this document. We trust the DNR to read and listen to all public comments and to remain transparent throughout this process. We are confident in our state's ability to pursue new opportunities in an industry — mining — that we have worked in for more than a century. It is time to let these projects move forward.
