Readers Write: House in session, BWCA mining, trans rights

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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In the wake of recent contentious battles, power struggles and political maneuvering, our state lawmakers will have limited time to craft and pass meaningful legislation (“House returns to work,” front page, Feb. 7). The remaining days of this legislative session will serve as a critical test and as constituents we must pay attention to see if the members we elected will prioritize bipartisan solutions that address the pressing needs of our state.

The primary legislative focus for legislators will be negotiating and passing a comprehensive two-year budget that reflects our state’s values. However, members of both parties must also address vital community issues — including health care improvements, educational system strengthening and solutions for the growing housing affordability crisis.

Despite political differences and limited time, lawmakers can achieve meaningful progress if they avoid the same distractions that consumed valuable time last session. Instead of pursuing legally dubious and overreaching social media or tech bills, they should focus on developing bipartisan support toward substantive policy reforms.

Kelli Carlson, Minneapolis

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I would like to thank Minnesota DFLers for boycotting part of the legislative session. Last year by this time they had spent billions of dollars and had the state looking at a deficit. Had they been in session this whole time, who knows how much they would have spent. So thank you, DFL — you’ve saved us money.

Bruce Granger, West Concord, Minn.

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It seems like DFL legislators effectively used boycott tactics to achieve political goals. They won their power sharing agreement and ended the boycott. They join a long line of activists achieving political ends through the nonviolent means of boycott. The civil rights movement utilized the Montgomery bus boycott as one tactic to win desegregation in the South. I have personally participated in boycotts of grapes to win rights for farmworkers, boycotts of tuna companies to win protections for dolphins and boycotts of Israel to win human rights for my Palestinian brothers and sisters.

My right to boycott is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But as of 2017, Minnesota citizens must promise not to participate in boycotts of Israel if those citizens wish to contract with the state. All Minnesotans are seeing now that boycotts work! We can achieve our political goals nonviolently. If our legislators are indeed returning to work, they should make repealing Minnesota’s two anti-BDS laws (Statutes 16C.053 and 3.226) a high priority. Restore your citizens' right to employ the same nonviolent, effective tactics you just deployed so successfully!

Karen Redleaf Schraufnagel, Roseville

The writer is a volunteer with MN BDS Community.

So Rep. Pete Stauber, certainly motivated by What’s Best For The State and not the heady prospect of campaign loot from deep-pocket internationals, thinks the area around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness should be opened to mining, never mind that the BWCA is a fragile national treasure and not something that can be “repaired” with fines, a couple of skimmers and floating booms (“Stauber renews bid for mining near BWCA," Feb. 7). Earthworks.org states that “A peer-reviewed study of the track record of water quality impacts from copper sulfide mines found severe impacts to drinking water aquifers, contamination of farmland, contamination and loss of fish and wildlife and their habitat, and risks to public health. In some cases, water quality impacts were so severe that acid mine drainage at the mine site will generate water pollution in perpetuity.”

Pollution in perpetuity, eh? Risking something irreplaceable like that just to boost Stauber’s chances of staying in office? Not the best idea. Therefore, I make a modest proposal that if Stauber’s greed is rewarded and the mining company is allowed in, it’s under an ironclad agreement that if there’s so much as one toxic spill, the entire company, including its overseas operations, immediately becomes the property of Save The Boundary Waters. Hey, it’s only fair. If they’re not willing to sign up for that, it’s a good indication that they themselves know environmental damage is inevitable.

Steve Hoffmann, Anoka

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Copper-nickel mining near the Boundary Waters was first proposed in early 2005. A lot has changed over these 20 years, but thanks to federal protections established in 1978, the BWCA has not.

Four days ago, newly appointed Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said, “Together, we will ensure that our policies reflect the needs of our communities, respect tribal sovereignty, and drive innovation that will keep the U.S. at the forefront of energy and environmental leadership.”

Rep. Stauber’s proposed legislation doesn’t seem to fit that description.

Endless time, effort and public and private funds have been expended on mining proposals. If those resources had instead been directed toward developing sustainable energy solutions and prioritizing environmental health, imagine where we could be today.

Kristi Gibson, Bloomington

As a former Division I and All-Conference Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) athlete, I’ve experienced, firsthand, how sports forge character and impart invaluable life lessons. These experiences equipped me with life skills to graduate from a military undergraduate institution and to become a first-generation law student at the University of Notre Dame.

These foundational principles of sports — service to others, self-discipline and the rewards of hard work — extend far beyond the field. However, the MSHSL’s recent decision to disregard President Donald Trump’s executive order on transgender athletes in women’s sports threatens to undermine these essential values that have served countless young athletes (“MSHSL to re-examine transgender rule,” Feb. 7).

Allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports not only undermines fair competition but sends a troubling message to young female athletes: Their dedication and hard work take a back seat to erroneous progressive activism. The MSHSL policy jeopardizes both fair competition and the safety of female athletes, while corrupting the essential lessons about integrity that sports aim to instill.

The MSHSL’s decision also threatens team unity and cohesion. While purporting to promote inclusion, this policy fosters a team atmosphere of division. Female athletes who voice legitimate concerns about fairness and safety risk being labeled as intolerant and bigoted, thereby undermining the essential lessons of mutual respect and collective achievement that team sports foster.

We must ensure future generations of female athletes have the same opportunity to learn these vital life lessons, insulated from the political activism and misinformed notions of inclusivity that compromise the integrity of women’s sports.

Jimmy Murphy, Golden Valley

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I would like to thank the Minnesota Star Tribune, and in particular reporter Louis Krauss, for the excellent article “Federal government halts passport gender changes” (front page, Jan. 29). Speculation about what President Trump’s many executive orders mean can feel removed from reality; the personal experience of the transgender man interviewed for this article makes it very real. I was especially heartbroken to read this quote: “All of us who have been marginalized will not only continue to be marginalized, but hunted ... . This is a scary time.”

Trump and his inside circle have calculated that members of the transgender community are easy first targets in their plans to remove human rights of any “othered” Americans.

I encourage all of your readers to get to know one of the many transgender individuals in our community. You will be inspired by their stories and by their courage to live authentically. This is not a “lifestyle choice,” as made clear by every leading medical association.

Nancy Dunlavy, St. Paul