MN-04: Rep. McCollum is serious about protecting the BWCA

Among other things, both of Minnesota’s U.S. Senators have been trying to negotiate the safest possible political path on sulfide mining. Hopefully, maybe, this will get far enough to put them in a tough spot.

Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum introduced legislation Wednesday to permanently ban copper, nickel and precious metals mining across more than 200,000 acres of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota.

The bill would forbid new mining operations within the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, including a project proposed by Twin Metals Minnesota, which last month submitted plans to state and federal regulators to open an underground copper-nickel mine outside Ely, and just a couple miles from the southern edge of the BWCA. - MPR

Here is a most excellent learning tool regarding the Twin Metals/Antofagasta proposal.

Farmers still taking it on the chin thanks to Trump incompetence and stupidity

These items speak for themselves. Especially the one about Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN).

One economic expert after another said Donald Trump’s tariff war with China, Mexico, and other key trading partners would not benefit the United States, and now U.S. taxpayers are stuck with the bill. U.S. farm exports such as soybeans, pork, and even cheese have plummeted, while countries like Russia are enjoying some of their biggest orders in history, as giant markets like China turn to new suppliers. 

As Carl Quintanilla of CNBC reports (Feb. 22), the biggest losers in Trump’s trade war appear to be all of us taxpayers, who have had to disburse $7.7 billion to keep American’s farmers afloat. - Daily Kos 

- "After Trump Shutdown costs the United States economy $11 billion, MN08 Stauber wants to Empower the “Imperial President” with more Tariff Authority" - MN Political Roundtable

- "Why Minnesota legislators are so worried about the state's farmers" - MinnPost

MN-08: Stauber hits the ground working hard for Big Sulfide Mining

To be fair, too many politicians in Minnesota, from both parties, don’t have their heads right on this either. But since I live in MN-08, and now have to endure the humiliation of Republican representation in the U.S. House for one of only a few times in my life (by the luck of the draw I’ve almost always lived in blue districts), damn right I’ll be picking on Pete.

(Jan. 14), Congressman Pete Stauber (MN-08) introduced H.R. 527, the Superior National Forest Land Exchange Act of 2019. This bipartisan legislation provides legal certainty by codifying the land exchange between PolyMet Mining, Inc. and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) into statute. The legislation will move PolyMet one step closer to responsibly developing the NorthMet ore body located in northeastern Minnesota. This is Stauber’s first bill introduced as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. - stauber.house.gov

From the sane, rational side of the issue, in a press release emailed Tuesday:

Today, the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA), along with the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Sierra Club, filed legal challenges to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s permits for the PolyMet sulfide mine proposal. 

In their challenge to the air permit, the conservation and environmental groups describe how MPCA repeatedly ignored evidence that PolyMet has engaged in a bait and switch scheme.  In its air permit, PolyMet agreed to limit the amount of ore processed daily to keep its emissions of particulate matter under certain levels and to avoid having to install the best available emission control technology. However, PolyMet has already signaled that it intends to process ore at a much faster rate, resulting in significantly increased emissions. PolyMet should be required to install the best air emission technology available prior to construction, not avoid this vital Clean Air Act review through sham permitting. - MCEA