We don’t need the minerals

As a candidate for Congress running in the Aug. 9 DFL Primary, I congratulate the US Forest Service for its common sense proposal to place a 20 year moratorium on copper-nickel mining in the Rainy Lake watershed. Trading a few decades of jobs for an eternity of water pollution is a crazy idea. Even if the mine is underground those miles and miles of tunnels will fill with water and become acid mine drainage into our pristine environment.

We don’t need the jobs. On the very same day that Rep Stauber’s pro-mining “elitist Democrats” article appeared the headline was about the IEDC luring new workers into Itasca County with a $2,000 bounty. In fact many good paying jobs are opening up recently with ASV and in the old Magnetation plant in Grand Rapids, Heliene in Mountain Iron, and the re-manufacturing plant at the Hibbing airport to name a few. In fact affordable housing is our need. More jobs just means more pressure on our sky-rocketing home tax valuations.