Craig Stellmacher from the Uptake has penned an excellent piece of analysis from a recent state House hearing regarding the proposed PolyMet project in Hoyt Lakes. He’s not trying to pull hard for one “side” or the other in this contentious Iron Range economic/environmental debate; rather he’s asking some good questions. PolyMet is going to end up a litmus test for all things Iron Range in the upcoming election, but I don’t think it deserves stand alone status in that category. How we handle PolyMet is one part of a very big economic development process that has a lot of moving parts. I’ll respect the candidate who owns up to that fact. If there was such a thing as a JOBS button even our most clueless political leaders would have figured out how to push it by now.
In any event Stellmacher and the Uptake deserve credit for enduring what was, by all accounts, a very long, very boring day of testimony. Doing that is just so much harder than writing a sternly-worded letter to the editor. Or a blog post that links to actual content (curses, the jig is up).
God I love the idea of sulfide mining on the range…screw pristine lakes and nature, let’s create a few jobs and destroy what makes it great to live in the sticks…ranks damn near the excelsior energy fake coal gassification boondoggle in my book…