The following article was recently posted in the Duluth News Tribune. 

A Washington, D.C.-based mining lobbyist wrote in the News Tribune this month that, “America’s lengthy and uncertain permitting process” is swaying investors to “seek out foreign mineral projects that can be swiftly approved.” The lobbyist, Hal Quinn, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, also weighed in with some questionable jobs numbers forecast for a northern Minnesota sulfide mining project being proposed by Twin Metals (Mining industry’s view: “Let mining boost state manufacturing,” Aug. 11).

By: David A. Lien, Duluth News Tribune

A Washington, D.C.-based mining lobbyist wrote in the News Tribune this month that, “America’s lengthy and uncertain permitting process” is swaying investors to “seek out foreign mineral projects that can be swiftly approved.” The lobbyist, Hal Quinn, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, also weighed in with some questionable jobs numbers forecast for a northern Minnesota sulfide mining project being proposed by Twin Metals (Mining industry’s view: “Let mining boost state manufacturing,” Aug. 11).

Of course, what the mining lobbyist didn’t say spoke volumes about how much he really cares about Minnesota and long-term jobs in the state. He didn’t say Twin Metals is owned by Canada-based Duluth Metals and Chilean-based Antofagasta, and they’re pushing for a massive underground sulfide mine southeast of Ely along Minnesota Highway 1 and the Kawishiwi River.

He didn’t say that most of the demand for copper, nickel and myriad other sulfide metals is coming from China. Metals will be extracted and exported to China, and the executives of foreign corporations will profit handsomely. He didn’t say the Twin Metals mine project would be within three miles of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

He conveniently forgot to mention that the BWCAW and its unspoiled backcountry fuel a $1.6 billion tourism economy, while mining historically has been a boom-and-bust industry. In fact, in the past 20 years,

16 hard-rock mines declared bankruptcy. This devastates local economies dependent on the mining industry and can force taxpayers to cover the enormous cost of cleanup and restoration.

Paul Schurke, co-owner of Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge in Ely, said in the News Tribune in April that the South Kawishiwi River and the many lakes it flows through, “including the one our lodge is on, is the lifeblood of our region’s tourism economy.” (“Kawishiwi River, BWCAW make group’s ‘most endangered’ list.”)

Ely outfitter Steve Piragis said in the same April article that any runoff from the mine could pollute up to 65 miles of the Boundary Waters’ most popular canoe routes, from Fall Lake to Basswood and Lac La Croix.

In recent years, Ely has made Field & Stream magazine’s Top 20 list of “America’s Best Fishing Towns.” The magazine said, “Everybody who loves the outdoors should at least visit this place once in their life.”

The sulfide mining lobbyist didn’t mention that the BWCAW annually attracts about 250,000 visitors and is the most visited federal wilderness area, or that some 700,000 people visit Ely, population 3,500, each year. The D.C. lobbyist also forgot to mention that tourism is Minnesota’s fifth-largest industry, generating $11 billion in annual sales and providing nearly 11 percent of total private-sector employment. Minnesota’s nearly 600,000 hunters alone spend more than $482 million each year, and the ripple effect to Minnesota’s economy is more than $1.47 billion.

Maybe the D.C. lobbyist doesn’t know that in Minnesota the fishing industry alone supports 50,000 jobs and recreational fishing brings in $3 billion a year, a significant chunk of which would be in jeopardy if acid rock drainage leached into creeks or streams. In the 1990s, acid drainage from the Formosa Mine polluted streams in Oregon and reduced the fish population there by 90 percent.

The sulfide mining lobbyist didn’t say land cordoned off after mining is land not available to the public. Waste rock piles, tailings basins and open pits are uninhabitable. Lands will not be available for hunting and fishing, and fisheries could be rendered inert by mercury, other toxic heavy metals and acid mine drainage. He didn’t mention that hunting, fishing and outfitting are not boom-bust industries like mining but perpetually sustainable activities and traditional economic strengths of our state. And he didn’t say mines bear no second crop.

David A. Lien of Colorado Springs, Colo., is a native of Grand Rapids and is co-chairman of the Minnesota Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.