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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Council condemns mineral withdrawal

Catie Clark
Posted 2/8/23

ELY- It was standing room only at the city council meeting here on Tuesday as residents on both sides of the long-simmering copper-nickel mining debate weighed in on the council’s expected …

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Council condemns mineral withdrawal

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ELY- It was standing room only at the city council meeting here on Tuesday as residents on both sides of the long-simmering copper-nickel mining debate weighed in on the council’s expected response to the recently-approved 20-year mineral withdrawal, a federal decision that puts the planned Twin Metals proposal on life support.
At issue was a council proposal to send a letter of opposition to the withdrawal decision to the Biden administration, which announced the action Jan. 26.
The majority who spoke to the council argued in favor of the withdrawal, noting the importance of protecting the unique ecosystem of the Boundary Waters. Bob Graves, a retired 3M engineer cited his decades-long experience in engineering failure and accident analysis. After examining the documents on the proposed mining project, Graves concluded “there is not sufficient safety [in the proposed tailings design] to address the risk presented by the tailings” to the watershed.
Gerald Tyler was the lone speaker in favor of the city council’s proposed letter protesting the lease ban, citing the need for more jobs to stop the attrition of businesses and residents. He cited the history of state and federal waffling on the mining issue, arguing that the decisions were based primarily on politics rather than science.
The debate on the issue came only after the council batted down an attempt by council member Jerome Debeltz to limit all public comments at requested appearances to five minutes instead of 15.
Mayor Heidi Omerza ruled that the people who applied to appear before the council were told that the maximum speaking time would be 15 minutes, “[We can take a council action to limit it to five in the future but I’m not sure that would be quite fair to do so now.”
Debeltz also took issue with hearing comments from people who don’t live in Ely.
“Every time something like this happens, they call all the people from out of town, and they bring them in so they can speak in front of the Council. This actually affects the Ely people more than the people that aren’t going to live here.”
Debeltz’s comments drew criticism from some of the non-residents who attended. Madeline Fahnline, who helped organize the show of force for the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, said those she had urged to attend all list the Ely zip code as their residence. “I used a tag to (restrict) email to (the) 55731 (zip code).” Starting several days before the meeting, Fahnline and colleagues emailed and texted to Ely area residents to inform them that the mineral leases were on the city’s agenda. No one came forward as the organizer of mining supporters who were also present.
Three of the 12 members of the public who spoke at the meeting protested that since they spend money within city limits, they had the right to speak and make their views known.
The packed council chambers were noisy at times even between speakers and Mayor Omerza had to call for quiet on three separate occasions.
Despite the debate, the outcome was never in doubt. The council voted 5-1, with Adam Bisbee as the lone dissenter, to forward a letter of protest to the Biden administration.
Open meeting law allegation
At least one member of the public turned accusatory toward the council during the discussion of the protest letter. Frederica Musgrave alleged that the city council was conducting business without public disclosure of what it was doing, complaining that she had found out about the council agenda by accident. At least two other testifiers agreed with her.
Musgrave cited a local news article regarding the action by the Ely Economic Development Authority to send its own letter in protest of the mining lease ban, complaining that no one knew the EEDA was contemplating this before its Jan. 31 meeting.
“I had no idea about that meeting. I checked the website, there’s no agenda. There’s no minutes. There’s no record of anything.”
The Timberjay verified after the city council meeting that the EEDA and city council meetings referred to by Musgrave were “regular meetings” as defined in Minnesota’s open meeting law. As such, the meetings don’t require additional posting, since regular meeting dates are already posted at designated city posting locations.
In questioning city officials after the Feb. 7 meeting, Ely Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski stated, “We are not required to publish an agenda prior to a meeting.” The Timberjay also verified this statement. Minnesota’s open meeting law only requires that a printed agenda and supporting materials be available to the public in the meeting room at the time of a regular government meeting.
In other business, the city council:
• Revoked the license for the apartments at 105 W. Conan, owned by Rae Bentz. The city’s building inspectors and fire marshal cited safety concerns over wiring, heating units, hoarding creating a fire hazard, ceiling and floor damage, leaking plumbing, and structural concerns.
• Did not approve another first reading of its second attempt at a cannabinoid business license ordinance. The council tabled the issue, stating that it has until March 7 before the current moratorium expires. The council does have the option to extend the moratorium for up to a year, which would be until December 2023.