Destroying the North Country in order to save it

On June 8, Rep. Chip Cravaack introduced H.R. 5544, the Minnesota Education Investment and Employment Act. According to this bill, the remaining 93,000 acres of state land retained inside the borders of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness would be exchanged for an undisclosed amount of acreage within Superior National Forest. H.R. 5544 specifically eliminates the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process, environmental review, and public comment. In other words, the dismantling of Superior National Forest is being negotiated behind closed doors.

Of further concern, the bill does not resolve the mineral rights associated with the land exchange. This would leave the door open for future negotiations to reduce the size of Superior National Forest. Removing land from Federal ownership eliminates the watershed protections of the Weeks Act of 1911, which does not allowing strip mining. (Because of the Weeks Act, PolyMet must complete a land exchange in order to dig proposed open pits on what is now Forest Service land.) H.R. 5544 facilitates the opening of a sulfide mining district throughout the Superior National Forest. State Rep. David Dill (D-Crane Lake) summarized: “We should mine, log, and lease the hell out of that land that we get in the [ex]change.”

While facilitating mining, H.R. 5544 does little to enhance school trust funds. Most of the lands the state would get as part of an exchange have severed mineral estates held by private interests. Therefore no money from mining these lands would go into the school trust. Instead, mining companies would gain an economic windfall by being able to strip mine.

At the present time, educational funding amounts to approximately $9,000 per pupil, while the School Trust Fund adds $26. The trust will never reach levels necessary to support today’s educational system. Additionally, trust moneys are distributed state wide, so the main beneficiaries are highly-populated urban schools. Northeast Minnesota, where the destruction and pollution would occur, would receive the least amount of school compensation in return.

Rep. Cravaack claims H.R. 5544 is a jobs bill, which tells us the intent is the opening of a sulfide mining district. Yet sulfide mining is speculative, based upon experimental technology and an economy that will sustain the mining of 99 percent waste rock. Hardrock mining uses heavy machinery, rather than a large work force. A limited number of mining jobs would displace current jobs in tourism, recreation, wood products, and real estate. Already mineral exploration is decreasing property values, while the separation of mineral rights could result in condemnation or seizure of land through eminent domain.

There are other solutions to the school trust fund issue. As suggested in the 1990s, a recreational fee could be attached to permits needed for entering the BWCAW. This was estimated to add $250,000 a year to the Permanent School Fund (PSF). The fund has lost $2.5 million over the past ten years because northeast legislators rejected this idea in favor of holding out for a land exchange.

Likewise, a direct sale of state lands within the BWCAW to the federal government would generate money for the PSF without harming the environment for future generations of children. This proposal was accepted by the Minnesota federal delegation in the 1990s, but derailed by local legislators. Again, the money could already by sitting in the Permanent School Fund, generating interest for the schools.

Contact Senators Franken and Klobuchar immediately and ask for legislation authorizing a complete buy-out of all state lands within the BWCAW. Stop the give-away of Superior National Forest being proposed in the name of our children.

Ellane Palcich

Chisholm, Minn.