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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Twin Metals supporters flock to rally in Whiteside

Keith Vandervort
Posted 7/20/16

ELY – Surrounded by a ring of “We Support Mining” signs, two tents, a food vendor and a music system, a carnival-like atmosphere was evident in Whiteside Park Tuesday afternoon as hundreds of …

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Twin Metals supporters flock to rally in Whiteside

Posted

ELY – Surrounded by a ring of “We Support Mining” signs, two tents, a food vendor and a music system, a carnival-like atmosphere was evident in Whiteside Park Tuesday afternoon as hundreds of sulfide mining advocates gathered to rally prior to marching down Harvey Street to the U.S. Forest Service listening session at Washington Auditorium.

In what has been described as the “circus coming to town,” the atmosphere on the south end of the park was more like a church picnic or family reunion. People shook hands and hugged each other, and smiled and laughed as they ate hot dogs and grabbed free t-shirts from Twin Metals Minnesota.

Logging trucks, construction equipment, even a chartered bus with visitors from the Iron Range, created traffic and parking congestion along Harvey Street. Practically the entire Ely Police Department was out in force to keep the rally safe.

“Welcome to Ely and the land of sky-blue waters,” said Ely Mayor Chuck Novak as he took the microphone and introduced many speakers who voiced their support of renewing the mineral leases for Twin Metals to continue their exploration of precious metals to dig out of the ground in the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness just outside of town.

In addition to making reference to the slogan of the once-popular Hamm’s beer brand, that he said used water from Burntiside Lake in their product, Novak also referred to the Ely area as “the playground to the nation,” which was on every bag of bread from a local bakery, ‘the canoe capital of the world,” and “the logging capital of the Midwest.”

Referencing all those slogans, Novak also reminded the audience that Ely was home to as many as six mines until about 1967 and workers here helped dig up as much as 41 million tons of iron ore that was shipped to Pittsburgh to make steel to fight two world wars. “That is not only patriotic, it is something we should all be proud of,” he said.

“We now have ‘the gateway to the Boundary Waters’ that was developed because our economy was faltering after the signing of the Wilderness Act, and tourism is now a primary industry here in Ely,” Novak said.

He said there was no reason the area can’t move forward with another former industry – mining. “This mining venture is under attack,” he said in referencing the Twin Metals leasing renewal process underway by the federal Bureau of Land Management and USFS.

“It is mostly anecdotal and emotional feelings that are coming out. The facts aren’t there to say it can’t be done,” he said. Novak talked about the buffer zones, put in place by both the federal and state government, and said the proposed Twin Metals project is outside of those zones.

“Those arguing against (the project) and say Twin Metals will be adjacent to the Boundary Waters, is a misrepresentation. Adjacent means you are touching something. This operation is not even going to touch even the buffer zone,” he said.

Novak went on to describe the benefits of mining for precious metals in the wilderness around Ely. “Every power line you see here requires copper. The windmills and solar panels have copper. It is part of our national infrastructure,” he said.

“Mining copper and nickel in an environmentally safe way is a heck of a lot better than mining it in the Third World where they don’t care about environmental controls,” Novak said. “By God, some of those countries don’t like us, and they might not even sell us those minerals when we need them.”

He recognized that the audience had gathered “because we are frustrated with the misinterpretation of the laws that have been passed” and said he hoped that the USFS would follow the law in renewing the leases.

“At least they are listening and I hope that they are not just fooling with us,” Novak said.

Novak introduced State Sen. Rob Eckland, St. Louis County Commissioner Tom Rukavina, Jeff Anderson, aide to U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, and Dean Debeltz of Twin Metals, who all made brief remarks.

A large banner was unfurled with the words, “We Support Mining,” and carried down Harvey Street with the help of members of a local Little League team, followed by area military veterans and hundreds of mining supporters carrying placards. They marched, some arm in arm, to the entrance of Washington Auditorium, to attend the USFS listening session.