Chip Cravaack Making PolyMet A Reality
Gary Gross - Minneapolis Conservative Examiner
October 11, 2011
The starkest difference between Chip Cravaack and Jim Oberstar, besides Chip being accessable and approachable and Oberstar being distant, is the fact that Chip's getting results on PolyMet:
Federal regulatory agencies are cooperating better and are on pace to finish the draft environmental review of the PolyMet copper mine project by January.
That was the report Friday after a meeting in Duluth called by U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-North Branch. Cravaack, Iron Range lawmakers, PolyMet corporate officials and representatives of state and federal regulatory agencies have met three times this year to facilitate progress of the proposed copper-nickel mine and processing center between Babbitt and Hoyt Lakes.
“I’m extremely encouraged. We’re addressing problems before they become problems,” Cravaack told reporters after the meeting.
Rep. Oberstar didn't lift a finger to make PolyMet a reality until he noticed he was in a dogfight for re-election. Then he suddenly told the world that he'd return to Washington to cut through the federal government's red tape:
It’s been in the works for more than four years, but when the environmental review came out last fall, the federal government blasted the report as inadequate.
Oberstar says he wants a thorough review, but it shouldn’t take so long. “The red tape, the slowdown, the lack of full attention by federal and state permitting agencies has dragged this process out much too long,” said Oberstar.
Oberstar said the No. 1 issue people talk about in northeastern Minnesota is jobs. And the Polymet mine promises 400 jobs.
“I’ve heard some concerns, ‘Be careful about our environment. We love this land, we don’t want our waters to be adversely affected.’ And I’ve assured people that corners will not be cut, there will be no exceptions made, but we have to do this in an expeditious manner,” he said.
Chip didn't just talk the talk. He's followed through. He's shown leadership. He's getting results. Oberstar paid lip service but he didn't get things done with PolyMet. Here's how Chip is getting things done:
Cravaack has excluded environmental groups and mining opponents from the meetings. He said mining critics have a “conduit” to the meetings through regulatory agencies.
In short, he's excluded the organizations committed to preventing PolyMet from becoming a reality. The results speak for themselves:
On Friday, Cravaack said the environmental impact statement should be ready by January, as has been predicted for about a year, and that permits could be issued and the mine under construction by this time in 2012. It would be Minnesota’s first copper mine.
“We’re on track to get this mine open and bring jobs to northern Minnesota,” he added.
Cravaack said the quarterly meetings have spurred agency officials to talk more and coordinate efforts, speeding the environmental review process that already has lasted four years. That includes the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Pollution Control Agency also are involved.
The results are obvious. Even the DFL is praising Chip: State Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Pike Township, and Sen. Dave Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, agreed that Cravaack’s meetings have helped keep federal regulators focused.
“It appears the agencies are communicating in a way they were not communicating before,” Tomassoni said.
In short, the results can't be denied. It must've killed Rep. Oberstar's allies to admit that a Republican is helping revive the Iron Range's mining industry through his persistence and his dogging federal regulators into action.
