Differences of opinion at St. Louis County board forum
September 17, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Candidates for the three St. Louis County board seats up for election this fall answered questions Monday afternoon at a voters forum in Duluth and spent a good deal of time talking about an issue county government hasn’t been deeply involved in: copper mining. Continue Reading
What is difficult about supporting mining contingent upon its adhering to environmental regulations? The mining must be done safely, but it must be done.
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A few years back the county commissioners were complaining that they werent being paid enough and after review with other commissioners pay throughout the state found that there pay was comparable. Now i hear again thru this article candidates who feel it should be full time which would mean full time wages and benefits. I find it insulting that these so called candidates feel that anything with the name public service means big paychecks and benefits at the expense of the public when they were always meant as part time positions. We have enough full time political figures feeding at the trough we certainly dont need anymore who seem to think they are entitled and some where is lost the word public service.
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“At this time, I don’t believe the science and technology support the PolyMet project,” O’Neil said.
Sweeney agreed
And that, ladies and gentleman is a vote against O’Neil and a vote against Sweeney. Don’t vote for those anti-jobs, anti-prosperity tree-hugging hippy has-beens. It has been proved time and again that this mining can be done and it can be done safely. A ten-plus year review/waiting game has been long enough.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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The kind of copper/nickel mining proposed for the Range has never been done safely – that is, without acidic pollution. Never been demonstrated. In fact, at the eastern end of the range, there has been significant acid pollution from taconite mining in the Dunka River area.
If the only selling point is jobs, this project could be equated to having construction companies fill or drain all the lakes in N.E. Minnesota — it would provide jobs for thousands, for 20 or 30 years, leaving a permanently damaged region. Same results, just different method.
tom koehler
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Tom, I respectfully disagree with your assessment. The fact that this mining hasn’t been done without acidic pollution is in fact true, however, what everyone seems to be not talking about is the level of acidic pollution or PH levels. The acid levels are akin to the acid levels found in milk (6.5-6.75) and not high enough to be a long-term environmental concern. Water is considered neutral with a PH of 7.
The analogy of trading our environment for jobs is extreme. You could say the same about building roadways or condoning air travel. Both are terrible for the environment, but they do in fact support the job market and contribute to enhancing our quality of life. There is a place for Polymet to fit into that equation, and it has been proven that the acidic waste would fall within safe levels. Is there a risk of pollution that would have a harmful effect, yes, but we drive our cars everyday with the guarantee there will be worse pollution and none of us blink an eye.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Well, Mr. Bartlett the particular acid level is misleading, considering that it is a logarithmic scale. Movement of just a few digits on a logarithmic scale represents a considerable change. What is really important is that the degree of acidity is more than enough to kill off the plant life in the affected watershed – and that includes trees. As the plant life is killed off, the animal life declines as well – both on land and in the water. We may not have the barren moonscape associated with copper smelter sites, but we will be in a sterile zone where nothing our region is noted for can live or grow.
tom koehler
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AGreed the the logarithmic scale just needs a tic to affect a large scale thing – but what people aren’t getting is that the pollution is not large scale – it is very small scale and even then it’s not likely to happen. There are plans in place to prevent the pollution, yet we continue to operate with a worst case scenario mentality – which is good to consider, but at some point we need to get over that. We continue to let small fires burn despite the fact there could be a large scale catastrophe, it’s a risk we’re willing to take. My point is that the reward here outweighs the risk and we should be taking that risk. Your point is that the risk is simply too much, and that simply is not true.
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They should have asked Dahlberg how he helped approve the junk yard that is right in the middle of Morgan Park when he is on the planning and zoning comission. That junk yard is a blight to the community with no regards to any vehicle run-off that is going down onto the street.
Both candidates are from Morgan Park, it would have been interesting to hear their answer.
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Considering that the average income in this area is around $40,000, I think $55,000 is too much. It should not matter what county commissioners elsewhere make. What matters is the average income is in the area they represent. The average per capita income in St. Louis County for 2006-10, according to the census, is $25,014 and the median household income is $44,941. I think they should be compensated somewhere around $44,000. Many people in Duluth work full-time jobs that require college degrees and involve lots of responsibile decision-making but that don’t pay anywhere near $55,000. Paying them that much is ridiculous. I don’t care if it really won’t save a lot of money for taxpayers for them to all take pay cuts. I’m interested in the principle of it.
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OK O’Neill, wasn’t it liberal Democrat U.S. Representative John Blatnik that greased the skids so Reverse Mining could dump the tailings in the lake? And when Nixon got into trouble, they decided to investigate all members of Congress for political shenanigans (aka. illegal contributions and gifts) that Blatnik decided to “retire”, yet continued to live in Washington and work as a lobbyist, sucking up all the loose money of the days peddling influence. Comment on that there, old hippy. By the way, don’t they pay you enough to get a haircut and beard trim at least once a month? Your physical appearance is a disgrace to the County Board.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I had opportunity to question O’Neil on county “business” a few years back and found him unbelievably honest (probably told me more than he should have).
For whatever that’s worth.
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