Taking issue with senator's letter on mining - Mesabi Daily News

I had a chuckle while reading Sen. Tomassoni’s long winded letter, “Apology accepted, but did you mean it?” While obviously feigning indignation over a couple of comments by so called environmental extremists, Tomassoni can’t help but dive into his own rabbit hole. He writes “I wonder if the anti-mining people drink Moscow Mules”. Very cute. And more of what he thinks is clever in his way too long story.

Note that Tomassoni is trying again to confuse sulfate mining with traditional iron mining. Exposing sulfates to air and water is a proven serious environmental concern. It doesn’t happen when mining for iron ore on the Range. It will with copper mining. Very troubling is that Tomassoni has used his power to short circuit laws that apply to sulfate. Under his long watch, some of the existing mines have run on permits that expired 25 years ago! Does that reassure you?

Personally, I believe that copper mining can be done safely at PolyMet—but only if the environmental protection process is respected. Tomassoni has repeatedly demonstrated a disdain for this.

I will be looking carefully at the required financial assurances to pay for admittedly centuries of sulfate mitigation after the mine closes that need to be verified before a permit to mine copper is issued. To me, that will tell the story. Honest financial assurances. I’m hopeful, but not optimistic. Tomassoni’s rhetoric and record don’t reassure me.