CONGRESSMAN’S VIEW: ANTI-MINING, ANTI-NORTHLAND BILL DEMANDS TO BE REJECTED

Monday May 23, 2022

Duluth News Tribune
U.S. Congressman Pete Stauber

May 23, 2022
https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/columns/congressmans-view-anti-mining-anti-northland-bill-demands-to-be-rejected

As the member of Congress from Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, I am blessed to represent mining country. I’m proud of my constituents who work in our mines developing the resources we need for America’s steel. The Duluth Complex — which accounts for 95% of America’s nickel resources, 88% of our cobalt, and more than one-third of our copper — offers an opportunity for my constituents unlike any other in the world. We can mine the resources to supply the United States and the rest of the world with the precious metals we desperately need for modern life — instead of relying on China, Russia, and the Congo.

However, members of Congress from far outside our region are working hand-in-hand with the Biden administration to deny my constituents opportunity while those same D.C. and Twin Cities politicians ensure America’s supply chains remain reliant on foreign sources. The so-called Boundary Waters Pollution Prevention Act introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum, D-St. Paul, is anti-science legislation that would arbitrarily withdraw more than 234,000 acres from mineral development in the Superior National Forest. It is on tap for a legislative hearing on Tuesday, May 24, in the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee.

Fortunately, I serve as the top Republican on this key panel, and my pro-mining Republican colleagues and I will expose this legislation for what it truly is: another chapter in the radical left’s assault on American natural-resource development. Our region is no stranger to these attacks.

Read the full article here.