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I don't know where the author came from, but to those of us who have lived up here our entire lives (and our ancestors before), mining has been a part of the landscape and culture, along with logging and lumber, and a different type of tourism than we are seeing today.

I am assuming the author opposes the copper-nickel mining proposals being discussed these days. I don't know if this subject had raised to the same level in the 1940's or 1950's, that there would have been all the obstacles we see today. That said, while a return back to the 40's, 50's and 60's would bring back fond memories of the vibrancy of our communities in those days, I'm willing to take a closer look at this copper-nickel development. I am mostly confident that Twin Metals will be a good neighbor and ethical in their business dealings. I am less confident that PolyMet would be...too many former U.S. Steel managers on their payroll and as a frequent writer Bob Tammen and me would agree after having worked at the U.S. Steel Minntac operation, these people need to be kept on a very tight leash. A lot of funny things happened in the dark of night at Minntac, most of the employees are kept in the dark about environmental issues, except those issues determined by management as "safe" to communicate to employees on a management determined "need to know" basis. Twin Metals is more likely to empower all employees to make smart decisions on the spot, while PolyMet is likely to use the old "power down" management style made infamous by generations of U.S. Steel management. In "power down", employees are disuaded from using their initiative to solve problems as they see them, rather they have to report them to management before taking action without retribution.

In any case, even the best environmental impact statements are only words on paper and are dependent on the integrity and style of the management culture.

Would copper-nickel change the area's character? Not at all. After timber, mining became the largest and most important reason for communities settling on what is now commonly called the Iron Range. Copper-nickel mining would only open another chapter of pioneering development in our area.

In a general discussion one night in the Bull Pen at the Ely Public Sauna, I was involved in a discussion about the way downtown Ely looks today vs. how it looked in my youth. It didn't seem to have the same vibrancy that it had in the earlier days when the Zenith, Pioneer and the Soudan Mines were operating. I was confronted with a legitimate question...how do I square how the Range towns look today vs. my youth. I was stumped. We had a boom in the taconite industry, yet our core cities have been in a state of decline since the 70's. Time was when I was young, we knew nothing about the Twin Cities (except that the state high school basketball tournament was played there each spring), we might have gotten to Duluth maybe once a year. But when it came to the big city, Virginia was it. There was everything we needed there, men's specialty shops, women's and children's specialty shops, department stores, hardware, sporting goods, grocery stores, you name it. If Virginia didn't have it then, you most likely didn't need it. Today, the downtown looks like old Brooklyn NY, and if it wasn't for the Hwy 53 corridor and the development in West Virginia, there would be nothing. People are now having to go to Duluth or the Twin Cities or the internet to find the products and services they need. Products and services that were once so readily available on the Range. So much for taconite's contribution to relative prosperity on the Range.

I imagine we will see some copper-nickel development in the next decade or two. But the pundits are correct. To expect some kind of boom after the construction phase is akin to seeing the world end due to global warming. It makes for a lot of discussion, but little else. The fee holders, the companies that mine the ore, and the financiers will see the gains. But little else, other than the wages earned by the employees and what small amount of supplies the companies buy locally (remember, they also buy by the internet), by those stakeholders will find it's way back into the community. Sad, but true.