ELY- A proclamation honoring Twin Metals packed the city council chambers here on Tuesday, as area residents turned out to voice both support and opposition to the statement, issued by Mayor Heidi Omerza.
Omerza has declared July 28-30 to be “Twin Metals Minnesota Appreciation Days” in Ely, a prerogative of the mayor’s office over which the city council has no authority to veto.
The proclamation states that “Twin Metals Minnesota is an important and valued member of the community, contributing to many charitable organizations,” and provided of list of ten local beneficiaries like the Ely Food Shelf as examples of the mining firm’s largesse. The proclamation also noted that: “Since 2010, Twin Metals Minnesota has donated more than $550,000” to local “charitable organizations” and that the business had a “significant impact on job creation and economic development” in Minnesota.
Most of the attendees at the city council meeting were there to protest the mayor’s action. They brought colorful signs with the names of businesses they considered far more worthy of being honored than Twin Metals. Three representatives of this group requested to address the council prior to the meeting: Becky Rom, well-known advocate for Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness; Jay Gustafson, Ely resident and manager of Piragis Northwoods Company; and Madelyn “Maddie” Fahnline, who works for Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness.
“Honoring an international mining company that has no place in the future of Ely is just wrong and makes no sense,” said Rom, pointing out that the 20-year ban on federal mineral leases effectively kills the proposed mining project. In addition, Rom argued that the Twin Metals mine, if built, would be a danger to the community and the regional ecosystem because of the environmental disaster it would create.
“It will lead to depopulation,” Rom claimed. “I haven’t met anyone who would like to live next door or downstream from a sulfide copper ore mine. It would lead to the loss of long standing and valued businesses. It will lead to the loss of jobs and it will lead to environmental destruction at a scale we have not experienced.”
Rom argued that the Chilean mining giant Antofagasta, with a questionable environmental record, set up Twin Metals as a limited liability corporation (LLC) in order to shield itself from liability for irresponsible mining. The end result, she argued would be the legal ploy of bankrupting the LLC with clean-up costs, thus sticking American and Minnesotan taxpayers with a ruined Boundary Waters and an unaffordable remediation, while “giant Antofagasta sits in Santiago, Chile, counting its money … amused that for a tiny amount of pocket change for … charitable giving, a handful of local jobs, and a stable of well-heeled lobbyists, it makes riches for its owners, leaving our community impoverished in a myriad of ways.” Gustafson focused on the harm the proclamation is causing in the community. “I’m struck by how this proclamation continues to drive a wedge into the heart of this community, further dividing us.” He said that division was unnecessary since the project is effectively dead. Gustafson considered the 20-year ban on the mineral leases to have killed the project, implying that the community needed to move on.
“When I asked what the goal of … this proclamation is, it’s because I see no benefit to anybody in this room tonight. Now even (for) those who may be here in support of this decision, no new jobs will be created due to this proclamation. Our local economy will not grow because of this proclamation. People will not relocate to Ely because of this proclamation; and the local businesses, (which are) the actual backbone of this economy are underappreciated because of this proclamation.”
Gustafson pointed out that there is no lack of job opportunities in Ely, so the community doesn’t need mining jobs that will go away in 20 or 30 years. What the community really needs is affordable workforce housing, he argued.
Fahnline echoed Gustafson’s comments on housing, speaking from her experience and education in the tourism sector, noting that affordable housing is one of the barriers for local business to hire employees at a wage that they can afford to pay.
Gerald Tyler, a regular advocate for mining in the Ely area, commented that the proclamation and Twin Metals’ donations to the community were not about “whether the Twin Metals mine is ever going to happen.” He remarked that the point of the proclamation was summed up in its third paragraph, listing all the local groups that have benefitted from the firm’s contributions. The point was to acknowledge what Twin Metals had given to Ely.
“The people that are here in (opposition) should consider doing something for the city,” Tyler said. “I hear (their) negative comments about what Twin Metals should be doing, but never once contributing to any of the local organizations in this city that have done so much.”
Overall, the agenda, tactics, and comments were familiar, reflecting the views expressed on numerous similar occasions when Twin Metals has been on the council agenda.
In other matters, the city council:
• Heard the report of Erik Simonson, local government lobbyist for the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, on his organization’s efforts to advocate for rural local government and on the overall progress of the 2023 legislative session for non-metropolitan-area cities.
• Received a report from the nonprofit Ely Community Resources on their efforts for local children.
• Approved the note and mortgage for the residential rehab loan for Alex Povhe at 403 E James St. for $10,000 for a new propane furnace and new windows.
• Approved the City and Ely Utilities Commission payment claims for July 18, for $73,236.
• Approved an invoice for SEH for the Prospector ATV Trail for $2,992.
• Approved an invoice for Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services LLC. of Grand Forks, N.D., for the Waste Water Treatment Facility Improvement Project for $19,574.