Note: this column was originally published in the Mesabi Tribune's MINE Magazine.
You’re reading an issue of MINE, so you already know how important mining is to northern Minnesota. It has been the backbone of our economy for generations. It’s how families built their lives. It’s how communities funded their schools, their roads, their small businesses. It’s how the Iron Range helped win two world wars. It’s a history that is deeply personal to all of us who live here.
That’s why the relentless attacks on mining have been so frustrating, and why we should be so grateful that Pete Stauber is serving us in Congress. Congressman Stauber has been leading the charge to reverse the Biden Administration’s disastrous 20-year mining ban in parts of northern Minnesota. His proposal, H.J. Resolution 140, is a Congressional Review Act resolution that would nullify the Biden-era ban, paving the way for mining companies to pursue permits once again. It recently passed through the U.S. House and is waiting for a vote in the Senate.
The Biden ban locked up a massive area of land sitting over one of the largest untapped copper-nickel deposits in the world. Copper and nickel are essential to modern life: they are used in energy infrastructure, military equipment, advanced manufacturing, and the electronics we use every day. If we’re serious about building things in America and strengthening national security at the same time, we cannot keep placing our own resources off-limits.
The primary accomplishment of the Biden Administration’s 20-year ban was freezing opportunity. Their ban told investors to take their money elsewhere. It told skilled workers to look for work in other states. It told small suppliers and contractors that their future here was murky at best.
Mining opponents usually like to frame this debate as a choice between jobs and the environment. I don’t buy that, and neither should you. Minnesota has proven time and again that we can produce natural resources responsibly. We mine today under strict environmental standards. We take care of our air and water quality aggressively. The idea that northern Minnesota is incapable of balancing economic growth with environmental protection just doesn’t line up with reality.
The Stauber resolution does not approve a single mine. It does not eliminate any environmental safeguards. It does not let any company skip the permitting process. It simply removes the blanket ban so that project proposals can move forward through existing review processes. (Minnesota’s standards, by the way, are among the most rigorous anywhere in the world, and federal review is layered on top of that.)
All the Stauber resolution does is restore fairness. It restores the ability for projects to compete fairly through the normal process rather than being shut down before they even get in the starting gate.
Mining jobs are not minimum-wage jobs. They are high-paying, family-supporting careers. They support union workers. They generate tax revenue that funds schools, infrastructure, and local services. These projects support restaurants, equipment dealers, mechanics, truck drivers, and local retailers. Entire local economies are tied to that activity. It’s among the best examples of a rising tide that lifts all ships.
Congressman Stauber understands this because he grew up in northern Minnesota. He knows what these policies mean to real families in real towns scattered across the northland.
This is also about the bigger picture. The United States relies heavily on foreign sources for critical minerals. Many of our supply chains run through countries that do not share our values and are not always reliable partners. The challenges we experienced during Covid made it crystal clear how dangerous it is to depend on unreliable global supply chains. Meanwhile, we are sitting on some of the best deposits in the world, right here in Minnesota.
If we’re going to demand higher labor standards, higher environmental standards, and stronger national security, we should also be willing to develop resources at home under our own laws. Blocking domestic production while importing the same minerals from abroad doesn’t help the environment. It just shifts the impacts to places with weaker protections.
Thanks to the effort of Congressman Stauber, the United States House of Representatives has done its job. When the Stauber resolution comes before the United States Senate, I encourage Senator Amy Klobuchar and Senator Tina Smith to support it. Northern Minnesota’s economy needs more than tourism and seasonal business. It needs industries that provide year-round, high-wage careers. It needs to give young families a reason to stay and build their future here.
When the Biden Administration imposed this ban, it felt like an insult and an attack on the families across northern Minnesota. But the people who live here care deeply about our forests and waters. We play here all year. We hunt, fish, swim, camp, and hike here. This is our home. Like folks from the cities, we certainly don’t want to see it destroyed. Supporting responsible mining simply means trusting the review process and allowing projects to be evaluated on their merits.
Congressman Stauber fought hard to make this happen in the House. Now it’s time for the Senate to finish the job and stand with the communities that have powered this nation for generations.