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Minnesota on the edge: ‘I’ve voted Democrat my whole life. It’s getting tougher’

“That’s how you diversify the economy here. It’s going to be mineral-based,” said Bob Vlaisavljevich, mayor of nearby Eveleth, Minn. “If copper is down, you’ve got three other minerals. That’s where you get those dips, not the peaks and valleys where people are losing their homes, moving away. As far as diversification, that’s how it’s going to be.”

The Twin Metals company said the 100-acre site won’t pose the environmental risk that people fear. The company insists its method of processing the mine waste won’t jeopardize the surrounding lakes and waterway. Proponents point to an underground nickel-copper mine in operation in Michigan’s upper peninsula as a model for the industry in northern Minnesota.

Environmentalists insist otherwise. They say the nickel-copper mining process, no matter how technologically advanced, will risk leaching sulfuric acid, heavy metals and sulfates into the surrounding watershed. A statewide poll released last month showed that a majority of Minnesotans opposed the project near Ely.

“Our communities have built our way of life around the wilderness. This poll makes clear that the majority of Minnesotans stand with us in protecting our nation’s greatest canoe country wilderness,” said Becky Rom, national chair of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters.

Nonetheless, the Twin Metals project, still in the planning and permitting phase, is estimated to directly employ 700 people and create 1,400 spinoff jobs for the area. And it isn’t the only nickel-copper project in the area. A mining company called PolyMet has gotten all of its permits for a similar mine in nearby Hoyt Lakes, Minn., but the project is tied up in complex litigation.

Trump’s steel tariffs and protective trade policies have only left a region long dependent on mining here wanting even more. The president imposed a 25 percent tariff on most imported steel in 2018, but most people don’t highlight the policy as the saving grace Trump touts it to be. While steel prices initially shot up, they’ve settled back down as the U.S. steel industry continues to undergo a somewhat painful transformation.

“There’s sure no boom up here,” said Gary Skalko. After nine terms as mayor of the town of Mountain Iron, Minn., the self-described “hippie” and former school teacher is standing down. He’s a strong supporter of the mining industry, but he senses a change in culture.

“I’m a pro-choice guy. I’m still worried about losing my First Amendment rights, not my Second Amendment rights. I felt [Trump] should have been convicted for what he did,” he said. “Why would I represent people who don’t have the same values? There’s so much hatred on both sides.”

Preserving “our way of life” has become a rallying cry in the region. Rep. Pete Stauber, a former Duluth police officer who once played professional hockey, flipped the area’s eighth congressional district to red in the 2018 midterm. He used the phrase in his campaign.

Stauber is “not running a political campaign, he’s running a cultural campaign and it’s invincible as far as I’m concerned,” said Aaron Brown, a fifth generation Iron Ranger who teaches at Hibbing Community College and writes commentary on local issues.

It all comes down to a cultural balance that remains undecided and “almost a sense of inferiority that comes from an up and down economy,” he said.

“Presidents have come and gone. Clinton and Bush and Obama and now Trump,” said Brown. “Very different policies but this place hasn’t changed that much, and I think there’s something about the hollowing out of the industrialization of this area that we feel that we no longer have any control over our self-destiny and I think that just feeds into our politics.”

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Source: politico.com
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