St. Louis County Schools 2012 TV Commercial ( District 2142 )

Environmentally Responsible Mining In America - Minnesota 8th District Politics

This is an excellent read considering mining in Minnesota and how it relates to the politics of mining and jobs in Minnesota and in particular the 8th District. Environmental extremists such as the "Friends of the Boundary Waters" and Conservation Minnesota would have us believe the world is ending when it is just not the case. Jeff Anderson and Chip Cravaack believe it can be done safely. The article below seems to bear this out.

Environmentally Responsible Mining Operations: The Norm

It is important to emphasize that the sulfide mining operations singled out for discussion in this paper in no way detract from the environmentally responsible operations of the dozens of other metallic mining operations reviewed and, in some cases, visited during this survey. In many instances, the mines not specifically described in this paper display even higher levels of environmental awareness and proaction than those discussed. The vast majority of these mines have been in operation between five and ten years. During their operating periods, many have not exceeded any environmental standards and have maintained sparkling compliance records. Some, while excellent examples of environmentally sensitive operations, have had unexpected, and mostly minor, system upsets causing short-term exceedences of standards for which they were issued regulatory notices. This situation is not atypical for all industries, municipalities, and indeed, even U.S. natural resource regulatory agencies. Without exception, the operators at these sites responded aggressively and effectively to correct the noted problems. In most of these cases, the identified issues created regulatory compliance problems (i.e., an arbitrary standard may have been exceeded) but did not result in significant impairment of environmental resources (e.g. wildlife, air, soil, water, etc.) or jeopardy to public health and safety. 

Full Article:  http://technology.infomine.com/enviromine/publicat/enviroresponse.html

Full Site: http://www.infomine.com/

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll - Rasmussen Reports

Try number two on the Presidential tracking poll, thanks for the feedback.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

Minnesota Politics And 8th District Bicycle Riding, Anderson and Cravaack Lead The Way.

It turned out to be a very nice day today, Aug. 4, 2012. Our family took the trip over to Hibbing to participate in the Great River Energy Mesabi Trail bicycle tour from Hibbing to Virginia. This is not particularly consequential but along the way I did an informal survey of the number of political  and other signs along the route. Many thanks to the volunteers of the Mesabi Trail ride by the way. A very nice job done by everyone and it is very much appreciated!

The number one sign in the 8th district race on this route was Jeff Anderson. Following was Congressman Chip Cravaack. Third was Rick Nolan with a sign on the east end of the range and a few scattered around the Hibbing - Chisholm area. What should really worry Tarryl Clark supporters was that I didn't see a single (not one) sign of hers the whole stretch from Babbitt-Embarrass to Hibbing. At least the TV stations are making some money from her campaign.

It also seems that folks over there support mining as well. I did see a fair number of the "We Support Mining" signs.

The last thing that was interesting besides the beautiful views on the bike ride was the amount of construction happening. Along the trail was what looked to be a Magnetation operation with recycling and reclaiming of old tailings piles for the iron within to say nothing of the jobs generated.

By Mountain Iron, you can see Minntac in operation and the wind generators in operation along the side. These generators use iron and the precious metals involved in upcoming mining projects on the range.
Menard's has recently opened in Virginia supported by the mining dollars the industry provides. There was a lot of traffic in Virginia today.

Another  large building is going up near Virginia. I believe this is the new P&H (Joy Global) facility which assists the mining industry throughout our area and is a worldwide company.

You  can see the signs of change and prosperity all around us if you look close enough. Let's keep the ball rolling in the right direction this election season and elect pro mining candidates. Congressman Cravaack and candidate Jeff Anderson come to mind as the best options for jobs. I'd hate to have to watch this die on the vine with incorrect policy in the future.