The creeping hyperbole of Iron Range mining politics – by Aaron Brown (Minneapolis StarTribune – July 29, 2014)

http://www.startribune.com/

Last week I was called into town to do another “Iron Range political pundit” interview with Northland’s NewsCenter’s Nick Minock. The story was about something presumptive Minnesota GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mike McFadden had said about nonferrous mining projects in Northern Minnesota. McFadden had suggested that projects like PolyMet and Twin Metals, which have been mired in environmental review, have the potential to have the same economic impact the Bakken oil fields had on western North Dakota. I was asked, is that true?

In short, no. In long form, hell no. The sheer amount of money and people working to extract oil in the Dakotas will not come close to being matched by Northern Minnesota’s PolyMet or Twin Metals, even if these projects are permitted, financed and open to rousing success — none of which is assured for reasons outside the control of a solitary U.S. Senator. It was a piece of political hyperbole, one which McFadden all but copped to later.

I’ve written before that the controversial “mining issue” will flare up throughout Election 2014, with particular flourish in the MN-8 Congressional race, the U.S. Senate race and governor’s race. Each of these races have indeed featured the same dynamic: Republicans who support new mining arguing that Democrats who support new mining don’t support new mining enough. I’ll call this the Mesabi Daily News Rule, which states: Any deference to the concerns of project opponents, even if patronizing and entirely rhetorical, is equivalent to outright opposition.

The MDN rule essentially allows this GOP gambit, which is based on the notion that Iron Range voters who support mining and distrust the Twin Cities in a general sort of way will flock to Republican candidates. I’ve written a general argument that it won’t work this way; not quite. Nevertheless, it’s an easy position for the GOP to take because the party has no environmental wing whatsoever.

Besides, the GOP will see a general benefit if the DFL looks like it’s off its game or defending its home turf, which is perhaps the real motivation behind all this.

But that’s not the end of the Election 2014 Iron Range hyperbole.

This week Eric Black of MinnPost posted more of his recent interview with McFadden, in which the candidate focused heavily on economic issues. Again, McFadden argued the “MDN Rule,” that he would expedite more mining jobs on the Iron Range. Black, upon citing several positive Minnesota economic numbers in recent years, quoted him:

Do you know what the unemployment rate is in the Iron Range, Eric? It just came out, too. It’s close to 10 percent. Do you know what it is in Bemidji? It’s close to 11 percent. Do you know what the labor participation rate is in Minnesota? The lowest it’s been in 30 years. Do you know what the wage growth has been over the last six years? The average weekly wage has gone up $8…

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