A reporter from Iowa Public Television recently covered the debate over the PolyMet mine proposal in northern Minnesota for national evening news program PBS Newshour. The six-minute story highlights key points of contention now that the environmental review has been completed.
Josh Buettner attended an anti-mining rally in Duluth featuring speakers from Ojibwe tribes and environmental groups. “My main focus is making sure that the wild rice is protected. And we need to understand that, without water, there will be no life, including human life,” says Kelley Northrup of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa:
The story also includes interviews with a mining company spokeswoman and Senator David J. Tomassoni.
“You worry about the water, you worry about the rice, but you also worry about the jobs and the industries,” Tomassoni says.
The story was received with mixed reviews. The Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness took exception with the story’s headline, which was “The battle for Minnesota’s $1 trillion mining jackpot.” The organization stated on Facebook: “Unfortunately, too many statements by PolyMet and their supporters went unexamined. The biggest is in the headline. We have to get past the ‘strike it rich’ mentality and learn from history. Every mine of this type leaves water pollution behind.”