Good morning and happy Tuesday.
Twin Metals Minnesota sued the Biden administration Monday in a bid to reverse the cancellation of its mineral leases for a proposed copper-nickel mine outside Ely. MPR’s Dan Kraker reports: In the suit filed in federal district court in Washington D.C., the company — a subsidiary of the Chilean mining corporation Antofagasta — argued that the government’s cancellation of two key federal mineral leases in January was arbitrary and capricious, and therefore illegal. The suit is the latest step in a longstanding back and forth over the controversial proposed mine that’s now spanned three presidential administrations. The leases are critical to the company's plan to mine for copper, nickel and other metals like cobalt and platinum just south of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. "Our goal is to continue to move this mine forward and reverse a series of actions aimed at shutting down the Twin Metals project," said Dean DeBeltz, Twin Metals' director of operations and safety, adding that the company deserves a fair and predictable regulatory process. Becky Rom with the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters called the lawsuit "destined to fail." She said the lease cancellation was consistent with legal precedent.
Drought relief checks will be sent starting this week to Minnesota farmers related to last year’s dry spell. Brian Bakst reports demand far exceeded expectations for the $8 million in aid to farmers. More than 2,900 farmers will get a share. Checks will be prorated, and each eligible farmer will receive a maximum of $3,143. The Legislature approved the aid package this spring. It covers drought-related expenses from June of last year until this May. Eligible expenses for crop producers included new wells, irrigation equipment and replacement plants. For livestock farmers, feed, transportation and grazing rights are among the allowable costs for reimbursement.
Video of remarks made by Republican candidate for governor Scott Jensen from back in April where he seemed to compare Gov. Tim Walz’s COVID-19 restrictions to Nazi Germany have some upset.The Minnesota Reformer reported: Jensen sought to explain why it was important to ask questions of our government, and he seemed to imply that groups like MaskOffMN that resist government public health policies would help prevent a repeat of Nazism. “If you look at the 1930’s and you look at it carefully, we could see something’s happening. Little things that people chose to push aside. ‘It’s going to be okay.’ And then the little things grew into something bigger. Then there was a night called Kristallnacht. The night of the breaking glass,” said Jensen. Ethan Roberts, the director of government affairs for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said in an email to the Reformer, “Such comparisons are extremely wrong for all the reasons we’ve stated in the past.” In April of 2020, after protestors compared Gov. Tim Walz to Hitler, the JCRC said, “Contemporary comparisons to Nazis, coming from anywhere on the political spectrum, are almost always historically inaccurate, insult the memory of the Holocaust’s victims and survivors, and are deeply hurtful to most Jews and others whose communities were victimized.”
Xcel Energy’s plans to build a massive solar project next to its retiring Sherco coal-fired power plant in central Minnesota could get a boost from the climate and energy law recently passed by Congress.MPR’s Kirsti Marohn reports Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith toured the coal plant on Monday, along with state and labor union officials and Xcel leaders. Chris Clark, president of Xcel in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, said Xcel has had a long presence of producing power in the Becker community, and plans to continue doing so with the 460-megawatt Sherco solar project. "We're excited to turn this into the state's biggest solar installation — one of the biggest in the country –— and to continue being an important energy presence on the system," Clark said. Xcel officials praised Smith’s efforts to help pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which they say will help the solar project become reality. Clark said the tax credits included in the law are expected to reduce its price tag — initially estimated at $575 million — by about 20 percent. There are also additional benefits in the law for locating a clean energy project at a retiring fossil fuel plant, Clark said. Xcel has said that it makes sense to put the solar project next to Sherco, because it can take advantage of the existing infrastructure to connect to the electrical grid.
Steve Karnowski of the Associated Press took a look at the flap over a provision of the teachers’ contract in the Minneapolis District that was meant to shield teachers of color from seniority-based layoffs and help ensure that minority students have teachers who look like them : Months later, conservative media outlets have erupted with denunciations of the policy as racist and unconstitutional discrimination against white educators. One legal group is looking to recruit teachers and taxpayers willing to sue to throw out the language. The teachers union paints the dispute as a ginned-up controversy when there's no imminent danger of anyone losing their job. Meanwhile, the feud is unfolding just months ahead of arguments in a pair of U.S. Supreme Court cases that could reshape affirmative action. "The same people who want to take down teachers unions and blame seniority are now defending it for white people," said Greta Callahan, president of the teachers unit at the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. “This is all made up by the right wing now. And we could not be more proud of this language."
A South Dakota ethics board on Monday said it found sufficient information that Gov. Kristi Noem may have “engaged in misconduct” when she intervened in her daughter’s application for a real estate appraiser license, and it referred a separate complaint over her state airplane use to the state's attorney general for investigation. The Associated Press reports that the three retired judges on the Government Accountability Board determined that “appropriate action” could be taken against Noem for her role in her daughter's appraiser licensure, though it didn't specify the action. The board’s moves potentially escalate the ramifications of investigations into Noem. The Republican governor faces reelection this year and has also positioned herself as an aspirant to the White House in 2024. She has denied any wrongdoing. | 