No jobs on a dead planet!

The New York Times magazine recently published an article that touched on one of our (many) hot buttons: In Northern Minnesota, Two Economies Square Off: Mining vs. Wilderness. Today, the Star Tribune published Enbridge pipeline replacement divides DFL. We live in Minnesota's Eighth Congressional District, home to the Iron Range and the Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe Area. Once upon a time, back when we also believed in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny, we believed the Democratic party was a leading supporter of both labor (good jobs) and environmental protection (clean water to drink and swim in, clean air to breathe). Not so much anymore.

Our Congressman, Rick Nolan, has introduced legislation that would undermine environmental protections and current governmental process to expedite mine development of a new type, primarily for copper. It's what we would have expected from a Republican, such as Congressman Emmer, who is aiding and abetting Nolan's effort to exempt some mine proposals from full governmental review and approval.

Two environmental organizations, [full disclosure: we have contributed funds to each] have seen fit to respond to the Times' publication as follows:

It seems to us that a large part of our current problems derive directly from the extent to which we are a nation of laws, not men. Years ago we tried working with representatives of the US Army Corps of Engineers, at a time when their strategy on projects seemed to be to "Design, Announce, Defend." Finding middle ground when each side feels it needs the "best advocate" to defend its interests is a sometimes impossible challenge.

There is, or at least could be, a different way. The Nation has published some suggestions on how to bring labor and the environment together. Today's Daily Yonder has comparable thoughts on how the Democrats can  better reach out to rural voters (most of Minnesota's CD-8 is rural). We've mentioned before how much we've been taken by the stories in Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman and the outstanding job some predominantly rural folks are doing in maintaining and creating jobs while conserving the environment. We bet if you stop back here from time to time, you'll see more references to efforts such as those touched on today, because, as much as we believe anything, we believe there are no jobs on a dead planet. We may even drag in the old "Bert & I" joke about which way to Millenocket? to see if we can find a way together to get there from here.

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