Mining the Climate Crisis: The Pros and Cons of Copper-Nickel Mining in Minnesota

The community is invited to attend the next Rosenmeier Center for State and Local Government forum titled “Mining the Climate Crisis: The Pros and Cons of Copper-Nickel Mining in Minnesota” at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 29 in the Chalberg Theatre of Central Lakes College’s Brainerd campus. Speaking will be Julie Lucas, Executive Director of Mining Minnesota, and Kathryn Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA).

The forum will shed light on the issues surrounding the extraction of the metals in the more water-intense areas of northern Minnesota. The topic includes the transition to a clean energy economy and the resulting demand on metals such as copper and nickel, needed for production of solar power, wind energy, and manufacturing electric vehicles and their batteries. But opponents point to a history of water pollution and environmental damage in other copper-nickel mining operations around the world.

Steve Wenzel, Executive Director of the Rosenmeier Center, said the debate of jobs creation versus environmental protection is an excellent topic because of Gordon Rosenmeier’s work.

“Gordon Rosenmeier truly left a lasting legacy when he led the way and authored legislation in 1967 providing Minnesota with the first pollution control agency in the nation, which soon followed with President Richard Nixon creating the Environmental Protection Agency for the nation in July 1970.”

Board member and forum chair Laura Raedeke added, “Minnesota, as a leader on the clean energy transition, and the home to copper-nickel deposits, is at the center of this controversy. We are fortunate to have two of the state’s most knowledgeable presenters on the topic with us.”