Carpetbagger Chip Cravaack is giving away Northern Minnesota Wilderness to foreign mining interests.

[Zookeeper]

I turned on C-Span today to discover that Tea-Party favorite Chip Cravaack has entered a bill into the U.S. House that will force our state to hand over wilderness to the mining and other corporate interests.

Shameless fraud that Cravaack is, he is using "Minnesota schoolchildren" as a cover. Cravaack does not accept emails from non-constituents (surprise!), so if this is an issue of concern to you, please call his office.

Final passage of the bill is being voted on now.

This New Hampshire resident, trying to give away our natural resources, needs to be kicked out of office this year!

[KansDem]

1. Let me see if I understand this...

Cravaack will not accept non-constituent emails but will give away parts of Minnesota to foreign interests?

That's pretty sleazy!

K&R!

[Zookeeper]

2. This is just a hint of what will be happening to all of our protected lands...

if Romney is elected.

Tea-bagger Cravaack is quite a piece of work. His "meet and greets" are held in small towns in his district and only announced the same day, to discourage attendance by non-supporters. He's an anti-union Rethug, who gets $92,000 a year in disability payments because his sleep apnea ended his Union job as a pilot with Northwest Airlines. He votes against bills for Veteran's benefits, while taking advantage of free health care through the VA.

He's also an Ohio native, who lived here while he worked for Northwest and now lives in New Hampshire, where his wife works for a pharmaceutical company. However, he criticized his predecessor, long-time Rep. Jim Oberstar, for moving his children to D.C., despite the fact that Oberstar's primary residence had always been in Northern Minnesota. Also, the part of the district he used to live in, is an exurb of the Twin Cities Metro area; the kind of bucolic place city folk move to when they feel threatened by "diversity." The town he lived in has little in common with the economic and environmental interests of the northern part of his district.

He doesn't take emails from non-constituents, but I'm sure he takes calls from the Koch Brothers.

[geardaddy]

3. You hit the nail on the head

with this description of Asscrack.

[Zookeeper]

4. Well, he's from Ohio, where "up north" means Detroit.

Or Toledo.

[glinda]

5. and he doesn't care even if you are a constituent.....

[Mnpaul]

6. The House Majority Pac is running a great ad nailing this dog turd

Saw it several times this morning on CBS

[Brickbat]

8. Love it!

[Zookeeper]

9. Great ad!

[Brickbat]

7. Much as I can't stand Cravaack, this doesn't force the state to do anything. Minnesota lawmakers

voted to allow, and Dayton signed the bill allowing the state to do this swap, because the school trust land in places like the BWCAW is underperforming. Beyond underperforming, it's contributing nothing. The main concern is that Cravaack's bill doesn't require federal-level environmental reviews.

A swap like this, IMO, is a good thing -- it makes it much easier to manage lands and also can make the school fund more money. The lack of review, however, is a definite concern.

[Zookeeper]

11. I concede to your point on the word "force," however taking this to the National level,

supported by Republicans who have an anti-environmental, pro-privatization, pro-big business agenda, this bill leaves out the protection of the NEPA. (This seems like a test to me) According to the Sierra Club:

"The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) provides a process for public input by affected citizens, and environmental review to evaluate and determine whether an action is in the public interest.
The Weeks Act protects National Forest lands against surface land destruction (i.e. strip mining) and protects the headwaters of rivers and watersheds in perpetuity.
Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to consult with proposed projects on National Forest land to ensure ESA compliance
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978 specifically requires that the BWCA be protected from the environmental impacts associated with mineral development "to the maximum extent possible."

All of these important safeguards would be lost on any National Forest land included in this exchange."

https://secure.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=8839

I am strongly against the proposed sulfide or open pit mining operations there, as I simply don't think the mining companies can, or will, conduct them without seriously damaging the environment, or guaranteeing that they won't stick taxpayers with the bill for cleanup. I believe the last estimate that PolyMet made regarding jobs, was that they would be bringing in most of their workers from outside of Minnesota and only expected to hire 25% of their work force locally. Which came out to about 150 jobs, at most. And I don't trust that the small amount of per student revenue (est. $52 per pupil) generated by The School Trust Fund "managing intensively for revenue" wouldn't be misdirected by the Republicans, anyway.

The Feds should just pay cash for the land that would go to the School Trust Fund.

On a personal note, I've lived by an ocean, in the redwoods, on the Great Lakes; visited nearly every state in the U.S., including many magnificent, scenic areas, but there is something really special about Northern Minnesota. The characteristics that make it special (and rare), can easily be destroyed, which would be a loss to our whole country. Every time I revisit scenic places in other parts of the country, I'm dismayed to see them suffering the effects of over-population and over-development. I wish I could finance a sight-seeing trip for the folks that take Northern Minnesota for granted!

[Brickbat]

15. Well, it has to be taken to a national level, because of the nature of the swap.

Lobbying Klobuchar and Franken to ensure that proper environmental oversight is added to the proposal can help a lot.

I live on the North Shore and mining directly supports my family. I believe there are ways to regulate and set up consequences for companies that want to mine up here, and that we should not call for a moratorium on it. I was a delegate at the DFL state convention, where we voted down a resolution for a moratorium on copper-nickel mining. There is something special about Northern Minnesota, and I think we can protect it and reap the natural resources in a balanced way. It can be argued that that hasn't been done elsewhere, but I don't believe that's a reason to not try here.

[jwirr]

10. This will probably pass the house but I wonder if the Senate is that stupid not to mention President

Obama vetoing it. Craavack is an idiot if he thinks any of us will welcome him back in this part of the state.

[Zookeeper]

12. It did pass the House and I just read that Franken and Klobuchar are working on a companion bill..

to Cravaack's and they support a land exchange.

I guess they are the ones who need to hear from us now.

Jwirr, does Cravaack actually spend any time in the northern part of his district?

[jwirr]

13. Has been in Cloquet several times that I know of when there are events such as parades. He lays

low even then. He had his supporters in the Labor Day parade. He does not make himself available to most of us. Not the way Jim did. NE MN was nuts to elect him when we had such a good rep already.

[Brickbat]

14. Cravaack holds town hall meetings that are announced the day of the event.

It's horrid.

[Mnpaul]

16. That is better than Kline

His events are usually announced to the public a week after the event(in the paper).

[Brickbat]

17. A statement from Rick Nolan about it...

http://nolanforcongress.org/BWCA-Land-Swap

(CROSBY, MN) . . . Former US Congressman Rick Nolan, DFL endorsed candidate for Congress from Crosby, Minnesota, issued the following statement after careful reading of the engrossed text of HR -5544 dealing with the exchange of school trust lands in northern Minnesota, authored by U.S. Representative “Chip” Cravaack, Republican (MN-08) and passed by the US House of Representatives on a largely party-line vote:

"I strongly support the school trust land swap proposal passed on a bipartisan basis by the Minnesota Legislature, signed into law by Governor Dayton and supported by the entire Iron Range Legislative Delegation. I applaud this leadership. It is long overdue and will be good for increased school funding and for increased growth in the natural resources economy of our district.

I am disappointed that Rep. Cravaack tried to rush a bill through Congress to capitalize on this, however, then stood by while his tea party Republican friends took out provisions that would have provided up to $1.0 million in annual payments* to Cook, Lake and St. Louis Counties. These federal payments were originally agreed to when these lands were permanently taken out of the local tax base many decades ago. Local taxpayers will suffer and it is directly due to Chip Cravaack’s actions.

If I were in Congress now, I would also insure that every effort be made to protect the rights of hunters, fishermen, snowmobilers and others to continue to enjoy our great Northwoods. This legislation does not contain any such guarantees and shows Representative Cravaack’s lack of concern or understanding of how these changes can affect the lives of those of us who live in northern Minnesota.”

* Note: The Congressional Budget Office cost estimate for HR-5544 includes a $1.0 million annual outlay estimate to St. Louis, Lake, and Cook Counties for payments in lieu of taxes guaranteed under the “Thye-Blatnick” funds authorized as permanent legislation in 1948 in exchange for permanent removal of these lands from county tax rolls.
* This permanent legislation was overridden in an amendment offered by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Hastings during Rules Committee hearing prior to House Floor action, creating a dangerous precedent for these Minnesota counties.

I wasn't aware of the $1 million outlay provision. This bill definitely needs some changes.