GOP on Range

New forms of mining on Minnesota’s Iron Range, with all Democratic representation, received support from a Republican. “The amount of potential up there ... is similar to what North Dakota has with oil,” declared Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria.

Revenue western North Dakota’s oil wells are bringing in allow that state to both lower taxes and spend more money, nearly the only state in the country doing that. North Dakota only trails Texas in oil production and is the country’s fastest-growing state.

Ingebrigtsen said Iron Range lawmakers need to work harder to overcome what he called environmentalist roadblocks to the mines that would produce nickel, copper and other valuable materials.

Schools statewide would be among the biggest beneficiaries of increased tax revenue from new mines, the senator said. “Those folks have third- and fourth-generation miners sitting up there unemployed,” Ingebrigtsen said. “They need something up there.”

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