Mining and politics intersected in the Minnesota State Senate earlier this week, as senators narrowly passed an amendment that pulled state funding from the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.
An amendment that removed $1.25 million in state environmental trust fund money for the group passed 34-29, largely on party lines, although Democrat John Hoffman of St. Paul crossed party lines to vote in favor of pulling the funding.
State Sen. Grant Hauschild (D-Hermantown) did not vote on the amendment.
Lawmakers voted to pull the state funding, which was intended for environmental education and to fund trips for youth into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, over a video that circulated online.
In the video, a call to action to oppose proposed copper- nickel mining projects, the environmental advocacy organization posted the state trust fund logo.
“This isn’t supposed to be money for politics,” said State Sen. Jason Rarick (R-Pine City). “There are ways to get kids out into nature, into the wilderness, that shouldn’t cost as much and sure shouldn’t be done by groups with political agendas.”
The amendment was introduced by State Sen. Keri Heintzeman (R-Nisswa) who said “the people of Minnesota were promised” that the trust fund would enhance environmental activities and not “political activism and anti-mining campaigns.”
The amendment resulted in several minutes of back-and-forth debate on the Senate floor, and State Sen. Jennifer McEwen rose to the defense of the Friends of the Boundary Waters.
McEwen said the posting of the logo was “a mistake” that was corrected within hours and resulted in a formal apology,.
“I think a lot of the people in this room have made mistakes and gone back and deleted a post,” said McEwen.
McEwen cited the benefits of the program, which include taking as many as 6,000 students into the BWCAW over the years it has been state funded, as well as classroom education.
Heintzeman disputed the numbers and pointed to a document from the Friends showed only 200 students would go on a trip from the $1.25 million in state funds.
“This is a nonprofit organization that brings hundreds of students into the wilderness every year,” said McEwen, citing Ely as one of the schools. “They bring a lot of economic activity into northeastern Minnesota through these trips themselves, and create experiences for these people that help them understand. They want to come back there.”
McEwen added that the organization “offers opportunities for kids across the state to go on canoe trips into the wilderness at little to no cost. They make the outdoors more accessible for all Minnesota students by removing these financial barriers.”
State Sen. Foung Hawj (D-St. Paul) added “what happened here is somebody made the slightest mistake on a video that was up on social media and was taken down. They have not violated any rules or any state law that we have. From time-to-time some nonprofits make simple errors.”
Republicans weren’t buying the DFL argument sand Heintzeman called the video “a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars.” She noted the request for $1.2 million in state funds amounts to about 40 percent of the group’s total budget.
“To me it seems like most of what they do is political,” said Heintzeman.
State Rep. Rob Farnsworth (R-Hibbing) honed in on the political aspects of the organization.
“Most of what they do is political,” he said. “They lobby at the legislature. They have people who lobby full time. They organize people to go to DFL caucuses. This is revealing their true colors.”
McEwen countered that the politics play both ways, charging that the kerfuffle is entirely linked to the Friends of the Boundary Waters’ opposition to the Twin Metals Minnesota copper-nickel project.
McEwen charged that Antofagasta, the parent company of Twin Metals Minnesota “reached its hands into the capitol and is going to make sure that any organization that is involved with trying to blow the whistle will be punished in one way or another.”
