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A Republican legislator’s bill proposing to expand the Taconite Assistance Area (TAA ) is drawing fire from Democratic Farmer-Labor legislators Sen. Grant Hauschild and Rep. Dave Lislegard.
A bill introduced by Sen. Jason Rarick, R-Pine City would add the Cromwell- Wright, Moose Lake and Willow River school districts to the TAA geographic area served by the Eveleth-based Minnesota Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation.
The school districts would only be added to the TAA if Talon Metals begins copper- nickel-cobalt mining within Carlton County where the schools districts are located, Rarick said.
Rarick wants a portion of tax revenue produced by any Talon Metals mining within Carlton County to go to the school districts.
“With the new Talon Metals mine coming online, we have a number of schools within that area,” Rarick said. “We’re looking to get the mining taxes generated by that mine to the schools.”
Actual mining by Talon Metals is not yet taking place. Talon Metals’ proposed copper- nickel-cobalt mine near Tamarack is currently in the environmental review process.
Talon Metals has some mineral leases within Carlton County, but the mine plan that’s been submitted to regulatory agencies is entirely within Aitkin County, Todd Malan, Talon Metals Chief External Affairs Officer and Head of Climate Strategy said.
Hauschild, of Hermantown, and Lislegard, of Aurora, blasted Rarick’s bill, calling it an effort to come after mining tax dollars and a “robber baron proposal to steal our communities money.”
“I think we need to make sure we’re keeping Iron Range taxes on the Iron Range,” Hauschild said by telephone. “That’s the goal and I think that’s what (the late Rep. Tom) Rukavina and (the late) Senator Doug Johnson were concerned about.”
Lislegard in a statement said he’s spent his entire career as an elected official fighting for mining and local communities on the Iron Range.
Rarick’s proposal is a direct threat to the region and “we need every community member, local elected leader, and mining stakeholder to call this out for what it is,” Lislegard said.
“While I respect a legislator fighting for their district, it will never be at the expense of the Iron Range,” Lislegard said.
Ida Rukavina, Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation commissioner is also concerned.
“The taconite production tax is paid by mining companies in lieu of property tax,” Rukavina said in a statement. “The taconite production tax is legislatively distributed to local governments, schools and counties where a taconite concentrating plant or where taconite is mined or where there is an electric generating plant serving a taconite company. This proposed legislation is premature and will negatively impact our agency and also the cities, counties and school districts presently located in the Taconite Assistance Area. This legislation would expand the TAA to three school districts that currently do not have mining. The people and communities most impacted by mining should continue to receive the proceeds from the taconite production tax.” The production tax is paid by northeastern Minnesota taconite mining companies in lieu of property taxes.
Iron Range legislators say the taconite tax money should remain within the geographic area where it’s generated.
And there’s another hitch. As written, language in Rarick’s bill could automatically include school districts in Carlton County, or potentially other districts in adjacent counties to the existing TAA if the county is adjacent to a school district already within the TAA, according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue Mineral Tax Office. That language could potentially expand the TAA to several other counties.
Iron Range Republican legislators say the entire controversy could have been avoided.
“I don’t support Rarick’s bill because it’s premature,” Sen. Rob Farnsworth, R-Hibbing said. “It’s a discussion the Range delegation needs to have if in the future they have mining there.” Rep. Spencer Igo, R-Wabana Township, said Rarick’s bill should have been discussed with the Iron Range political delegation before introduction.
“I think the thing is unfortunately the legislation introduced hasn’t been talked over,” Igo said. “We can use this experience that having conversations are important. Now that we are aware of it, we’re having conversations about not only how to protect our region, but to understand what’s going on.”
Rep. Roger Skraba, R-Ely, said the bill should have been aired with the Iron Range delegation before introduction.
“Families should never fight in public,” Skraba said. “That was made clear from the leadership before us. For me, it’s like what he was doing he thought was innocuous. But it would be nice if they ran it past the delegation.”
Meanwhile, language included in the 2023 state Omnibus tax bill would add the McGregor Public School District to the TAA if Talon Metals begins mining in the Tamarack area in Aitkin County, according to the mineral tax office.
The McGregor School District is in Aitkin County.
Lislegard, chair of the House Property Taxes Division, said he also carried language in the 2023 session that would direct tax revenue from the proposed NewRange Copper Nickel project near Hoyt Lakes to the communities of Aurora, Babbitt, Biwabik, Embarrass, and Hoyt Lakes as communities most devastated by the 2001 closure of LTV Steel Mining Company.
According to the Department of Revenue, language would also direct a portion of tax revenue from Talon Metals, NewRange Copper Nickel or Twin Metals, to the East Range communities.
Rarick said the Carlton County school districts approached him about introducing the bill.
“We used the same language that Lislegard used last year for Aitkin and Mc-Gregor,” Rarick said. “I never anticipated this problem because our school districts asked to have it done the same way.”
However, the Rarick legislation has drawn plenty of attention from members of the Iron Range political delegation and media.
Becoming part of the TAA would mean communities, businesses, non-profits, and schools within the bill’s Carlton County school district borders would become eligible for IRRRB loan and grant programs.
Rarick’s bill, for now, may be moot. Rarick’s bill won’t get a hearing, the Iron Range area legislators say.
A “raid” on IRRRB funds generated from taconite mining in northeastern Minnesota, has for decades been a concern of board members and the Eveleth-based state of Minnesota economic development agency.
As with Taconite Production Taxes, a portion of copper-nickel- cobalt and platinum group minerals taxes would go to Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation for distribution across the entire Taconite Assistance Area—not just to specific communities or school districts.
Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation’s 13,000 square mile service area is defined by school district boundaries.
Rarick said his intention is not to take any money from the Iron Range.
“This is not going to take any money from the Iron Range,” Rarick said. “This is not intended to raid mining. This is trying to do exactly what Lislegard did. I’m not doing anything radically different. My school districts came to me and said, “Hey, we would like the same thing’.”
Rarick said inclusion of the Barnum School District was missed in the bill’s original language and would need to be added.
Rarick said meetings need to be held to verify the bill’s language and determine next steps in the process.
“I never anticipated this problem,” Rarick said. “I just wanted to make sure we started having the discussions.”
There are no senate co-authors on the bill and no House of Representatives companion to the bill.
