President Jim Kosmo brought the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. with excitement that this relentless winter season appears to be officially behind us! 
 

Jerry Faletti led Rotarians in a cappella rendition of America the BeautifulCarol Bufton provided our invocation today, her inspirational words reminding us that by adhering to our motto “service about self” we will continue to help build good will and peace in the world.   Trixie Goldberg introduced visiting Rotarians and guests, including a Rotarian from Los Angeles, a representative of the Friends of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, a colleague of Mark Henneman from Mairs and Power and a few regular guests who we look forward to joining our club.  Today’s Greeters were Mary Britts and Ed Coleman.

Jay Pfaender introduced next week’s featured speakers, Beth Pinkney, Executive Director of the National Senior Games, which will be held in the Twin Cities in 2015, along with Co-chairs of the games, Dave Mona, founder and recently retired chairman of the public relations firm Weber Shandwick and Susan Adams Loyd, President & General Manager at Clear Channel Outdoor -Minneapolis/St. Paul Division.  The Games are a 19-sport, biennial national championship for men and women 50 and over.  It is the largest multi-sport event in the world for senior athletes.

Bo Aylin updated the club on this year’s Feed My Starving Children meal packing event.  Set-up at Summit Brewing is April 25th and 18 volunteers are needed to kick the event off.  With a goal of packing 125,000 meals, there are 2-hour volunteer shifts on both Saturday, April 26th and Sunday, April 27th that need to be filled, with opportunities from noon to 2 p.m. and 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. both days, as well as volunteers needed for tear down after the last shift on Sunday.  Sign-up online individually or in groups, we need and welcome the support! 

Ed Coleman introduced Lindsay Weir of the Minnesota Wild, who updated the group on the Thursday, April 10th game against the St. Louis Blues.  Seats for this Rotary Wild Night were upgraded to club level.  Tickets are $65 each with a portion of each going to our Foundation.  Lindsay also reminded the group that even if you can’t attend the game, you can purchase tickets and donate them back to the Wild, who will distribute them to several worthy organizations, such as Gillette Children’s Hospital and the Wounded Warrior Project.
 

Joe Kovarik, presented an outline of the May 13th Values Day at the Prom Center in Oakdale.  Table leader/discussion facilitators are needed for the morning workshop from 9 – noon and will be provided with a brief training before the session begins.  Is America facing a values crisis?  This will be the focus of conversation.  For additional information or to sign up as a table leader, please contact Joe or the Rotary office. 

Linda Mulhern, introduced one of our outbound Youth Exchange students, John Xiong, a junior at Harding High School.  Born in the US, John’s parents came to Minnesota from Laos in 1991.  He’s grateful to Rotary for this great opportunity and is looking forward to studying abroad in Taiwan and will use his time there to “help him discover his Asian roots.”  We look forward to welcoming him home from this adventure. 

Kathleen Riley collected Happy Dollars and Mindee Kastelic introduced today’s program speaker, Brad Moore, Executive Vice President, Environmental and Governmental Affairs for PolyMet Mining. 

Mr. Moore opened his presentation with his personal history, being born on the Iron Range in Virginia, MN, of going to college at St. Olaf on a scholarship from the Whiteside Foundation, a family who made their fortune in the mining industry, as well as receiving a fellowship made possible from another Minnesotan, Judge Gerald Heaney.  He worked for the DNR for many years before joining PolyMet, a publicly-traded, Minnesota based organization.   Brad expressed his personal interests and activities within Minnesota’s natural environment and talked of his commitment and concerns that we have environmentally sound policies that support the Iron Range, and continue the economic benefits of mining that span many generations.

PolyMet is the only company currently undergoing state/federal review related to mining in the Lake Superior Watershed.  The footprint of the proposed site is small relative to other mining pits in the area.  The site is in an already approved mining district and has infrastructure already in place, considered a brownfield vs. a Greenfield site.  The environmental impact statement that PolyMet has completed is more than 2,000 pages long and is designed to help agency leaders and the public make informed decisions about the proposed mining operation.  The metals mined are essential to a modern and green lifestyle.  (See slide presentation).  The estimated economic impact on St. Louis County and the state is estimated at $515 million annually in wages and benefits and will provide another $60 million in state, local and federal tax revenue.

As Brad described, it’s a long road to get permitted, for construction to begin, followed by production, which they hope to be in 2015/16.  The United States Environmental Protection Agency recently stated about the project:   "We appreciate the extensive improvements to the project and the clarity and completeness of the environmental review that are reflected in the [supplemental draft environmental impact statement]."  Key components of the plan include: protecting water resources, reclamation and financial assurances, wetland mitigation, land exchange and public involvement.

It was noted that the process between PolyMet, agencies and publics involved has been very diplomatic, civil and respectful.  Brad answered several questions from the floor including those surrounding environmental challenges, which include water quality (drinking and recreation) ecological impacts and long term treatment, air quality concerns of mercury, affects on tourism, a leading industry in the BWCA annually, what happens if something goes wrong?  A question came up about recycling of metals and while Brad suggests we all can do more to recycle, demand for metals is so high that mining new metal is the only way to keep up.

President Jim thanked all for their attendance and closed with a recitation of the 4-Way Test, which considers the following questions in respect to thinking, saying or doing:

· Is it the truth?

· Is it fair to all concerned?

· Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

· Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

ImageBeth Naughton, Scribe