BNB Note:
While politics is often analyzed from the outside, BNB’s Guest Editorial Series aims to flip that perspective by highlighting the firsthand experiences of those working inside the political and policy arena. This includes lawmakers crafting and ushering legislation, candidates navigating the campaign trail, career civil servants implementing public programs, and political operatives shaping strategy behind the scenes.
The goal is not to litigate every claim or endorse every position, but to provide readers with direct insight into how decisions are made, how institutions function, and how power operates in practice.
Below, is a guest editorial from Phill Drobnick. Drobnick is an Iron Range native, community leader, and currently serves as USA Curling’s Director of Coaching and Competitions. A four-time Olympic coach, Drobnick helped lead the U.S. men’s curling team to its historic gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
I’ve spent enough time around competition to know something simple: when you’re losing, you don’t blame the scoreboard. You figure out what you’re doing wrong. Minnesota Democrats should take that lesson to heart when it comes to the Iron Range.
For generations, working families across northeastern Minnesota were the backbone of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. Miners, union members, teachers and small-business owners believed Democrats understood that a good job could hold together a family, a school and an entire town.
Many of those voters no longer believe that.
The question Democrats in Minneapolis and St. Paul should be asking isn’t, “What happened to the Iron Range?” It’s, “Why did people who voted for us for generations stop believing we were listening?”
This year offers an opportunity to change that.
The Range is telling us what it needs. Communities want good paying jobs. They want strong unions. They want schools with enough students and resources to thrive. They want young people to have a reason to stay rather than leave home looking for opportunity somewhere else.
Mining remains part of that equation. Iron Range communities know mining employment is directly connected to local businesses, municipal services and public schools. Organized labor has also made clear that new mineral development can mean family-supporting union careers.
That doesn’t mean abandoning environmental protection. It means trusting science.
Minnesota can protect its water, forests and outdoor heritage while giving proposed mining projects a fair, rigorous scientific review. A permit is not a blank check. If a project cannot meet tough environmental standards, it shouldn’t be built. But if engineers, scientists and regulators determine that a mine can operate responsibly, Democrats should be willing to say yes.
That used to be a pretty Democratic idea: trust science, protect workers and build things in America.
There are legitimate environmental concerns surrounding copper-nickel mining, and they deserve serious consideration. But Minnesota also has some of the strongest environmental standards and most experienced regulators in the country. If our state’s regulators, applying those rigorous standards, determine that a project can be developed safely and responsibly, then we as Democrats should trust the science, trust the scientists and respect their conclusions.
And that brings me to Governor Walz’s executive order regarding mining in the Boundary Waters watershed. I strongly oppose using executive authority in this way. Decisions this consequential should be made through Minnesota’s established legislative, scientific and regulatory processes not by executive order.
We also shouldn’t stop at the science. Our review process will only protect Minnesota if the standards that come out of that process are enforceable. A rigorous review means little if the requirements attached to a permit cannot be effectively monitored and enforced.
Our review process is only as valuable as the enforcement that follows.
I understand that even a low-probability failure could result in extraordinarily high consequences for the Boundary Waters watershed. That is precisely why the state should focus on enforcing rigorous standards and preparing for the worst-case scenario. That includes strong financial assurance requirements sufficient to address cleanup or remediation if the worst were ever to happen. We can acknowledge the potentially devastating consequences of a failure without abandoning a fair, science-based process.
Simply telling communities that depend on natural-resource jobs what they cannot do is not an economic strategy. Democrats have an opening this year to rebuild a coalition that once connected Minneapolis, Duluth, the Iron Range and working people across Minnesota.
Start by listening. Stand with organized labor. Invest in rural schools. Fight for good jobs. Demand world-class environmental standards. Make those standards enforceable. Hold projects accountable after permits are issued. And trust science enough to follow it wherever it leads.
The Iron Range hasn’t stopped caring about working families. Democrats need to show the Iron Range that they haven’t either.