VIRGINIA — The Minnesota Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation hosted the second annual State of the Range on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
About 350 Rangers gathered at the Iron Trail Motors Event Center in Virginia to hear updates on the IRRR, mining and tourism.
"Resilient" may be the best word to summarize the tone of the event, as speakers simultaneously celebrated successes, acknowledged upcoming challenges and shared hopes for the future.
In his address, IRRR Board Chair Republican state Sen. Robert Farnsworth of Hibbing said he’s praying for laid-off miners to return to work and new mines to open. Hundreds of Cleveland Cliffs miners have been without work for months.
“I think we can all agree there are uncertain times, and we need as much help as we can get,” Farnsworth said. “But the message is: Better times are ahead on the Iron Range.”
The sense of unity is particularly illustrative of the state of the region, and United Steelworkers District 11 staff representative John Arbogast commented on the recent collaboration around the sulfate issue, a topic multiple speakers expressed frustration about.
“We always don’t get along, especially next summer — it's contract time,” he joked. “So, we’ll play nice ‘til next summer, and then we’ll hate [the companies] for a while. But we’ll get through it.”
Rangers have mixed feelings about the role tourism should play in the region. But Discover the Range Executive Director Beth Pierce argued for its importance.
“I’m not suggesting that tourism replace any part of our economy in any way,” she said. “What I am suggesting is our tourism product — our trails, our history, our people — are already helping us attract new investment and new residents.”
IRRR staff went over the myriad of projects the agency has funded in the last year, including an accessible playground at Lincoln Elementary in Hibbing and a new spec building in the Aurora Industrial Park.
But Commissioner Ida Rukavina also pointed out that a downturn in mining would mean a decrease in IRRR funds. The agency is primarily funded through taconite taxes.
Iron mining, of course, got a lot of focus, but speakers also highlighted the potential for copper-nickel and manganese mining and helium and hydrogen extraction.
“Just like the time period following World War II, I believe that similar innovation is underway now,” Rukavina said. “ ... [Hydrogen] could fuel energy and steelmaking in the future, perhaps even launching an industrial revolution for the Iron Range.”
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