Capitol View for October 21

Good morning, and happy Thursday to everyone who hasn’t taken off for MEA weekend.

President Joe Biden’s administration moved Wednesday to reimpose a 20-year ban on copper-nickel mining on public lands in the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota. The Obama administration had done the same thing, but its action was reversed by the Trump administration. MPR’s Dan Kraker on what it means : The U.S. Forest Service filed an application for what’s known as a mineral withdrawal with the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the mineral rights underneath the roughly 350 square miles of public lands in the watershed of the Boundary Waters that the ban would cover. The process begins with a study of the potential environmental and socio-economic impacts of copper-nickel mining in the area, which includes a two-year freeze on mining-related activity while the review is taking place. After that study is complete, Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland would then decide whether to order the 20-year withdrawal.

Political reaction fell generally along party lines. Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber blasted the decision, saying President Biden is putting politics over science. “Nearly a year ago, candidate Joe Biden pledged to support Minnesota’s miners in their mission to obtain good-paying mining jobs, bring economic prosperity to a region that desperately needs it, and secure America’s critical mineral supply chain. Joe Biden has officially failed to uphold this promise,” Stauber said. DFL Sen. Tina Smith welcomed the move. “I am very pleased that the study of the safety of copper-nickel mining in the BWCAW watershed will be completed because we need it to be thorough, complete and unbiased,” Smith said. “Mining is an important tradition in Northeast Minnesota and an ongoing source of good jobs. At the same time, the BWCAW is fragile and most Minnesotans understand that we can’t afford to be wrong about its protection. This study will help us get the safety of mining in the BWCAW watershed right.” Dan Kraker has more reaction here.

From Tim Pugmire: A working group of Minnesota lawmakers and commissioners made another unsuccessful attempt Wednesday to reach an agreement on pandemic frontline worker pay. House and Senate members still can’t agree on how to divide up $250 million. House Democrats want payments of $375 going to workers in many sectors. Senate Republicans want payments of $1,200 going to a much smaller number of workers. Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Roslyn Robertson told the group her agency cannot make any more progress without a deal. “We have to make decisions on what are the specific criteria within even the industries that will be considered,” Robertson said. So, the bottom line is, until we have those specifics we have done as much as we can to bring it to this point.” Robertson said payments this calendar year are no longer possible. Sen. Karin Housley, R-Stillwater, tried unsuccessfully to advance both the competing proposals out of the working group as draft bills. “We can’t keep dragging this on,” Housley said. “So, I think it’s time that we just pass our two proposals onto the Legislature, have them do the work and have the governor call a special session and let’s get this money out to those folks as soon as we can.” DFL House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler said he’s not ready to throw in the towel and called for another meeting next week to consider any potential compromises.

Lawyers representing more than 300 Minnesota health care employees dropped a lawsuit this week over workplace vaccine mandates. From MPR’s Matt Sepic: The plaintiffs who included doctors, nurses, and other medical staff sued around 20 Minnesota health care providers in federal court late last month. Many argued that vaccine mandates violate their religious beliefs. Judge Nancy Brasel denied the employees' request to block the requirements while the case moved forward. And she said the plaintiffs — who sued under pseudonyms — would have to reveal their names to the defense. Attorney Greg Erickson represents the health care workers. They dropped the litigation largely because just one plaintiff had been laid off for refusing to take the shots, he said. "We've got to wait until we've got a critical mass of terminations or layoffs until we can start it up again," Erickson said, adding that employers began granting vaccine exemptions soon after he filed the lawsuit.

From the Pioneer Press:Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher is planning to open a new charter school next year that aims to steer students toward careers in public service. The nonprofit School of Leadership for Public Service will be located in Ramsey County and open for the 2022-23 school year with students in grades six through 10, according to a news release issued Wednesday afternoon on behalf of the school.

Washington update from NPR: Senate Democrats' most forceful and perhaps last push for major voting rights legislation this year was blocked by a Republican filibuster on Wednesday afternoon. The procedural vote to move forward with the Freedom to Vote Act failed despite Democrats' effort to craft a compromise bill led in part by Sen. Joe Manchin. The West Virginia Democrat had hoped to get enough GOP votes to overcome a filibuster, but in the end no Republicans voted to advance the legislation. The bill would have, among other things, established Election Day as a national holiday, set national minimum standards for early voting and voting by mail, and created new requirements for groups not currently required to disclose their financial donors. It also included standards for states that require voter identification, something that was a priority of Manchin. The failed procedural vote on Wednesday is likely to thrust lawmakers into another high-profile fight over whether to change Senate rules to abolish the legislative filibuster, or to carve out an exception for voting rights legislation.