Jason Metsa shakes hands with Lawrence Landherr at a gathering held at the Cook County Whole Foods Co-op where Metsa, who is running for Congress in the 8th District, listened to the concerns of local people.
What are the concerns of people living in Cook County that government can help alleviate or solve? Jason Metsa, 37, wants to know.
A three-term Minnesota House representative, Jason Metsa (DFL) District: 6B, started his 12-day 12-city community conversations tour in Grand Marais Saturday morning, June 2, at the Cook County Co-op. He officially filed as a candidate for the Minnesota 8th District congressional seat on May 22.
Meeting for almost two hours with the third generation Iron Ranger were about a dozen community members who, almost to a person, told him they were adamantly opposed to copper/nickel mining that exposes sulfide-rich ore to the air and wind. Once exposed to the elements, sulfide can leach into the ground water and turn into sulfuric acid, which poisons waterways, killing vegetation, fish, and harming everything in its path.
Other issues discussed dealt with a shortage of affordable housing in the county, jobs that don’t pay living wages, unaffordable health care, climate change, clean energy, clean water, logging/forests, opioid crisis, campaign finance reform, and education.
Metsa is seeking to replace U.S. Congressman Rick Nolan as the representative of the Eighth District, but he has several challengers from the DFL party and Republican Pete Stauber is waiting to face Metsa or one of the other DFL candidates in the primary election.
Undeterred by the competition, Metsa, who is the grandson of the late Elder Metsa, mayor of Virginia, says his opponents won’t out work him.
After hearing people express concerns and ask questions, Metsa took some time to give some answers before heading to Two Harbors, his next stop of the day.
On the issue of higher education, Metsa said, “A four year education should be free.” As a young man Jason and a couple of his friends ran a painting company and did several jobs for the military. “I have seen $4,000 door latches. We could double our education budget without hurting the military by ending their frivolous spending.”
Health care, said Metsa, should be affordable to all and paid family leave should be available to make sure families can take care of themselves in times of trouble. “If elected to Congress, I will fight for health care families can afford, work that pays what it is worth, and level the playing field for Minnesota families.”
As a legislator Jason said he fought for unemployment benefits for laid off steel workers, fought against illegal steel dumping, fought for and succeeded in raising the state’s starting minimum wage, and if elected, will fight for jobs that pay a livable wage, adding he knows what it is like to face tough economic times.
To illustrate his point, Jason said he bought a house at the high end of the market right before the housing market crash of December 30, 2008, and he also lost his painting business due to nonpayment from a contractor and a downturn in the economy.
Clean energy leads to good paying jobs, said Metsa, adding that 5,000 jobs were created in the state through “Made in Minnesota Solar.” He backs a statewide recycling plan, and 100 jobs will be added to a plant that makes equipment for solar panels in Mountain Iron because of legislation he supported.
Wind power may also be a good option for producing power, noted Metsa, who told a story about his former boss, Tom Rukavina’s successful fight to put wind turbines on iron mining facilities on the Iron Range. In the future, going high into the upper altitudes of earth’s atmosphere with technology now in development may produce a lot more wind energy, he said.
As far as the state’s forests, Jason said there were many jobs that could be gained from forest products other than just from logging.
Metsa said he was a strong advocate for miners, not necessarily the companies they work for. If those companies/corporations didn’t follow the rules laid out for best mining practices, he said he would do everything he could to make them accountable.
On the hot topic surrounding sulfide mining, Metsa said a test pilot mine in Babbitt had found a way to mitigate the danger of sulfide in the left over rock from copper/nickel mining.
“There is zero sulfide in the tailings. It is a fascinating bit of technology,” he said, adding the waste product could be sold as fertilizer to farmers.
As he was leaving Jason thanked the people who attended the listening session. He promised to be in touch as his staff scurried him along. He was running behind schedule for his Two Harbors stop, his yellow notebook would soon be filling with more notes, more concerns, more reasons, he said, for him to keep his campaign going.
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