More from Minnesota Brown

Floods are bad, mmm-kay

I promise: Last bonding bill post for the week.

I forgot to mention an item yesterday. The Canisteo Mine Pit is still perched like a big, wet mountain lion over the town of Bovey on the Western Mesabi Range. However, Gov. Pawlenty did not include mitigating the problem in the bonding bill. I spoke with Tom Anzelc and he believes they'll need $4 million to drain the water elsewhere. There is $15 million for flood mitigation in Pawlenty's bonding bill, so Range can hope to get some of that along with other funding to fix the problem. Between the DNR, Mineland Reclamation and bonding, this must get done this year. I don't know that an Iron Range town has ever been destroyed by a flood and 2008 seems a rather stupid time to break that streak.

-to read more from Aaron Brown, see his blog.