As the fall comes new issues and old ones face our county. At a recent board workshop attendees asked what the board was doing to protect the interests of the people of St. Louis County with regard to mining in the Duluth Complex. Commissioner Forsman left the room in fury that the question would even be asked. What do people think - should the people of our region know more about the proposed mining? Who are the mining companies? Where will they be exploring, where will they mine? What will the impact to the land and water be? The Duluth Complex is huge - it runs from Canada to south of Duluth. It crosses federal and state and private surface lands. What is the impact on land owners? We've heard that the federal land owner will now allow one proposed mine to go forward as the terms of their deed forbid an open pit strip mine. The land has to be "exchanged" meaning different owners for the land with the federal land owner (the forest service) getting different land instead. How does this work when the owner is a private citizen? A county? Our state? Our county needs to explain how it will manage the planned mining - what expectations it sees for housing and property values.