Tiffany highlites mining policy

Republican congressman warns against relying on Russia, China

Seventh District Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) on Thursday told a group of around 100 people at a listening session in Weston that Americans “had a choice to make” in whether to allow mining in Wisconsin’s mineralrich northern tier or rely on despotic countries, including Russia and China, for supplies of the world’s strategic metals, including copper.

Tiffany, who sits on the House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Committee, told constituents that a hybrid electric car, such as a Prius, contains 64 pounds copper and all kinds of other valuable minerals.

He said Upper Midwest residents would soon need to decide whether to permit mining companies to find copper, gold, silver, nickel and cobalt in northern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan or rely on other countries for these vital materials. He said these three states contained “one of the greatest deposits” of minerals used in modern, 21st century society.

“That is a choice we as Americans will have to make,” Tiffany said.

Tiffany, who as a state senator strongly supported an ultimately unpursued Gogebic taconite mine in Bayfi eld and Iron counties, said relying on other countries such as China, will leave the United States in a “weakened position.” Tiffany noted that the United States military depends on strategic minerals for weapons. He claimed China has a “stranglehold” on the world supply of many minerals.

Tiffany said Democrats in Congress repeatedly have sought to limit mining in the United States.

On a related theme, Tiffany said he supported development of fossil fuel infrastructure, such as oil and natural gas pipelines, and said reliance on imported oil demonstrated “weakness in America” and led to war, including the current conflict in Ukraine.

Tiffany criticized President Joe Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have sent tar sands crude oil from Alberta to refineries in Illinois. The congressman argued that higher gasoline prices trace back to canceling the pipeline, but this is a controversial view. Industry analysts quoted by fact-checking organization Politi-Fact say higher gas prices are the result of lag in oil production, not a bottleneck in pipeline capacity.

Tiffany also criticized Michigan Gov. Gretschen Whitmer for canceling Enbridge’s Line 5 easement across the Straits of Mackinac to pipe petroleum over environmental concerns. He said he supported Enbridge’s plan to bury Line 5 in order to make it safer than the current, decades-old pipeline which recently was damaged by a boat anchor.

The listening session was generally a polite exchange between Tiffany and residents, but there was a heated exchange between the congressman and John Durham, Mosinee, a former county board member.

Durham asked Tiffany to detail how he was “fighting against a radical socialist agenda.” He said traditional governmental services, such as public schools and highways, could be considered “socialism” under some people’s definitions.

“Who are these radical socialists?” Durham asked. “What is their agenda?”

Tiffany said the socialists were Reps. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Presley and Rashida Talib, all left wing Democrats who have been dubbed members of “the squad.” He said Sen. Bernie Sanders, too, was a socialist.

Tiffany’s remarks, again, were controversial. Each of these leftist politicians refer to themselves as “democratic socialists” and not “socialists.”

Tiffany said he supported balanced budget legislation, reduced federal spending and tighter fiscal policy. He said “radical,” uncontrolled spending by both Democrats and Republicans created today’s inflation. He noted that the German National Socialist Party in the 1930’s came to power because of runaway inflation because “the printing presses were running.” That party is otherwise known as the Nazis.

Tiffany said he objected to “radical” policies that allowed men who declare as female to compete in women’s sports. He said these policies violate Title 9, a federal policy that mandates equal opportunity for males and females in school sports, and were an insult to his three daughters who competed in high school athletics. He said Supreme Court Justice nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s response that she could not define what a woman was was itself “radical.”

Tiffany also said he objected to “radical” policies in the American Recovery Plan that paid off 120 percent of debt for disadvantaged farmers, including black farmers. He said it was wrong to give out federal ag subsidies based on skin color.

“That’s 1800’s type stuff,” he said.

The payments, which were later halted by a federal judge, were meant to redress decades of documented USDA discrimination against black farmers.

Tiffany launched into a history of the Republican party as one committed to “all men being equal” and that the nation “had a long history of wiping out discrimination and segregation.” He said the United States was “not perfect” but dedicated to a “more perfect union.”

“We’ve made huge strides since the 1800’s” he said. “Doing something like this, sends our country back…when your government puts in discriminatory programs like that.”

Durham questioned Tiffany’s version of racial history in the United States.

“That’s not factual, Mr. Tiffany,” he said.

In other discussion:

_ Bruce Grau, Wausau, asked what the federal government could do about recent detections of PFAS in municipal drinking water. Tiffany said the federal government could fund research into PFAS.

_ Tiffany was asked about continuing COVID-19 mask mandates on commercial aircraft. The congressman said the air filtration systems on commercial jets are “second to none” and said he saw no need for masks. He said he respected people’s choice to wear masks even if it was only a “feel good thing.”

He said that the Center for Disease Control now admits that cloth masks are “ineffective.”

The statement is controversial. A CDC website says, in fact, that cloth masks reduce a COVID-19 infection by 56 percent but are the least effective compared with other styles of masks, including N-95 masks.

_ Tiffany said he opposed the increased use of executive orders by the President in both Democratic and Republican administrations. The congressman said he was one of 17 House of Representatives members to vote against a Russian oil embargo because it would have given further powers to the executive branch. “We need a coequal branch of government,” he said.

A DISAGREE-MENTOVERHISTORYJohnDurham,Mosinee, disagreed with Rep. Tom Tiffany’s version of U.S. racial history during Thursday’s listening session in Weston.