BWCA Land Exchange: Where are the maps?

By a bipartisan vote, the House passed H.R. 5544, the Minnesota Education Investment and Employment Act. Authored by U.S. Representative Chip Cravaack (MN), this legislation would end a 34-year dilemma by federally enacting the bipartisan state plan passed by the Minnesota Legislature and signed by the Governor. H.R. 5544 now awaits action in the Senate.

"H.R. 5544 is the solution to exchanging 86,000 acres of federal lands to earn revenue for Minnesota's School Trust Fund. This will allow the opportunity for revenue to be provided to public school children. In this time of dwindling resources, this is a positive action," said Dr. Jim Hess, Superintendent of Bemidji Area Schools.

Previously, On March 22nd of this year, an overwhelming majority of Democrats and Republicans in the State Senate passed Senate File 1750 by a vote of 53-11. Then, on April 3rd, the Minnesota House of Representatives followed suit, passing the bipartisan bill by 90-41 before being signed into law.

"This legislation will produce good paying jobs while providing the revenue obligated to students and our teachers in the classroom. I promised Minnesotans I would do my best to see this bill through the House, and while we have never have been closer to resolving this 34-year problem than we are now, much work still remains," said Rep. Cravaack.

Today, approximately 86,000 acres of inaccessible state-owned school trust lands remain locked within the borders of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Due to their location in a federal wilderness area, these school trust lands cannot be managed to generate Minnesota public education funding and job growth.

"These School Trust Lands belong to Minnesota students, and right now we could really use the help in the classroom," said Amy Box, a fourth grade teacher at King Elementary School in Deer River.

Under Minnesota law, school trust lands are required to produce maximum revenue for public education. Importantly, H.R. 5544 would exchange the state-owned land located within the BWCAW to the federal government in exchange for giving Minnesota an equal amount federal land outside of the BWCAW.

Previously, Rep. Cravaack passed a 'Buy America' steel amendment to ensure that American-made steel is used for federal transportation construction projects. In addition, he passed an amendment to require that the federal environmental permitting process for current projects, such as PolyMet, is completed within thirty months. Currently, duplication at the state and federal level can cause delays upwards of ten years.

Representative Cravaack serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee -- where he is Vice Chair of the Aviation Subcommittee -- the Homeland Security Committee, and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. The 8th Congressional District covers 18 counties in Northeast Minnesota.

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