Trump Administration to Grant Mining Leases That Will Benefit Landlord of Ivanka Trump

[sunonmars]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-to-grant-mining-leases-that-will-benefit-landlord-of-presidents-daughter-ivanka-trump-1513989674

The Trump administration said Friday it will renew mining leases to extract copper and nickel adjacent to a Minnesota wilderness area, reversing an Obama administration decision and giving a victory to a Chilean billionaire who is renting a mansion to the family of the president’s elder daughter.

The Democratic administration of former President Barack Obama in its waning days blocked a plan by a company controlled by the family of Andrónico Luksic to build a giant copper-and-nickel mine adjacent to a Minnesota wilderness area, citing environmental concerns.

In a 19-page opinion made public Friday, ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend, Daniel Jorjani, the principal deputy solicitor of the Department of Interior, said Mr. Obama’s administration acted “improperly” in not renewing two key leases for the mine adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a 1.1 million-acre tract of lakes and forest first protected by the government in 1926.

The announcement continues a rollback by President Donald Trump’s administration of Obama-era environmental decisions. Mr. Trump, a Republican, ran on a pro-business platform, promising to promote jobs and lessen what he called burdensome regulations on industry.

Mr. Trump’s elder daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner —both top White House advisers—are paying $15,000 a month to rent their six-bedroom home in the nation’s capital from Mr. Luksic. The Chilean billionaire bought the house just after the November 2016 election for $5.5 million.

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Could not be anymore blatantly obvious of the corruption here.

[Irish_Dem]

1. They make no pretense at all of propriety, they are brazen in their corruption and greed. nt

[sunonmars]

2. Wanna bet they aint paying anything for that house....and the comes back to them somehow.

[MineralMan]

3. There could be a connection. Or not.

That mining lease is a hot, hot potato, right out of the oven. It's also a political football that gets passed between the two parties, depending on which is in power.

It's an environment vs. industry battle, and we know how those go between Democrats and Republicans.

In a Republican administration, industry gets the nod, almost always.

Does Ivanka's rental from Luksic play into this decision? Could be, but it's way more complicated and far-reaching than that.

It's an economic and environmental controversy that has been going on for some time now.

[sunonmars]

4. Buying the house right after the 2016 election didnt give a clue....

[MineralMan]

5. I'm not saying it didn't influence the decision.

However, the issue is a serious one, involving billions of dollars of potential profit, and risking serious environmental damage on a very sensitive wilderness area. Trump may not care about that, and might have taken advice from Ivanka on what to do, but this is a high-publicity thing, at least in Minnesota. It's going to resonate a lot more than some real estate deal is worth. Truly.

[sunonmars]

6. I should hope so, these grubby conmen need their comeuppence for what they have done to nature.