Almanac: At the Capitol

Gov. Pawlenty just announced the state is going to try to acquire the first new major state park in nearly 30 years. The site is Lake Vermilion, which the governor says National Geographic once named one of the most beautiful lakes in the nation. U.S. Steel had already been in years of negotiations with private developers to turn their mine into as many as 150 lakeshore homes. If the state can swing the deal and raise tens of millions of dollars, it would have 5 miles of lakeshore right next to the Soudan Mine State Park, which would total 10 total miles of undeveloped adjacent lakeshore. The governor said with mom-and-pop resorts going extinct, giving every Minnesotan a chance to go up North to the lake is more valuable than ever. If all goes as planned a new state park could be up and running in three years. But it's far from a done deal. Only one lawmaker was there and that was a fellow Republican, even though the governor said he had been talking to lawmakers from the area like Sen. Bakk and Rep. Dill. It might have been smart to include them in the press conference too, not just a metro-Republican (Sen. Gen Olson). Another stumbling block officials admitted could be the lack of environmental and safety assessments. The state does not know what it's getting into with this old steel plant.