Source of funding for study of mesothelioma among Minnesota’s Iron Range miners remains up in the air

Although everyone supports a University of Minnesota study of mesothelioma among Iron Range mine workers, lawmakers do not yet agree on how that study should be funded. Some lawmakers from the Iron Range region propose funding the five-year study with almost $5 million from the state workers’ compensation fund. Gov. Tim Pawlenty and some others want a portion of the study funds to come from Iron Range Resources, the state agency that deals with issues facing northeastern Minnesota’s economy. Th