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The heading on this month’s Arrowhead Cooperative newsletter reads: “Great River Energy and Arrowhead Cooperative Share A Common Vision”
Arrowhead Cooperative’s board recently voted to support Great River Energy’s sale of the Coal Creek Station, a coal-fired electric power facility in North Dakota. Coal Creek had been scheduled for closure or possible sale by the end of 2023. The Sierra Club had been opposed to the sale. Great River has found a buyer for the facility and will now purchase coal generated power from the new owners for fifteen years as part of the sale agreement. Great River has also agreed to operate and maintain the distribution line corridor from North Dakota to the Twin Cities for 20 years.
Great River Energy built the Coal Creek Station facility adjacent to the Falkirk Coal Mine just over 40 years ago. The goal was obviously to support the North Dakota lignite coal industry. Great River likely received governmental incentives from the state and financial assistance from the coal mining industry. Great River subsequently also built Spiritwood Station in North Dakota, another coal fired plant, several years later. The Spiritwood project went millions of dollars over budget and due to market issues sat idle for several years after completion. Spiritwood Station, which Great River continues to operate, now supplements coal with natural gas.
State and federal legislation now mandates a transition to renewable resources for producing electric power. Minnesota’s goal is for 25 percent renewables by 2025. Great River claims to be working towards that target but will rely heavily on fossil fuel for a portion of its power generation well into the middle of the next decade. Apparently, the declaration of a ‘Climate Emergency’ by the Cook County Board and the Grand Marais City Council was lost on the Arrowhead Cooperative management team.
Great River Energy will continue to produce carbon emissions in supplying up to 50 percent of the electric power used by its 26 partner cooperatives until 2030, as renewable alternatives are explored. Great River and its 26 cooperative partners also continue the use of herbicides to clear hundreds of miles of power line right-of-ways, degrading ground water and adding toxic chemicals to the environment. The Great River and Arrowhead boards appear to be more concerned with the viability of North Dakota’s lignite coal mining industry and supporting agro-chemical production than with the values of its thousands of environmentally conscious owner members.
Arrowhead Cooperative has three board seats up for election this year.
Bob LaMettry,
Grand Marais
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