The Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP) is working hard on behalf of Cook County. Last year, CCLEP helped the City of Grand Marais apply for a grant for a biomass facility that would generate heat and electricity for public buildings in Grand Marais. The city did not get the grant, but CCLEP did not stop pursuing the idea.
One thing CCLEP learned was that a more detailed feasibility study would increase the likelihood of getting a grant for the actual project. Such a study would investigate the amount of biomass available locally, the cost of harvesting, processing, and delivering it to a plant, and how big the market might be as well as what type of facility would be suitable and how it could be financed.
On August 10, George Wilkes and Paul Nelson of CCLEP talked to the county board about a grant that has been at least partially awarded for a study. They handed out a document explaining how this project is taking shape: “We decided that we needed to know whether we could even make such a project work in our limited Cook County market,” the document states. “Therefore, we issued an RFP to do a very thorough feasibility study that would look at the entire process.
“…As we were collecting responses to our RFPs, a collaborative consisting of Dovetail Partners and the University of Minnesota approached us and Ely about doing a very thorough study matching our goals completely. They would also do a complete follow-up study evaluating the effects and success of our actual operations. They would then use this information to help other Minnesota communities build and operate biomassfueled district heating plants.
“…To pay for this exhaustive study, which would cost $262,160, the collaborative filed a grant application with the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). Of the hundreds of applications filed, less than a hundred were selected for review.” In late July, the project was granted $150,000 of the $262,160 it had asked for.
Wilkes and Nelson appealed to the county board for $112,000 from the county 1% sales and use tax to make up the difference needed, saying the money would only be used for Cook County’s portion of the study. Nelson said Ely is putting up $50,000 for an engineering study of its own, and Cook County could benefit from what they learn.
According to county Auditor- Treasurer Braidy Powers, the 1% tax money can be used for a feasibility study as long as it is tied to a specific building project. A district heating plant is one of the projects outlined in the legislation that authorized the 1% tax.
Commissioner Bob Fenwick said that this project would fit nicely with the new community center that is in the works. It also will be funded through the 1% tax.
Commissioner Jan Hall was amenable to the idea of using the 1% for this feasibility study. “I believe it’s a doable thing,” she said.
The Firewise program has been included in the process. Waste wood from around homes and other buildings throughout the county could be used to fuel a biomass plant. Nelson indicated he hopes to see the project go forward. “We keep burning up all that waste wood,” he said.
“We are excited about the county’s willingness to fund biomass feasibility in conjunction with the possible LCCMR funding,” Wilkes wrote later in a memo to CCLEP participants. CCLEP is arranging for the partners in the collaborative to present the project to the county board and the Grand Marais City Council.
Other grants and dividends
. The county board gave Emergency Management Director Jim Wiinanen the go-ahead to pursue a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant that would help homeowners purchase water sprinkler systems to save buildings in the event of a forest fire. The application requests financing for two types of sprinklers, one which is a “low-water” system that could help people not
located on bodies of water. Many people with sprinkler systems pump water
from the lakes beside which their homes are built. . Commissioners voted to accept U.S. Forest Service Secure Rural Schools funding in the same proportions as the county did last year: 85% will be used for roads and schools, 7% will be used for Firewise and wildfire protection plans, search and rescue, and emergency services on federal land, and 8% will be allocated by a Resource Advisory Committee for projects in or adjacent to the federal forest.
The money is the federal government’s method of offsetting the income the
county would otherwise receive from property taxes if the land were in private
hands. . Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust, which handles insurance for many public entities, is handing out $20 million in dividends this year, the largest in its history. The dividends, according to the Trust, result from “effective claims handling and strong defense strategies, higher than expected yield on investments, and members’ commitment to risk management and loss control.” Cook County will receive $155,803, almost evenly divided between property/ casualty and workers’ compensation.
Leave a Reply