What is the real reason the docks at Taconite Harbor are not operating? Commissioner Bruce Martinson told the county board on March 13 that the previous week had had attended an informational breakfast meeting hosted by Cliffs Natural Resources at which he asked Global Business Executive Vice President Don Gallagher if the company has any plan to re-open the loading facility and docks, which once provided a significant number of good jobs for local residents. The answer? Martinson said he was told no, because it was not economically feasible.
In a separate interview, Martinson said that this summer, Cliffs Natural Resources does plan to fix the railroad bridge over Highway 61 in Taconite Harbor that was damaged last fall when a piece of heavy equipment being transported ran into it. The company is talking to a couple of other companies about leasing the loading facility and docks, Martinson said.
Martinson said a 2004 Duluth TV news story reported that shipping ore out of Taconite Harbor is $1.50 a ton cheaper than shipping out of the docks in Two Harbors or Duluth, and with 20 million tons leaving the Iron Range each year, shipping out of Taconite Harbor could save a lot of money.
Martinson said he did some research and found numerous news articles written between 2003 and 2005 which revealed that other docks in competition with Taconite Harbor had lobbied for the business Taconite Harbor used to get.
Martinson said he would try to arrange for Cleveland Cliffs representatives to attend a county board meeting sometime this spring.
At the March 27, 2012 county board meeting, Martinson wondered why some union members had been so adamant about not shipping taconite through Cook County seven or eight years ago when Cleveland Cliffs was talking about re-opening the docks.
Cliffs Natural Resources, as it is called now, will want to ship its product through whatever docks are cheapest, Commissioner Fritz Sobanja pointed out. “Environmental permitting” is what halts projects these days, he said. He suggested that the Cook County/ Grand Marais Economic Development Authority work on this issue.
Former LTV Mining (Taconite Harbor) employee Lloyd Speck said that for our economy to survive, we have to have more than just retired people up here. He contended that the worst pollution is when ships empty their ballast water but said that problem had been solved. The Cook County school district had 700 or 800 students in it when the Taconite Harbor loading facility was open, he said.
The biggest railway shipping route in North America comes south out of Winnipeg, Commissioner Fritz Sobanja said, and Cook County could benefit if it connected to that route. Some people don’t want Cook County to be connected, however, he said, but others do because they want the economy to be balanced here.
Other connections under discussion:
. Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Project Manager Todd Campbell updated the board on upcoming MnDOT projects. He said MnDOT has $55 million a year to maintain the infrastructure already in place, but it would need $120 a year to meet its own target conditions.
A pedestrian/bike trail will be constructed in Grand Portage this summer, Campbell said. Also northeast of Grand Marais, culverts will be replaced. Rock face stabilization will be done at the Ray Berglund wayside rest but won’t affect traffic passing by. Projects between Two Harbors and the county line will involve “some significant traffic disruptions” for about 12 weeks this summer, he said.
Road work on I-35 between Duluth and the Twin Cities will make travel difficult on Fridays and Sundays this summer, Campbell said.
A resurfacing project near Little Marais will be done in 2013 in which one-foot shoulders will be expanded to six feet, although MnDOT prefers 10-11-foot shoulders, Campbell said. The road surface will be ground up onsite and reused. In 2014, the Gitchi Gami bike trail will be extended from Cascade to Grand Marais.
Commissioners shared concerns with Campbell regarding having the same 55 m.p.h. speed limit through sections of road that are very different from each other, wanting speed feedback signs in Tofte, and having no street light at the juncture of the New Gunflint Trail and Highway 61.
. The board approved an agreement with Boreal Access to facilitate the implementation of a program using broadband technology to help seniors stay in their homes. The program is funded by a grant from the Blandin Foundation.
. By split vote, the board approved agreements for the State of Minnesota to work on and use communication towers at mid-Gunflint Trail and on South Gunflint Lake Road. This is part of the state’s initiative to implement the Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) system that would enable public service entities to communicate with other another.
Bruce Martinson was the one commissioner who voted no because of a question regarding whether other municipalities were getting more than the $400 a year outlined in the Gunflint Tower agreement. This payment will be in lieu of the state paying the cost of electricity to the tower. The state will not be paying for electricity to that tower because it will be shared with WTIP Radio and the state cannot pay the electric bill for other entities.
Martinson said he would look into whether other entities were getting more than $400 a year for the state to use their towers. . Citizen Garry Gamble stood up saying he was representing a group called Citizens for Cook County Committee that would like to establish a partnership with the county to provide videotaping of all public meetings and work sessions.
Grand Marais resident Holly Nelson did this for many years before his death several years ago. Gamble said his group has people who have volunteered to oversee the videotaping. He said City Administrator Mike Roth has agreed to post such videos on Grand Marais’ cable TV channel, PAC-13.
Commissioner Sue Hakes said the county’s information technology department has the ability to live stream events. The City of Grand Marais paid for Holly Nelson to tape both city and county meetings, she said.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said the Broadband Commission has been discussing this and is strongly in favor of it.
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