On July 10 the county board adopted a county energy plan. The plan’s goal is to help transition away from fossil to renewable fuels in Cook County. A primary benefit of the plan is “Decreasing our community’s contribution to harmful environmental and climatic effects of fossil fuel use.”
One may or may not agree with the plan. However, the board has agreed to use some of the 1 percent tax revenues to assist in paying for a study of a proposed biomass heating project in Grand Marais. Phase One is to determine feasibility. Taxpayer cost—$112,000.00. Phase Two is schematics and final business plan. Taxpayer cost— $243,000.00. Preliminary estimates for the actual build out of the heating system have been in the $10 million to $14 million range.
At the same time the county is implementing its “energy plan,” Minnesota Power is contemplating what they should do with their electric generation facility at Taconite Harbor, which is approaching 60 years old and runs on coal. Older coalfired generation plants are being shut down because of coming EPA regulations that are expensive to meet and because other sources of fuel such as natural gas are cheaper than coal.
County Commissioner Martinson is working with Rep. Cravaack to keep Taconite Harbor running. Minnesota Power states that it will be feasible to keep the plant running if it is “not subject to a carbon tax, a proposed tax that would require payment for carbon dioxide emissions.”
Setting aside the fact that a proposed carbon tax is designed precisely for the type of plant that Minnesota Power and the county commissioner want exempted, the broader question is just what do Commissioner Martinson and the county board want as an energy policy?
Do they want the goals stated in the energy plan they have adopted and are investing tax dollars in? Or do they want to keep the jobs and tax base offered by the operation of the Tac Harbor coal-fired power plant—even if the cost is exempting the plant from a carbon tax?
If the county board wants a countywide energy plan, fine. But the citizens of Cook County are entitled to clear, consistent leadership on its implementation and on these competing and diametrically opposed energy issues. To invest substantial taxpayer money in plans for renewable energy while at the same time advocating tax exemptions for a coal-fired power plant’s carbon emissions is essentially pandering to both sides.
I expect Commissioner Martinson to make a choice as should all of the commissioners. You can’t have it both ways.
Tom Spence
Schroeder
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