Following the Minnesota Power meeting, Jason Metsa talks to one of the organizers of the event. Jason previously served District 6B in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Following a run for Congress in which Pete Stauber won, Jason was hired to be commissioner for the Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation Board. Staff photo/Brian Larsen
Decommissioning the Taconite Harbor Energy Center power plant won’t happen in 2020, said Julie Pierce, Vice President of Strategy and Planning for Minnesota Power.
Instead, Minnesota Power has submitted a permit with the state to keep the plant on standby through 2022.
Pierce said it would take 30 to 45 days to get the 150-megawatt plant operational. If called into action, the 95,000 tons of coal on-site would be the last coal ever burned at Taconite Harbor Energy Center.
Pierce was addressing about two dozen business leaders and public officials at a dinner meeting held Thursday, December 5, at Surfside on Lake Superior.
Looking to the future, Pierce said options to make power at Taconite could include building a large solar garden on the property owned by the company above Highway 61 or putting in windmills to produce energy. Both would require a large battery storage area inside the current plant so the captured power could be saved and used when needed, she said.
An experiment using biomass wood pellets to produce power at Taconite was successful, said Pierce, but the cost to purchase pellets—and the number of pellets needed to run the plant—make biomass an option that isn’t viable at this time, noted Pierce.
A valuable asset to the company is the high power transmission lines at Taconite Harbor Energy Center, said Pierce.
If energy can be made at the facility, Peirce said it would have to be reliable and affordable, as well as fit the companies’ EneryFoward plan.
Pierce explained that through EnergyForward, Minnesota Power has significantly changed the way it produces and delivers energy to its customers.
The company has closed seven of its nine coal units and has grown its current energy mix to 30 percent renewables with plans to increase it to 50 percent by 2021 through the addition of hydro and wind resources.
Pierce said Minnesota Power also had undertaken significant cost-management steps, reducing operations and maintenance costs by nearly 20 percent since 2014.
At one time, Minnesota Power had talked about selling lots for homes or cabins. Still, because solar power is getting cheaper to produce, the company is taking a long hard look at that option, so for now, extolled Pierce, there is no plan to sell any of the company’s property.
Five ash storage cells
Eric Sutherland, an engineer for Minnesota Power, gave an update about the company’s five ash cells located on the hill above Highway 61. Two of the five cells are closed. They are covered with a third cell nearly done, he said.
Thick plastic is used as a liner around the ash, with the plastic being welded shut, Sutherland said. Dirt, one to two feet thick, is then spread over the ash. Grass seed is mixed in with the soil so that when spring comes, the seeds will be activated, and there will be enough water to help the seeds germinate and grow when the weather warms up, he said.
The coal pile near the power plant is monitored, said Sutherland. A ditch— or catch basin—has been dug on the lakeside of the coal pile to stop runoff from the coal entering Lake Superior.
Cleveland-Cliffs
Randy Lasky represented Cleveland-Cliffs because no one from the company was available to attend the meeting. Randy is the retired CEO of the Northspan Group, and through Northspan, he spent years working with Minnesota Power, the IRRRB, the mines, range cities, and the communities along the North Shore.
Lasky said that Cleveland-Cliffs owns the loading dock and the rail line into Taconite Harbor.
At this time, Cleveland-Cliffs will continue to maintain Taconite Harbor in idle status, he said, adding that the company has no current plans to restart the facility.
Concerning Cleveland-Cliffs’ Erie railroad bridge that was struck by a vehicle on Highway 61 several years ago, Lasky said after the company consulted with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), it was determined the damaged bridge posed a safety hazard, and it was removed.
While there are no plans at this time to restart Cleveland-Cliffs’ Erie railroad or Taconite Harbor loading facility, Cleveland- Cliffs will replace the bridge if the operation starts up again, he said.
One person asked if the bridge would be raised to a higher level if the company rebuilt it. In all likelihood, a more affordable option would be to lower the road to accommodate the height of semi-trucks traveling on Highway 61, she was told.
Concerning property owned by Cleveland-Cliffs in Cook County, that land primarily surrounds the loading dock and railroad. Lasky said any other Taconite Harbor property controlled by Cleveland- Cliffs is pretty much unbuildable and would require significant investment to be developed.
As far as Cleveland- Cliffs’ Northshore Mining operation in Silver Bay and Babbitt, the 2018 economic impact to the area included employing 568 people with payroll and benefits of $85 million. Local services and supplies purchased were valued at $200 million with Minnesota, local and Taconite taxes netting $16 million. The total impact of Cleveland-Cliffs’ operation to the region was $300 million.
Founded in 1847, Cleveland-Cliffs is the oldest and largest independent iron ore mining company in the United States. The Northshore mine is the only U.S. based iron ore processing facility to produce low silica DR-grade pellets.
Regional rail business
Bob Manzoline, executive director, St. Louis and Lake Counties Regional Rail Authority gave a presentation about the regional rail business. It included a 2019 study done by Krech and Ojard Engineers that included general information about Cleveland Cliffs’ rail line to Taconite Harbor.
Four Class 1 railroads currently serve northeast Minnesota, said Manzoline. They are the Canadian National (CN), the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), the Union Pacific (UP), and the Canadian Pacific (CP).
Five major factors have been affecting the rail industry in the northland, said Manzoline.
The first includes railroad merges and management changes, which have shifted some of the focus away from Iron Range operations. Also cited in the report: the railroad industry continues to “struggle with strong changes in rail traffic volumes and changes in the demands for capital investment. It also continues to receive complaints about service from its current customers.”
The second factor mentioned was the renewable energy boom in the U.S. and Canada. The move to renewable energy has caused a significant decrease in shipments of coal by rail, which is increasingly used less and less to fuel power plants. That loss has resulted in a 10-20 percent decrease in coal traffic shipments by rail.
A third factor is abundant grain harvests in the U.S. and Canada. Over the last few years, both countries have produced a lot of grain, and the railroad companies have not been able to keep up with the demand to move that grain. Some of the problem is political. Both the CP and CN lines are under Canadian government pressure to deliver grain to support the nation’s economy. That prioritization has negatively affected U.S. operations of the CP and CN lines.
Four: the railroad locomotive fleets are mostly 30-40 years old. A lack of new orders for new locomotives has led to a shift toward reconstructing older engines. This change away from buying new engines has led to locomotive plants closing and laying off workers. A lack of new high horsepower locomotive availability has led to shortages in the industry as uncertainty about longterm demand for rail shipments continues.
Five: the skilled workforce is getting older and retiring. “The railroad workforce levels have recently been through large fluctuations which have resulted in crew shortages. As traffic increases, train congestion increases, crews cannot complete their trips and must be relieved. This cycle disrupts the crew bases of crews normally used to run other trains, and the downward service spirals continue. The extended time required to train, qualify and certify locomotive engineers and train conductors has also contributed to the crew shortages.”
It was pointed out that these five rail impacts are not just local or regional problems, but are issues that occur nationwide.
After the meeting, it was agreed that Minnesota Power would have more meetings about Taconite Harbor Energy Center in the future. The last one was held five years ago. Today’s meeting included neighbors affected most by the plant. Minnesota Power officials welcomed their input, as well as that of the local leaders who were in attendance.
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