Dr. Gordy Dodge, of Center City, Minnesota, introduced Jessica Tritsch at the Sierra Club “Beyond Coal” presentation held at the Cook County Community Center on May 7. Dr. Dodge has a home in Schroeder near the Minnesota Power Taconite Harbor Energy Center.
The toll from burning coal causes air pollution, is a leading cause of climate change and causes over $100 billion in health costs each year, Jessica Tritsch told a crowd of 40-50 on hand to hear her speak at the Cook County Community Center.
Her message was darker than coal dust on a miner’s face.
Although Minnesota Power has made air emissions improvements to its Taconite Harbor Energy Center coal-fired power plant over the last dozen years—more than $50 million has gone into the effort—Tritsch said it hasn’t been enough to clean up the air around the plant and she urged Minnesota Power to switch from coal to a cleaner way to produce power, citing wind or solar energy as two ways to “create more jobs and safer energy for the environment.”
Curt Anderson, an MP scientist, countered that even on the best days windmill farms are only 40-50 percent efficient, while Minnesota Power is responsible for “keeping the lights on at the hospital 24-7.”
Anderson said MP has invested heavily in wind, solar and hydroelectric generation.
Tritsch, the Senior Organizing Representative for the Sierra Club “Beyond Coal to Clean Energy” campaign, was in Grand Marais on Thursday, May 7, presenting information about the health and environmental impacts of burning coal to generate electricity.
More than half of the crowd wore Minnesota Power insignia jackets and listened intently as Tritsch rolled a number of reports: a three-year Sierra Clubsponsored SO2 modeling report for Taconite Harbor Energy Center; the Minnesota Department of Health Mercury study on the North Shore; the Minnesota Department of Health fish consumption study; and the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board Climate Change in Minnesota report, all cited in the case to eliminate coal as an energy source.
From June 2010 to December 2013, Wingra & Associate reviewed the hourly emission from the Taconite Harbor Energy Center to determine when the plant was out of compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
Tritsch said using the modeling analysis, fallout from the plant included Carlton Peak, the Superior Hiking Trail in the George H. Crosby Manitou State Park, Temperance River State Park, Lutsen Resort, the township of Schroeder, and Caribou Falls.
According to the Minnesota Health Department, pollution from burning coal causes 367 asthma attacks, 36 heart attacks, and 23 preventable deaths annually in northern Minnesota, said Tritsch.
The goal of the Beyond Coal campaign is to retire one-third of the nation’s 500- plus coal plants by 2020. So far more than 150 have been retired.
Another goal is to unite grassroots activists across the country to move America beyond coal. Burning coal accounts for one-third of U.S. carbon emissions, states the Sierra Club’s website.
The Sierra Club would like to replace the majority of retired coal plants with wind, solar, and geothermal energy producers, said Tritsch, adding, “I know it sounds kind of crazy, but we have as much wind here as Houston, Texas.”
As for Minnesota, Tritsch said the goal is to have 25 percent of the state’s power generated by renewable energy resources by 2025, “But we could easily get to 40 percent,” she said.
MP representative questions modeling
MP’s Anderson stated that the SO2 computer modeling used by Wingra & Associates, the firm hired by Sierra Club to conduct the emissions tests, wasn’t approved by the State of Minnesota. “When our modeling is done we’re quite sure the results will be different from Sierra Club’s,” Anderson said.
Anderson said MP worked closely with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and he said to date MP was in compliance with its permits.
Concerns about biomass and wind raised
County Commissioner Garry Gamble asserted that the Sierra Club’s position regarding the negative health and environmental impacts of burning coal “firmly establish there is no amount of control technologies that could be installed at Taconite Harbor that would satisfy their [Sierra Club] demand to mitigate health risks.”
Gamble asked Tritsch why the Sierra Club was pushing to get rid of MP, a company which he said brings in over $1 million per year to the county (not counting the grants the company also awards to nonprofit organizations and schools), while the organization was “strangely silent” on the biomass heating district proposed for Grand Marais.
Gamble said he believed a biomass plant without proper filter systems could be more detrimental. “If concerns about people’s health is the main reason why you want to get rid of the Taconite Harbor power plant, then why wouldn’t those concerns be the same for you when you learn that a biomass plant was going to be built in Grand Marais?” he asked.
Gamble also stated that a wind farm in Thunder Bay that began about a year ago was already closed because of health risks to people living nearby. “So there can be problems with wind energy,” he said.
Tritsch said she wasn’t sure of the Sierra Club’s stance on biomass.
Partial shutdown enough?
Cook County Chamber of Commerce Director Jim Boyd asked if the SO2 report issued by the club figured in the MP May 26 deadline to shut down its Unit 3 turbine.
Boyd noted that not only would that move reduce pollution; it will cause Minnesota Power to lose one-third of its 225-megawatt generation capabilities at Taconite Harbor. Boyd asked if that loss was included in the Sierra Club’s computer modeling. Tritsch said that information was included but didn’t cause the numbers to fall far enough to be under the current Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.
Boyd also asked if the club calculated economic loss to a community in jobs and taxes if they helped close a plant, and Tritsch said that was weighted in their decision making.
At the end of the meeting Tritsch took questions from bystanders. One audience member asked her why the Sierra Club didn’t “give Minnesota Power credit for all that it has done to modernize and run cleaner, more productive, more efficient and safer power plants.”
Tritsch said that when it came to burning coal she thought a change had to be made, and on the topic itself, they would have to agree to disagree.
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