Cliffs hires away Hibbing PUC utilities chief to run biomass; a flash of what’s to come?

Today’s Hibbing Daily Tribune reports that Hibbing Public Utilities general manager Jim Kochevar is taking a job with Cleveland-Cliffs to oversee that company’s energy operations in Michigan. Kochevar was one of the leaders who developed the Laurentian Energy Authority, a biomass power generation project shared by the cities of Hibbing and Virginia. Cleveland-Cliffs recently announced plans to develop biomass power plants to provide electricity for its some of its mining operations. They’re starting in Michigan, but I expect that if that works they’ll be building similar plants in or around their Minnesota operations.

As a newspaper reporter, editor and radio host in Hibbing, I interviewed Jim Kochevar many times. My impression has always been that he’s a straight-shooter who deals fairly with the public and press. I hope that his activity with Cliffs leads to the continued development of a market for our area wood products as part of a clean renewable energy strategy.

Picture the not-so-distant future of the Iron Range. Large mining and steel operations, cities and other large electricity customers each have their own biomass plants burning homegrown wood products from nearby forests. Additional power needs are met ably by existing Minnesota Power plants and hydroelectric power from Manitoba. When you factor in environmental upgrades at Minnesota Power’s plants, we could see a major economic boom all the time while holding down the amount of carbon emissions in northern Minnesota.

At some point, probably in my lifetime, the Iron Range and northern Minnesota will receive a lot of attention for our vast supply of forests, fresh water and iron ore products. These are all things that will become more important if current climate, population and economic trends continue on their current paths. It’d be great if our region was ready, wide-eyed and sharp-witted about the challenges that will come with these changes.
Stay tuned.

Comments

  1. Have you ever noticed how the rising cry of “the next great boom” on the Iron Range reaches its crescendo just about the time the national economy goes into the tank? I’m not holding my breath for the predictions of this next great boom. Maybe it will come, maybe it won’t, but for now? I’m from Missouri.

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