Itasca County rebuffs power boondoggle’s pipe request, for now

The denizens of my favorite mushrooming boondoggle, Excelsior Energy, were at the county board begging to be included in the planning for a natural gas pipeline to be built through state bonding funds for the Minnesota Steel project near Nashwauk. Excelsior wants to build its Mesaba Energy Project close to nearby Taconite and also needs natural gas.

Why does a so-called “clean coal” plant need a natural gas pipeline? Because the coal gasification technology it uses is too unreliable to be counted on entirely, so when the coal gas is unavailable the plant would burn an expensive high grade natural gas. In similar plants, this natural gas is used as much as half the time. Though, no coal gas plant has ever been as big as the Mesaba project’s proposed size and output. All the others have been cancelled because of the massive cost and regulatory questions. But this one keeps on keepin’ on because the federal government and Iron Range Resources has been feeding it money, like a middle aged child living in your basement. Just think of this pipeline as a limitless supply of Cheetos for a proposed Ninja Gaiden tournament … in your basement.

Anyway, Itasca County is keeping its eye on the ball and the commissioners told EE’s CEO Tom Micheletti that the bonding funds are to be dedicated to the pipeline needs of Minnesota Steel alone. Micheletti has bigger problems. He still doesn’t have a customer for his overpriced theoretical electricity, which is probably why the federal government isn’t even scheduling the next stage of the Mesaba project’s permitting.

Oh yeah, we’re still waiting for the OLA report on the spending of Excelsior’s $9.5 million in Iron Range Resources loan funds. That could come out any day during the next month.

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