Here’s the press release, via the Mesabi Daily News:
NASHWAUK — Groundbreaking for the new Minnesota Steel Industries LLC plant is slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. Friday. The public is invited.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., the CEO of Essar Steel Minnesota and local elected officials will speak. A new company name is expected to be unveiled also.
Directions to the groundbreaking are: Follow Hwy. 65 north from Nashwauk to County Road 58, then turn left and go 2.2 miles to the project site. Parking will be limited to the north side of the road. There will be a parking lot at the Nashwauk Recreational Center, 200 Fourth St., and a shuttle bus will run between there and the groundbreaking site starting at 11 a.m. Officials recommend that persons coming to the ceremony walk on the south side of County Road 58 at the site for safety and wear sturdy walking shoes.
Look for politicians and large men smoking. I’d go, but I’m teaching a class at that time. I’ll have operatives in the field. This is a very big deal for the people of the Iron Range. I’m pretty curious what the new name will be. Any ideas?
How about “Butler Taconite”!
Check out my latest post about the plant opening on paulpeltier.wordpress.com
This development, now that it is ‘really’ going to happen stands in stark contrast the the financial meltdown that claimed AIG, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and BearStearns.
The more that we reevaluate the importance of speculative financial dealings in our economy and contrast that with the ability of hard jobs like these to pump money into the economy, it seems like a great return for the risk to champion this type of middle-class development.