Yesterday we previewed the new school proposal that the Mountain Iron-Buhl school district will make to the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board when it meets at 11 this morning.

That’s pretty interesting on its own, but there are a number of other potentially controversial or politically intriguing items on today’s agenda.

First, the board will consider funding for Giants Ridge, the popular ski hill and resort that has nonetheless been an unprofitable weight on IRRRB budgets for a generation.

A handful of business loans and economic development projects are in the offing. A Bovey-based business seeks $1.56 million to expand its hunting and fishing product line.

The Duluth News Tribune paid some attention to a $300,000 request by the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Natural Resource Research Institute to explore new minerals on the Range, including a titanium-iron ore compound that could be mined near Hoyt Lakes. It’s another reminder that whenever there’s trouble on the Iron Range, you can count on someone to propose digging a new hole.

The IRRRB will also reconsider a tabled item from its last meeting. Magentation,Inc., had sought a production tax rebate for capital investment in its Itasca County scram mining operations. But the request was pulled from the docket for reasons unclear and tabled. Now they’re going to try again. It’s not clear what’s going on here. We have little chance of finding out, as I expect all the conversations have already occurred.

Public works projects! Scads of projects from throughout the Taconite Tax Relief Area (the IRRRB’s jurisdiction, parts of the state deemed affected by Minnesota’s mining industry). None seem controversial, but these tend to be where lots of horse trading has gone on. Here’s a list from the IRRRB:

 

Organization	Project Description	Grant Award
City of Aitkin	Infrastructure for a new dental clinic	$99,000
City of Aurora	Infrastructure for Maple Drive development	250,000
City of Chisholm	City hall upgrades and remodeling	250,000
City of Cook	Vermilion Boulevard infrastructure	103,000
City of Crosby	Infrastructure development	250,000
City of Ely	Infrastructure development	250,000
City of Gilbert	Site development for new facility	40,000
City of Grand Marais	New public works facility infrastructure	100,000
City of Grand Rapids	Infrastructure development	100,000
City of Hoyt Lakes	Wastewater facility improvements	250,000
City of Marble	Water line replacement	163,000
City of Taconite	Infrastructure improvements	120,000
City of Two Harbors	City campground infrastructure	100,000
City of Virginia	Infrastructure for new facility	213,188
City of Winton	City hall/community center infrastructure	100,000
		$2,388,188

The aforementioned Iron Range School Collaboration Fund will be considered. The MI-B school proposal is one half of the discussion. A proposal to bolster STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum at some western Mesabi schools is also on the table.

The IRRRB press release lists the items on the docket. Peter Passi of the Duluth News Tribune previewed the meeting last week.