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Hawaiian Congressman to appear at Tom and Jerry’s today
It’s not often I get to write a headline like that. An update and clarification about U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie’s (D-Hawaii) visit to the Iron Range to stump for Barack Obama. He will be at Tom and Jerry’s bar in Chisholm at 3 p.m., not at the college as was originally planned. I think this…
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Mesabi Daily News story about Obama’s Range endorsements
Here’s a Mesabi Daily News story about the Iron Range Obama Committee press conference last weekend: Range group backs ObamaBy Charles RamsayCHISHOLM — An area group has stepped up with backing for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, as the Iron Range Leadership Committee voiced its support for the Illinois senator before Minnesota’s Tuesday caucus. Heading…
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Iron Range stands at modern crossroads
This is my weekly column for the Hibbing Daily Tribune published Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008. Iron Range stands at modern crossroadsBy Aaron J. BrownModern life hums with information and responsibilities, sometimes real and sometimes imagined. Every day I update the blog, prepare classes, and blaze a trail through the woods while connected wirelessly to the…
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U.S. Steel is officially rolling in its 5.0, with its ragtop down so its hair can blow
It’s official. U.S. Steel will invest $300 million into Keewatin Taconite, increasing taconite pellet production by more than 3.5 million. The whole project will take three years to fully implement. This also makes U.S. the big daddy steel company on the Iron Range as they now own the top two taconite operations here. PRESS RELEASEOberstar…
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Franken vs. Coleman comes to the Range
This e-mail I got from the Franken for Senate campaign shows an interesting window into how both Al Franken and Sen. Norm Coleman plan to operate on the Iron Range. Norm will try to tell us that if we vote for him he’ll open a box of butterflies and each butterfly will glow with a…
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KeeTac Attack!
U.S. Steel will hold a press conference Friday at 2 p.m. at the Keewatin City Hall. My sources tell me the company is announcing a major expansion and environmental upgrade at its Keewatin Taconite plant, something like 3.5 million tons of additional pellet production capability. Yesterday, U.S. Steel announced that their Iron Range taconite production…
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Major taconite production increase?
U.S. Steel will hold a press conference at the Keewatin City Hall on Friday, Feb. 1. They will announce the “good news” we’ve been hearing about for a couple weeks now. I have heard talk about something like a 3.5 million ton increase in taconite pellet production at Keewatin Taconite. That’s huge, almost doubling production…
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Tepid debate at St. Paul mining hearing
I didn’t post a follow-up on the mining hearings down in St. Paul Friday. Essentially, it was a tepid debate between environmentalists and mining interests regarding nonferrous mining on the eastern Iron Range. Some old hard feelings were aired but no game-changing elements were introduced. The Duluth News-Tribune provided a rundown Saturday. The permitting process…
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An important day for Iron Range mining projects
There’s a lot going on today that could impact many of the precious mineral mining and value-added iron mining projects currently in development on the Iron Range. First, this morning lawmakers are meeting with representatives of India-based Essar Global, the company that bought the Minnesota Steel project which aims to build a taconite mine and…
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Obama meeting CANCELLED, to be rescheduled
UPDATE: The Obama organizational meeting for tonight has been cancelled and will be rescheduled because the field organizer is out sick today. Watch this site for an update in a day or two. Find out more about Barack Obama’s campaign for president and plans for the Iron Range at an introductory meeting tonight. It’s at…
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Spin, baby, spin
Remember that scene in “Monty Python’s Holy Grail” where King Arthur is dueling with the Black Knight and keeps cutting off the knight’s arms, then legs. Each time he cuts off a limb the knight refuses to admit defeat, saying things like “Oh, it’s just a scratch.” Yeah, Excelsior Energy and their boondoggle Mesaba Energy…
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In honor of Dr. King
I’m again posting from the deep woods instead of the office today in honor of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday. The Hibbing Daily Tribune has an interesting story about a community outreach effort that I’m involved with at the college where I teach. We help bring a diverse group of college students…
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The Range and the "Recession"
The good and bad thing about the Iron Range economy is that it operates somewhat independently from the national economy. Pretty much, our fortunes follow the international steel market. While the so-called mortgage crisis has some reverberation here, people are strangely more optimistic about the future on the Range than they are in the Minneapolis/St.…
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Update on U.S. coal plant woes
Check out this release from a partnership of energy and environmental research groups. In essence 57 proposed new traditional and “clean” coal power plants were officially cancelled, abandoned or shelved in 2007, not 46 as I reported last week. The reasons are primarily economic, based on the high cost of clean coal technology. Included on…
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Rochester column honors the Range
Greg Sellnow is an accomplished columnist from the Rochester Post-Bulletin. He ranks among Minnesota’s best daily newspaper scribes. He wrote a nice piece about the Iron Range recently. Check it out. See, Minnesota. We’re not the crazy relative; we’re the eccentric, lovable relative. Greg Sellnow: Feeling at home on Da RangeRochester Post-BulletinHIBBING — You can…