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Feds OK environmental review on Highway 53 project
Federal regulators have approved the environmental review for the Highway 53 relocation project on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. The state seeks to move the existing road — a vital north-south artery for the whole region — to accommodate an old agreement with mining interests who wish to extract iron ore beneath the current road. The…
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KeeTac staying down indefinitely
As many media outlets have already reported, U.S. Steel announced Friday that, come Oct. 11, the company would lay off all remaining maintenance workers at Keewatin Taconite. The mine has been idled since May. The local newspaper reported that it was “another” shutdown, but it is important to note that the plant never started up again. The cooling…
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U.S. Steel, ArcelorMittal back to table with Steelworkers
Next Monday U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal will resume negotiations with the United Steelworkers of America over labor contracts at Mesabi Iron Range mines. Cliffs Natural Resources is also negotiating with Steelworkers over contracts at its mines. All of the Minnesota’s 4,500-some miners are affected by these talks. U.S. Steel took a break from talks nine days ago to allow…
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Climate change’s local impact subject of talk tonight
Climate change is the kind of issue that generates predictable political reactions. That’s why it’s good sometimes to change the tone, localize the story and talk in practical terms about the scientific observations people are making. For instance, our forests are changing. Trees that once thrived here are being replaced by trees that once did…
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Ely adventurers begin year in the BWCA
At this hour, Ely and Grand Marais-area educational adventurers Dave and Amy Freeman are entering the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. That, in itself, isn’t very surprising. The Freemans make a living showing people the BWCA while going on educational adventures all over the world. But one thing is unusual: they aren’t coming back for…
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Steel-making shortfall spurs Essar scrutiny
It was supposed to be an innovative integrated steel mill. That remains the fundamental shortfall of the Essar Steel Minnesota project near Nashwauk on the western Mesabi Iron Range. Work continues, to be sure, but Essar Minnesota will initially open as a straight-forward taconite plant. Perhaps next summer. Perhaps later, depending on who you talk to. That’s the trouble.…
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U.S. Steel, union ‘taking break’ from heated negotiations
Following news of ArcelorMittal walking away from the table in union negotiations late last week, U.S. Steel and the United Steelworkers have announced a more amicable “break” in negotiations with a scheduled resumption in two weeks. Nevertheless, serious differences remain in a year in which mining companies are asking for concessions from the union amid…
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Essar seeks 3-year deal to avoid paying back $67 million
It was no secret that Essar Steel would be requesting more time to meet the provisions of a state grant that provided critical early infrastructure to its huge new mine near Nashwauk, Minnesota. The company has until Oct. 1 — about two weeks from now — to produce value-added iron products as it originally proposed.…
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Linguist completes interviews exploring ‘Iron Range English’
To follow up on a story I wrote about in July, Dr. Sara Schmelzer Loss has completed her interviews of 30 Iron Rangers in her continuing research on the Iron Range dialect. She’ll now begin work to determine her findings on the state of our unique dialect. Schmelzer Loss, originally of Hibbing, is a visiting professor of…
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ArcelorMittal walks away from negotiations with Steelworkers
The United Steelworkers report that Arcelor Mittal has walked away from the negotiating table during the contentious contract talks that have weighed on Iron Range workers and families this month. The USW committee is returning home, where members will brief local miners in coming days, according to a USW statement. Workers at ArcelorMittal’s Minorca Mine in Mt.…
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First day of buffering … buffering … buffering
For many districts across Minnesota, today is the first day of school for K-12 students. This is always an exciting time — for the kids, of course, but also for parents. So much hope and anxiety balled up in one occasion. With all the anticipation over locker combinations and seating arrangements, kids don’t share the…
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Great Northern Radio Show: Adding value to Northern MN
Like many local mines, Iron Range-based MinnesotaBrown.com will be entering a partial slowdown, or “hot idle” while we work out a little problem with the media commodities market. See, the price of a MinnesotaBrown blog post is down to a historically low $1.45 per long ton, due in part to limited demand and illegal imports…
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Firm hiring Iron Range replacement workers
Iron Range labor supporters were angered yesterday when the Mesabi Daily News ran a classified ad for a firm hiring replacement workers with experience in a “metal manufacturing and processing facility.” Applicants were warned that “this is a labor dispute situation — employees will be transported across a picket line.” Given the tenuous nature of negotiations between…
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Nascent Blandin project would take over Showboat Landing
Long in the works, a new biofuel project in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, may soon come to fruition, but is attracting the ire of arts backers in this western Mesabi city. Though the project has yet to be confirmed by UPM-Blandin, city officials say it will take over a section of Mississippi River shoreline commonly called Showboat Landing.…
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Paper shows PolyMet runoff could reach BWCA after all
While the proposed nonferrous Polymet mining project near Hoyt Lakes nears the end of its environmental review process, questions remain about the speed with which it could receive permits. One of the most fascinating developments I’ve seen recently is this Marshall Helmberger story in last week’s edition of the Tower Timberjay. According to a June 18,…