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PolyMet EIS done, but project still faces hurdles
Last week the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources released the final Environmental Impact Statement for PolyMet, an important step in the company’s goal to open a new copper-nickel mine near Hoyt Lakes on the eastern Mesabi Iron Range. A milestone, yes, but certainly not the end of the story. Marshall Helmberger’s Timberjay offers a pretty good explanation…
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FARGO REVIEW: Episode 5, ‘Gift of the Magi’
The fifth episode of “Fargo” Season 2, entitled “Gift of the Magi,” aired last night on FX. What follows is a Minnesota-centric review that contains spoilers. This year, “Fargo” takes us to Southwestern Minnesota in 1979, the same year I was born on the other side of the state. A small town family crime syndicate…
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Essar Steel Algoma files for protection from creditors
Essar Steel Algoma — sister company to Essar Steel Minnesota in Nashwauk — announced it would file for bankruptcy creditor protection in Canada and the United States today. The steel mill is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and is part of Essar’s plans to use pellets made at the taconite plant under construction now on the…
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Come on down to the big barn show!
This Saturday, Nov. 7, I will join a dedicated group of radio professionals, musicians and barn enthusiasts to do another edition of our critically-acclaimed Great Northern Radio Show. This time we’re broadcasting live from a barn, specifically Larson’s Barn near McGregor in rural Aitkin County, Minnesota. We’ll have the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank, a great…
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PolyMet EIS to be released today
Today at 12:30 p.m., the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will release its final 3,000-page Environmental Impact Statement for the controversial PolyMet copper nickel mine in Hoyt Lakes on the eastern Mesabi Iron Range. I expect the document will be posted here, at the project site on the DNR website. Dropping a document of this…
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Political theater ensures people keep ‘driving through’ Range
It’s been a busy week and will be a busy weekend, so I can’t get too wound up about highway politics on the Mesabi Iron Range. After all, I’ve probably said enough in recent months about State Highway 53 and St. Louis County Highway 5, both of which are on the move to accommodate mining…
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FARGO REVIEW: Episode 4, ‘Fear and Trembling’
The fourth episode of “Fargo” Season 2, entitled “Fear and Trembling,” aired last night on FX. What follows is a Minnesota-centric review that contains spoilers. This year, “Fargo” takes us to Southwestern Minnesota in 1979, the same year I was born on the other side of the state. A small town family crime syndicate based…
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Chisholm sets forum to talk about Hwy 5 reroute options
The city of Chisholm has called a Nov. 16 forum with people from neighboring towns and townships to discuss the rerouting of St. Louis County Highway 5 for mining expansion at Hibbing Taconite. In a post that inspired robust conversation in the comments section, we talked about the fact that Chisholm was questioning the county/mine…
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Emily Larson is Duluth’s next mayor
Emily Larson cruised to a victory in Tuesday’s election for Mayor of Duluth with more than 70 percent of the vote. With her defeat of Chuck Horton, she will become the first woman to lead the Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas. Voters selected Elissa Hanson and Noah Hobbs as the next at-large city councilors,…
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Naked parties expose awkward moment for Iron Range city
This morning the city public safety committee met in Virginia, Minnesota. On the agenda: naked parties. Specifically, what can be done about naked parties held in city limits? (Spoiler: It’s not clear). The issue stemmed from an awkward exchange at last week’s city council meeting. If you’re looking for a little light office cubicle viewing, by all means advance to 24:15…
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UPDATE: The growing pains of today’s Grand Rapids school vote
UPDATE (11 p.m.): The District 318 school referendum failed by more than 2,000 votes. Every precinct voted no. It was a crushing defeat that will send the school district back to the drawing board for its future plans. Here are the totals. My analysis is that the project was not fully formed enough to convince voters…
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IRRRB to discuss $26 million biochemical project in Mt. Iron
Friday, the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board will meet to discuss new projects and public works spending. A number of interesting items will be on the docket. Topping the list is a proposal to loan $18 million as part of a state and Iron Range package of $26 million to a company called Sweetwater Energy. Sweetwater is…
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Governor Dayton tours mines to inform his PolyMet decision
I’ve already expounded upon challenges facing the iron mining industry on the Mesabi today, but state political news is focusing on the much louder though more theoretical debate over nonferrous mining in Northeastern Minnesota. Well, that debate is finally starting to get real. Gov. Mark Dayton visited the Gilt Edge Mine in South Dakota yesterday and…
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Another highway debate shows power tilting toward mines
By now, most of you are pretty familiar with the massive Highway 53 project between Virginia and Eveleth on Northern Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. That $240 million re-route of the Iron Range’s most important north-south highway will build two new bridges, included the state’s tallest, to accommodate a 1960s-era agreement with the mines to move the highway…
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Pro-Horton song warns of Duluth’s potholed heroinscape
We haven’t discussed the Duluth Mayor’s race in a while, partly because city council president Emily Larson is so widely expected to rout boxing trainer and drug counselor Chuck Horton next Tuesday. But Horton’s supporters aren’t letting up, as evidenced by the most jaw-dropping local political media I’ve experienced in a very long time: Behold,…