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PolyMet EIS forum LIVE on MinnesotaBrown, via Uptake
The final PolyMet EIS forum will take place this evening at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, Minnesota. This is the last of three forums exploring the Environmental Impact Statement released late last year by several regulating agencies as they determine whether to grant mining permits. As most know, PolyMet has proposed a new nonferrous mineral…
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Minnesota Super Bowl bid seeks big game in 2018
This morning Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton announced his state’s bid to lure the 2018 Super Bowl to Minneapolis, after the inaugural season of the Vikings new yet-to-be-unnamed stadium. You can read all about the Minnesota Super Bowl bid at the bottom of this post. MPR’s Tim Nelson also has a story. I’m not the first…
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Eveleth-Gilbert joins shared Iron Range school talks
After a meeting last Thursday, Eveleth-Gilbert schools have agreed to join districts in Virginia and Mountain Iron-Buhl in talking about a shared Iron Range school on the east central Mesabi Iron Range. We discussed the Virginia/MI-B cooperation concept last week. The first public hearing on this shared high school issue will take place tomorrow night…
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School’s out for winter … school’s out forever?
Schools across Minnesota cancelled classes today amid blizzard conditions and severe wind chills. Here on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range we didn’t get much snow, but wind chill readings approaching -60 degrees (F) were enough to force most public schools to close for the day. We’ve now reached a point in late January where most public…
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PolyMet hearings highlight our misdirected passion
The purpose of the meeting was to parse the language of a 2,000-page tome of geology, hydrology, chemistry and economics. That’s a tough sell. Even offered free donuts, average humans would duck a meeting of that description. But this particular meeting on Jan. 16, 2014 — first of three hearings for the PolyMet Mining environmental…
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Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon woofs back to life
The 2014 John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon starts Sunday in Duluth, Minnesota, kicking off a grueling test of endurance for dogs and people alike. The race runs 384 miles and is expected to wrap up sometime on Wednesday, Jan. 29. This year you can follow the mushers and their teams using GPS, a first for…
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REPORT: Another possible PolyMet EIS delay
Marshall Helmberger reported in the Timberjay this week and on Northern Community Radio this morning that hydrologists have discovered an error in part of the PolyMet EIS (Environmental Impact Study) (link: subscription only until next week). The Star Tribune also picked up on the story. The error causes some serious flaws in the projection model used to assess most…
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Virginia and Mt. Iron-Buhl mull combined high school
Two school districts on the east central Mesabi Iron Range are considering a landmark deal to build a shared high school. School officials in Virginia and Mt. Iron-Buhl are planning two public hearings on the idea next week. The first is Tuesday, Jan. 28, at Parkview in Virginia at 6 p.m.; the second is Wednesday, Jan.…
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Team Norway curling uniforms set blasters on stun
All month I’ve been talking about the underdog U.S. Curling team with northern Minnesota roots in advance of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Well, if those guys are the scrappy underdogs, we now have a picture of one of their elite adversaries. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Ulsrud Rink, aka Team Norway. Team…
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Hell’s Kitchen to raise cold cash for Embarrass, MN
It’s getting cold in northern Minnesota again. I’m not sure if it’s colder than Mars like it was a couple weeks ago, but adequately cold and getting colder. We talked about the cold on Northern Community Radio’s Between You and Me last Saturday, in which I shared an expanded version of my “Insider Tips on…
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U.S. Curling team with MN/WI stripes earns attention
When the 2014 Winter Olympics begin next month in Sochi, Russia, many will be following the high profile athletes of hockey, skating and snowboarding. But as people here in northern Minnesota know, and others are starting to realize, there is a true “regular folks” team to follow in Sochi. The U.S. Curling team, which I’ve…
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Workers pulled off Essar site; more financing woes
WDIO reports that union officials say many workers are being pulled off the Essar Steel Minnesota site near Nashwauk, Minnesota, as the company continues to search for financing to finish the long-awaited project. Rumors that contractors are owed large sums of money seem to be confirmed with news that many workers are not reporting for…
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So, what is International Metallics Corp., anyway?
I caught this story in the Mesabi Daily News last weekend: Reston, Virginia-based International Metallics Corp. is apparently proposing some kind of direct-reduced iron plant in Superior, Wisconsin. The Douglas County Board of Directors and Superior Redevelopment Authority are working on some kind of deal to help make this happen. The Duluth News Tribune had…
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Taps for Tapes: UMD tape crypt to empty this week
We all know the days of the video cassette — the VCR, the tape, the “video” in reference to a black plastic rectangular container of magnetic tape — those days are gone. And perhaps tomorrow’s free-for-all VHS giveaway at the University of Minnesota-Duluth library is just another example of that. Or perhaps it’s the end.…
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Report: Minnesota taconite revenue trails inflation
Marshall Helmberger’s Timberjay has a remarkable story analyzing Minnesota taconite revenue from production taxes over the past several decades. Here are the nuts and bolts: At a time when Minnesota mining companies continue to reap major windfalls from the historically high price of taconite produced on the Iron Range, state and local taxpayers are definitely…