Minnesota Power to step up wind power by 200 mW

I'm already breaking my no blog rule for the day.

Minnesota Power announces the purchase of a transmission line and the intention to phase out of one of its coal contracts in favor of 200 megawatts of wind power from the Dakotas. From today's MP's press release:

In a major move to accelerate its strategy of reducing carbon emissions and expanding renewable wind energy development, Minnesota Power proposes to purchase a major transmission line from North Dakota, phase out a long-term contract to buy coal-based electricity, and add several hundred megawatts of wind generation.

The key element of this strategic project is Minnesota Power’s purchase of a direct current (DC) transmission line that extends from the wind-rich plains of central North Dakota to the Arrowhead Substation in Hermantown, Minn.

The proposal calls for the DC line, now owned by Square Butte Electric Cooperative, to be sold to Minnesota Power for approximately $80 million in early 2009. It is now used to transmit electricity generated at the Milton R. Young Generating Station in Center, N.D. 465 miles eastward for purchase by Minnesota Power.

Direct current is a more economical way to transmit power over long distances than the standard AC, or alternating current, transmission line. The DC line being purchased by Minnesota Power is a strategic and valuable transmission link between the vast wind resource in North Dakota and electric consumers eager to increase their reliance on renewable energy.

"Three decades ago, the DC line was built to move low-cost coal-based electricity from North Dakota to power the growing taconite industry in northeast Minnesota’s Iron Range," said Don Shippar, ALLETE CEO. "Back then, it was described as a way to transport ‘coal by wire.’ Now we will use the line to transmit ‘wind by wire’."

Midnight in the halls of Iron Range power

I didn't think Excelsior Energy could go a whole legislative session without deploying its vast lobbying force for something. Recently, in the tax bill conference committee, State. Sen. Tom Bakk inserted language that extends the property tax exemptions from 2010 to 2012 for everyone's favorite black hole of government giveaways and special favors. Excelsior is the company proposing the Mesaba Energy Project, a coal gas power plant intended for the Iron Range. The project enjoys great political support from most elected officials, is deeply misunderstood by the population at large, and will almost certainly break the hearts of the people of the Iron Range at some point in the next decade.

I'm tired of talking about carbon sequestration, private financing, lobbyists and lawyers and all the other things I rail about when I post about Excelsior. Let me try to explain why I care about this.

The first problem I have with this project is that it exists only because, starting in 2002, a group of lobbyist/lawyers succeeded in getting officials in Minnesota (and the Iron Range in particular) to give them vast amounts of money and favors. There was little debate, very little questioning of this so-called company. There was certainly no discussion about whether the tens of millions of state and Iron Range dollars and hundreds of millions of federal dollars could be better spent in other ways. We were told this was simply a "jobs" project, and that's all Range lawmakers needed to hear in 2002 when it looked like the whole mining industry was falling apart. We were told 1,000 jobs would come from this, when anyone in the power industry could have told them that only about 100-200 permanent jobs could ever come from such a project. In short, the project was built on desperation and deception.

My second problem with this is related to a much larger issue. Who is in charge on the Iron Range? Are the people and their elected representatives in charge? Or is it developers, lobbyists and consultants? Because the Range is doomed if it's the latter. We will only survive this fast-changing transition to the global economy if our elected leaders use judgment in defending the interests and resources of the people ahead of the interests of those who offer lofty promises in exchange for free rein over laws and public coffers. The leaders of Excelsior Energy walked onto the Iron Range pretending to be a group of native Rangers interested in "saving" the region. But their business model has been to clearly and forcibly shift risk from their ledgers onto that of the taxpayers, to promise more jobs than they could deliver and to mischaracterize the nature of the technology they tout, making a science experiment seem like a sure thing.

Meantime, the $9.5 million that the Iron Range gave this company (ostensibly as a loan, but the language clearly implies that we'll never see that money again) could have built a new school. It could have almost met the state match on the federal highway money that could have finally -- after FIFTY years -- finished the cross-Range Highway 169. City sewers. Rural broadband. Streets and roads. All of these real needs were put behind the needs of lobbyists.

Excelsior Energy has acted as though it owns the Iron Range and is entitled to its mineral monies and special treatment. As long as the status quo continues, Excelsior and any half-rate pack of wolves that comes along DOES own the Range. They WILL extract our resources and push our local, county and state officials around like cattle. Every midnight conference committee will contain favorable language for developers at the expense of the regular Iron Range people who mined the ore that funded the whole enterprise. And when the money's gone, the wolves will be gone. No jobs. And people like me and my kids will be sitting around wondering what to do next.

So I will talk about this as often as is necessary. I will post commentaries like this every week, every day if necessary until this company and any like it is driven from the halls of Iron Range power. I don't need votes. I don't need money. I've got no personal stake in this except that I want to see the right thing done and the people put first.

So if I go on and on, now you know why. Believe me, I'd MUCH rather be talking about something else.

Great news! The Range is getting shafted by lobbyists!

Maybe you heard on the TV the great, fantastic super duper news that lobbyist-run Excelsior Energy got a gabildyzillion dollars in tax credits for their boondoggle Mesaba Energy Project. Wow! That's great! Except that the tax credits apply only if they build the plant, a prospect that requires private investment and a customer willing to buy the overpriced, unreliable power. Also they need to figure out how to make the vast granite shelf below the Iron Range part like the Red Sea so they can bury their carbon like they promised. I'll buy it when Moses registers as a lobbyist for Excelsior.

Literally at the same time Excelsior was sending out this press release they were ducking out of a scheduled PUC meeting that may well have put a stake through the heart of their entire project by closing off a mandated power purchase agreement they need to survive. At some point, the people of the Iron Range will grow tired of this insulting P.R. strategy and figure these people out for the hacks they are. May that day come soon.

Excelsior petitions for delay in PUC ruling on Mesaba project

Excelsior Energy's Mesaba Energy Project will not be on the docket for Thursday's Public Utilities Commission meeting. The PUC had been expected to rule on two key aspects of the proposed coal gas plant, but Excelsior asked for and received a delay.

Why? Some mumbo jumbo about an appeal to a previous administrative decision.

The truth? Either ...

1) Excelsior has reason to believe that a more favorable decision for them can be achieved in the future through political gamesmanship.

2) They are in deep trouble and know that a devastating decision will come down the next time the PUC rules.

Maybe it's both, but I forecast a battle Royal over this wasteful boondoggle (a project that, in the end, will not produce jobs or power) this summer. The amount that the public doesn't know about this company and its project is vast. When we answer some of the questions, as I and others seek to do, I don't think this project can or should proceed.

Anzelc speaks truth on Mesaba boondoggle

In this Mike Jennings story rescued from last Saturday's edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune, my friend and colleague Tom Anzelc becomes the highest level public official to acknowledge the foolishness of the Mesaba Energy Project:

Efforts to sort out the legal and administrative tangle that has ensnared Excelsior Energy will continue next week, but Rep. Tom Anzelc says the right outcome is clear: It’s time to drop the idea of building a coal-gasification power plant on the Iron Range.

“I am more convinced than ever that this project is not in the public interest, that it does not have a willing purchaser of the power, that its location is suspect, and it flies in the face of the discussion in the country and in the world, frankly, of sequestering carbon,” Anzelc said Friday.

Backed by legislation meant to encourage innovative energy projects and funded by an array of government grants and loans, Excelsior’s proposed Mesaba Energy Project has run into opposition both locally and with the commission.

One telling blow came last August, when the commisson ruled that Excelsior’s proposed terms for selling the initial 603-megawatt output of its power plant to Xcel Energy would be counter to the public interest. The commission dealt Excelsior another defeat last month when it denied the company’s request for an indefinite stay on negotiations with Xcel aimed at persuading the giant utility to buy still more power from Xcel.On Thursday, May 8, the commission is scheduled to consider whether to place a deadline on further negotiations between Excelsior and Xcel. It will also take up a more complex question — whether based on its “clean energy” credentials and overall costs, Excelsior should be entitled to sell Xcel at least 13 percent of the electricity that Xcel provides its retail customers.

Read the whole story here. It includes State Sen. Tom Saxhaug repeating the old line on why people should go along with the project (Because electricity is important and stuff). Interestingly, Excelsior Energy's Tom Micheletti did not return calls for this story. After his desperate-sounding letter to the editor from last week, I wonder why not?

May 8 PUC meeting could reveal fate of Mesaba boondoggle

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will revisit the second phase of the Mesaba Energy Project Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Xcel at its May 8 meeting. Two major questions are to be answered. Will the PUC recognize Excelsior Energy's proposed coal-gas power plant as a "least cost" innovative project AND will they set a deadline for negotiations between Xcel and Excelsior to set prices?

An Administrative Law Judge, in an advisory ruling, told the PUC last fall that the Mesaba project is far too expensive to be in the public's interest. And Xcel doesn't need or want Excelsior's power. Unless the state PUC mandates that Xcel buy this overpriced power from this boondoggle yet-to-be-built power plant, there can be no project. This May 8 PUC meeting might be the beginning of the long overdue end of this economic development farce. Let's hope so, because if Excelsior gains new life through political dealings then Mesaba becomes an election issue that badly muddies the U.S. Senate race. I prefer not to think about that until May 8.

Range town PUC considers abandoning coal for alternatives

The head of Hibbing Public Utilities says the city should consider phasing out coal in its power generation, preferring instead renewable sources of energy or buying cheaper power from Minnesota Power. Mike Jennings has the story in today's Hibbing Daily Tribune.

... Jim Kochevar, the public utilities general manager, said Monday that some problems with the wood-burning unit have already been solved and others will be once a sound re-engineering plan has been worked out. He said the thornier problems deal with coal — and the best long-term solution would be to abandon coal-fired power production.

...

Kochevar said getting coal that is free of fine particles has gotten harder over time, and getting rail delivery, which would eliminate the need for above-ground storage, has been impossible because BNSF Railway has refused to make coal cars available.

While the power plant can and will become a better neighbor in the near future, over the longer term Hibbing’s public utilities should “find a way to cost-effectively get out of coal,” at least at its downtown power plant, Kochevar said.He said the utilities might consider switching entirely to renewable fuels or producing power at a new location in partnership with Minnesota Power Co.

Hibbing, the largest city on the Iron Range, is one of two Range towns involved in the Laurentian Energy Authority which received hefty federal funding to develop biomass energy production that burns aspen and other trees grown in Northern Minnesota. Now outgoing Hibbing PUC general manager Jim Kochevar says the kinks are worked out and the city could consider switching all the way to biomass and buying some or most of its remaining electrical load from Minnesota Power. (Kochevar is soon taking a job with Cleveland Cliffs to run their Michigan energy operations, which includes biomass production).

All this comes in the context of a citizen meeting where Hibbing residents expressed outrage over all the coal dust settling on the neighborhood around the PUC plant.

If Hibbing can switch to alternative fuels, any town can switch to alternative fuels. This is worth following.

BS Factory will stop at nothing

Now that Excelsior Energy's boondoggle Mesaba Energy Project is hitting the hard wall of reality (that its overpriced coal gas plant won't have a customer because of the vast expense of the technology) its leaders are lashing out at opponents. I joked in an previous post about Excelsior co-CEO Tom Micheletti's reference to Minnesota Power as "Anti-Range Power" because of MP's longstanding and increasingly effective opposition to his project. Well, that wasn't just an offhanded remark. That's his new PR strategy. Read Micheletti's letter to the editor from Wednesday's Hibbing Daily Tribune entitled "Anti-Range Power will stop at nothing."

Micheletti is trying to rip MP's recent environmental upgrades as insignificant because MP was mandated to clean up their plants by new anti-carbon regulations.

Well, duh.

Excelsior is only proposing a coal gasification plant on the Range because they deduced that they could get vast amounts of government financing and political support for it ... all related to regulatory trends in the energy business and loyal political friends in the region. What he fails to acknowledge is that Minnesota Power has merely figured out a more practical, certainly more profitable solution to the short term problems of converting to cleaner energy. A plant like Micheletti's needs to be near the coal and the energy demand in order to be financially viable. This one isn't and people are finally starting to figure that out.

Remember, Micheletti and most of his colleagues have been around the legal and political side of the energy business for decades. I encourage any journalist to review their career paths, especially the energy projects that immediately preceded this one. I haven't had the time to dig in (this is not my day job), but there are so many unanswered questions that it would be simply foolish to take this company at its word.

Coal gas boondoggle circling the drain

There hasn't been much coverage about the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission meeting from this past Thursday. Two decisions regarding my least favorite Iron Range economic development project emerged from that meeting. As you may know, Excelsior Energy is proposing the Mesaba Energy Project, a coal-gas power plant for the Iron Range. The project enjoys a good deal of support from the elected officials on the Iron Range but has also attracted well-organized citizen opposition. I continue to repeat and repeat and repeat that this project is a boondoggle that will never produce jobs or electricity.

Anyway, here's the dispatch from a fellow Itasca County resident and MinnesotaBrown reader who was at the meeting:

1) The PUC ruled that transmission infrastructure for the Mesaba Energy Project IS exempt from a Certificate of Need as is stated in Minn. Stat. § 216B.1694, but Excelsior Energy still has to have routing and environmental permitting reviews completed on the route(s). This allows EE to move forward with preliminary design, but no construction. (If they have the money to do so, which is a big question mark.)It is possible that Minnesota Power will take this to the courts.

2) The PUC denied Excelsior Energy's petition for an unlimited stay on the (Power Purchase Agreement) for Phase II. This means that the PUC will address the PPA for Phase II and hopefully soon!

For the uninitiated, the "power purchase agreement" has to do with a 2003 state law in which several local legislators tried to mandate that Xcel Energy buy power from Excelsior, which was then (and remains) essentially a collection of lobbyists and consultants raising money off the government. The cost of this unique kind of "clean coal" plant is enormous and Excelsior would be unable to gain financing without a guaranteed customer.

Anyway, Thursday's meeting means that the PUC will decide relatively soon on this power purchase agreement. Anti-Mesaba comments from several members of the PUC indicate that the jig is up. If the current PUC is to vote on this issue they are likely to deny the PPA and effectively kill this lousy excuse for a "jobs" project.

UPDATE: Sunday's Grand Rapids Herald-Review reports on the PUC meeting. Relying solely on an interview with Excelsior's co-CEO Tom Micheletti and a confounded Minnesota Power PR rep, the story misses the point. Micheletti and Excelsior have thrived up here because so few local media types understand the energy business or the nature of this project. Anyway, here is Micheletti's desperate spin on Thursday:

“It went very well,” said Excelsior Energy CEO Tom Micheletti by phone about the hearing in St. Paul after it was completed.

Micheletti felt the transmission issue was the more important of the two petitions before the MPUC. He also did not have any qualms about expressing his disdain for Minnesota Power, which asked the MPUC to delay a decision on transmission infrastructure until final action on the power purchase agreement has been taken.

“They (Minnesota Power) are taking frivolous and unwarranted positions on state law,” Micheletti said. “I have a new name for them. ARP. Anti Range Power. And you can quote me on that.”

Ha Ha! They DID quote him! Of course, Minnesota Power has been making power on the Iron Range for almost 100 damn years. Excelsior never will. So, you know. I have a new name for them. BSF. The first word is "Bull" and the last one is "Factory." I'll let you figure out that middle word.

UPDATE: Minnesota moves up wind power rankings

Take a look at this post from Bluestem Prairie, citing a Rochester Bulletin story. Minnesota has moved into third place nationally for wind power generation. And that doesn't include those lean 25 MW from Taconite Ridge on the Iron Range set to go online this year. Minnesota is windy, let's make that work for us.

Maybe we'll make #2 by 2009 so we can get a first round bye in the Wind-lympics.

Over at MNBlue today...

I'm running errands this morning, but will be back with some newer material tonight. Meantime, check out my latest contributions at www.mnblue.com. They are rehashes of material I've posted here before about wind power on the Iron Range and the potential Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar. Sometimes the discussions take interesting turns with the metro blog audience, though, so it might be worth a check if you're bored.

Coal Hacks Are Making Propaganda (CHAMP!)

There's an ad in this week's Scenic Range News (a weekly newspaper on the western Mesabi Range) promoting a new group, CHAMP, or Citizens Happy About the Mesaba Project.

This is an obvious turn on CAMP, Citizens Against the Mesaba Project, a large well-organized citizen group that has held the line against Excelsior Energy's Mesaba Energy Project, a boondoggle coal gas plant proposed by well-connected lobbyist lawyers. I'm not a member of CAMP but I share the group's desire to relegate this project to the dust bin of bad economic development decisions on the Iron Range.

It will be interesting to see who is forming CHAMP, who joins and who ultimately funds its activities. That is, presuming CHAMP ever ends up being anything more than an ad in a weekly newspaper to create the appearance of public support for the project. Excelsior Energy spent more than $450,000 on lobbying expenses in 2007. Their entire existence depends upon public opinion, so I remain skeptical of something like CHAMP. (I mean, come on ... using a same sounding acronym? A little obvious, me thinks).

We're going to build a steel plant near Nashwauk, something that didn't require a group called CHISEL (Citizens Happy In Seeing Essar Locate).

UPDATE: Corrected spelling in headline. That's what I get for trying to post in the few minutes I get before morning classes.

Turbine time!

From today's Mesabi Daily News:

Work is progressing rapidly on the Taconite Ridge Wind Turbine project in Mountain Iron. These towers are part of a ten tower project which will produce 25 megawatts of power and will be hooked into the Minnesota Power grid. When completed the towers will be about 315 tall. Photo by Mark Sauer

We could build hundreds of these things along the tall ridge of the Iron Range, producing a modern landscape that could usher in a new era of innovation. People get worked up about the birds, but we can work on that.

Range power boondoggle, despite 80 percent backing from feds, remains likely to fail

I've written and blogged plenty about the Mesaba Energy Project (notably here, and most recently here). This boondoggle proposal is built on a foundation of lofty economic and environmental promises that can't be fulfilled without a realignment of the universe. So I'll just point out this interesting MPR story from last week that shows the financial hurdles this coal burner will face and gently remind readers to tell their legislators that this project should receive no further special treatment.

Project opponents have criticized the Kelliher MPR piece as a puff piece for the company, but I still think it shows the immense difficulty Excelsior Energy will face in actually doing what they say they're going to do. Nevertheless, we should all be appalled that the government is underwriting 80 percent of $2 billion start up company that consists entirely of lobbyists and coal power insiders.

Damning comments about Mesaba boondoggle covered up; project faces new criticism from key federal agencies

The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued comments last month in the matter of Excelsior Energy's Mesaba Energy Project, a coal-gas power plant proposed for the Iron Range. I've declared this project a boondoggle that will produce neither electricity nor jobs before its "owners" walk away with bags of money. (OK, perhaps it won't be literally in bags, but copious amounts of state and federal loans and grants are in the pockets of this so-called company).

Well, those comments were withheld from public view until late last week for no good reason, except that they are bad news for the project. Carol Overland, an attorney arguing against the project, issues a complete report on her blog, which I recommend you read.



In short, the EPA issued a statement that the project plan leaves numerous questions -- both environmental and functional -- and should not be approved unless those concerns are addressed (the company has refused to answer these questions because it would force them to discuss publicly that they have no customer and that the power they would produce would be prohibitively expensive).



The Army Corps of Engineers issued similar concerns about a lack of information about the practical operation of the plant. For specifics, see Carol's blog. In summary, these comments were withheld from the public by the MN Dept. of Commerce -- which works for Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a project supporter -- and by the Bush U.S. Dept. of Energy, which is trying desperately to funnel money to coal projects at the behest of the president and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman. And before you think I'm just writing this to attack Republicans, let me remind Range readers that many (though not all) DFL Range lawmakers have been willing or complacent conspirators in this terrible public policy.


This thing is finally unraveling and it's time for our public officials to break away now while we can still preserve some of our funds and dignity.

Brown on the Air: Gas Prices

We get topical on "Between You and Me" this week as the music and call-in show will focus on gas. My commentary discusses gas prices and continues my growing advocacy for legalized moonshine. Huh? You'll have to tune in to "Between You and Me" Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota or streaming online at http://www.kaxe.org/.

Cliffs hires away Hibbing PUC utilities chief to run biomass; a flash of what's to come?

Today's Hibbing Daily Tribune reports that Hibbing Public Utilities general manager Jim Kochevar is taking a job with Cleveland-Cliffs to oversee that company's energy operations in Michigan. Kochevar was one of the leaders who developed the Laurentian Energy Authority, a biomass power generation project shared by the cities of Hibbing and Virginia. Cleveland-Cliffs recently announced plans to develop biomass power plants to provide electricity for its some of its mining operations. They're starting in Michigan, but I expect that if that works they'll be building similar plants in or around their Minnesota operations.

As a newspaper reporter, editor and radio host in Hibbing, I interviewed Jim Kochevar many times. My impression has always been that he's a straight-shooter who deals fairly with the public and press. I hope that his activity with Cliffs leads to the continued development of a market for our area wood products as part of a clean renewable energy strategy.

Picture the not-so-distant future of the Iron Range. Large mining and steel operations, cities and other large electricity customers each have their own biomass plants burning homegrown wood products from nearby forests. Additional power needs are met ably by existing Minnesota Power plants and hydroelectric power from Manitoba. When you factor in environmental upgrades at Minnesota Power's plants, we could see a major economic boom all the time while holding down the amount of carbon emissions in northern Minnesota.

At some point, probably in my lifetime, the Iron Range and northern Minnesota will receive a lot of attention for our vast supply of forests, fresh water and iron ore products. These are all things that will become more important if current climate, population and economic trends continue on their current paths. It'd be great if our region was ready, wide-eyed and sharp-witted about the challenges that will come with these changes.

Stay tuned.

Augsburg claims biodiesel breakthrough

Researchers at Augsburg College in (Correction: Minneapolis ... I was close), inspired by the work of an undergraduate student, now claim to have made a major breakthrough in the production of biodiesel fuels that could be used for vehicles and in energy production. Their new process is much more efficient than traditional biofuels and produce less waste.

Here's part of a Thomas Lee story from today's Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Dubbed the "Mcgyan Process," the technology, inspired by the work of Augsburg undergraduate Brian Krohn, converts most feedstocks into biodiesel fuel without using much water or producing lots of waste.

Ever Cat Fuels, a start-up co-founded by Augsburg alumnus Clayton McNeff, is building a $5 million plant in Isanti that eventually will produce 3 million gallons of biodiesel fuel a year.

Normally, companies make biodiesel fuel by mixing soybean oil with a sodium hydroxide "catalyst" in a tank that's heated at a high temperature. But this "batch" process takes hours to complete and produces waste. The catalyst itself must be neutralized with either hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, two toxic chemicals.

The Mcgyan method employs a metal oxide catalyst that converts a mixture of alcohol and feedstock oils in a tubelike reactor to biodiesel fuel. This continuous or "flow" process makes it more efficient because it takes seconds to complete and produces little waste, McNeff said. Patents on the process are pending.

One of the feedstock oils can be algae oil, which can be produced in great quantities from wastewater. Xcel Energy Inc. has invested $4.5 million toward algae and other alternative energy work through the University of Minnesota's Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment.

The timing for Friday's announcement could not have been better. Oil prices reached record highs this week, twice breaking $105 a barrel. That's higher than the previous peak in April 1980, when oil topped $101, after adjusting for inflation.

My argument for building a series of corn alcohol stills in the low-lying area behind my garage is finally gaining some traction.

Cliffs looks to another good year

WDIO reported last night (sorry, no direct link available) that Cleveland Cliffs is anticipating a return to pre-2001 production levels at its Minnesota taconite operations, including HibTac and UTac, in the near future. The company is also considering building a biomass power plant to cover some of the power needs for this revived taconite production. The fuel used would be primarily some kind of wood pulp also grown and processed in northern Minnesota.

Isn't it interesting that these big companies are predicting growth on the Iron Range and yet acknowledge that new coal-fired electricity probably won't be an logistically or financially feasible option? I think that's interesting. Kind of makes you wonder about certain boondoggle energy projects doomed to fail but that enjoy widespread political support. Kind of makes you want it to go away, like the guy you invited to the party because you thought he was cool but who drank all the beer in the first two hours and is starting to creep out the girls.

Anyway, I digress. In the midst of all the potential of big ticket new projects, let's not forget that U.S. Steel, Cleveland-Cliffs and their power broker, Minnesota Power, are all having damn fine years and will have a license to print money next year, too.

Excelsior's new strategy?

Excelsior Energy is running large, color ads in the Mesabi Daily News thanking the Iron Range for all its support for their boondoggle coal gas power plant called the Mesaba Energy Project. Of course, the lobbyist-run company's most important supporters are the ones on their political contributions list, but I suppose the sentiment is nice. The ad I saw reminds us that projects like Minnesota Steel, Polymet, U.S. Steel's KeeTac expansion and others will require electricity, not unlike the overpriced electricity they propose to sell.

Damn, they've got a point! Those things WILL require electricity.

Small problem. The electricity that would be produced by Excelsior Energy, if they get permits and private funding (a long shot), will cost twice market rates and be available only when the plant is functioning properly, something they can't promise with their experimental technology. Which means that any company relying on Mesaba's power will operate at a competitive disadvantage and be more likely to fail.

Let me put this bluntly. Excelsior Energy has moved beyond just being a bad idea that has sucked and will continue to suck countless millions of state and federal taxpayer dollars away from other more worthy uses. Now its leaders are trying to attach themselves -- no doubt through yet unknown legislation -- to other projects likely to be permitted and built. This means that if this boondoggle ever gets built it will threaten the economic viability of EVERY NEW ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECT on the Range. Oh, and also ALL THE MINES. (When mines must choose between overpaying for power and closing, they always close). People want jobs? Really? Then this project needs to have "an accident" and never be heard from again. Then we Iron Rangers start fresh with better ideas and real innovation.