Critical Greenway referendum fails

Greenway's referendum failed after Tuesday's votes were counted. My information comes second hand from someone in administration. I don't have vote totals, but what I heard was the measure failed by about 200 votes out of about 1800 -- roughly a ten-point defeat.

(UPDATE: From the May 21 Grand Rapids Herald-Review, referendum fails 1170-898. That's a 272 vote spread or about 56.5 percent to 43.5 percent ... not especially close)

This pivotal referendum would have combined and extended three existing excess levy referendums for the Greenway school district on the western Iron Range. The district is in massive debt and is facing a defeat in an important lawsuit with one of its bargaining units that will further deepen the district's financial woes.

The word was that the district would try again in the fall, but I seriously doubt that the outcome will change. The district has survived off operating levies for years as declining enrollment, skyrocketing legacy costs and some poor long-range planning savaged the dwindling budget. Unless given a iron-clad long term plan to A) get out of debt, and B) return the district to its past level of quality, I doubt voters are going to change their minds. It's very sad to say, but the district's only legitimate choice now is to find a way to cover the debt while entering into some kind of consolidation with Grand Rapids or Nashwauk-Keewatin. There are efforts underway to build a new school for N-K, so this might be the perfect time to talk about ways for Greenway to get involved.

I'm never happy to see hard times for schools. As a teacher myself, this is tragic to watch. But absent a solid long range plan, Greenway's leaders need to face the fact that they probably aren't going to be able to pass a referendum in the fall.

Meantime, everyone in northern Minnesota needs to be worried about the long range health of their school districts. Greenway has some special problems, but most of their problems are shared by everyone on the Range. Wise planning is the only way districts will survive declining enrollment. And all this simply underscores the fact that large, "proposed" jobs projects that might bring new families with students mean nothing when reality requires actual economic activity. Let's take this as a rallying call to modernize our thinking and fight for the Iron Range.

Remember, U.S. Steel deals in the folding money

Just a friendly reminder, the biggest investor of new capital into the Iron Range economy this year will not be Essar Global, Excelsior Energy, Wal-Mart or even the Pabst brewing company. No, the most new money will come from U.S. Steel, which is dropping a smooth $350 million to restart an old line at Keewatin Taconite. It's worth pointing out the things that are real and the things that are proposed or even imaginary.

Furthermore, U.S. Steel will pay full taconite taxes on the pellets they ship off this new line, creating more revenue for local communities. They didn't need fancy new tax breaks to make this expansion happen. They simply needed the ore in the ground and the permits required to mine it. What's the lesson? Healthy economies involve private companies making financially sound decisions (yes, with government assistance and common sense regulation) but not government financing or policies that sell out people who do the actual work and live in the actual towns. I'm not trying to be a booster for U.S. Steel, just pointing out some basic economic facts that seem to elude people around here. We've got to figure out a way to spend our economic development dollars in a way that kick starts independent, diversified growth because we just can't afford to try to build massive "jobs factories" into the distant future.

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 RELEASE
Oberstar Applauds U.S. Steel Investment in Keewatin Taconite

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Jim Oberstar says U.S. Steel’s decision to invest $300 million in Keewatin Taconite (Keetac) is an important step towards making Minnesota taconite more competitive in the global marketplace. The project will produce 500 construction jobs over 3 years and 75 – 100 permanent jobs for the Iron Range. Production at the U.S. Steel’s Keewatin plant will increase from the current six million tons a year to nearly ten million tons of taconite pellets.

“Minnesota iron ore has gone global. Our taconite pellets are feeding blast furnaces from Cleveland to China,” said Oberstar. “With this announcement, U.S. Steel demonstrates it has the vision and capacity to compete world-wide. Keetac sits on one of the richest bodies of iron ore on the Range, and this investment at Keetac will create profits for U.S. Steel and long-term, full-time jobs for iron ore miners on the Iron Range. Steel production is a mainstay of American industrial productivity, and Minnesota’s Iron Range fuels that production.”

Keeping Minnesota’s taconite industry competitive has been one of Oberstar’s top priorities throughout his service in Congress. Oberstar introduced the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) which was enacted into law last year. WRDA included provisions to dredge, long-neglected, harbors and shipping channels across the Great Lakes.

Shallower navigation channels cause Great Lakes ore freighters to reduce their shipments by as much as 7500 tons light on each trip from Duluth to the eastern steel mills. “We have to make sure those ore boats go out with a full load to reduce Minnesota taconite costs,” said Oberstar. “If we don’t maintain our shipping infrastructure, we are giving an advantage to nations like Brazil and Russia that are competing with Minnesota taconite.”

WRDA also authorized $341 million to construct a second lock to accommodate modern ships at Sault Ste. Marie. Another $134 million is authorized to make other repairs and upgrades on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The Keetac expansion will also embrace new technology that is more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. U.S. Steel will have to make that case to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to obtain the environmental permits the company will need to move forward. Oberstar says he is confident that effort will be successful. “I am ready to work with the gifted and skilled members of the Iron Range legislative delegation on the permitting process that lies ahead,” said Oberstar.

Tomorrow's news today

Business North is reporting the item about Friday's U.S. Steel announcement in Keewatin. Here's what they say:

It’s the worst-kept secret on the Iron Range: All indications point to a major expansion pending at Keewatin Taconite.

Owner U.S. Steel wasn’t commenting publicly, but told Range legislators to expect a Feb. 1 announcement that is “positive.”

U.S. Steel already has air quality permit amendments in hand for a mining expansion at the Keewatin mill. A rumored expansion on the order of $350 million would increase the plant’s production capacity by more than 3 million tons, making it second on the Range only to Minntac, also owned by U.S. Steel.
The operation produced 5.3 million tons of taconite in 2007, employing 375 Steelworkers.

I talked to Business North editor Wayne Nelson last weekend at the KAXE Annual Meeting. He knew about it and I knew about it but we couldn't say for sure, so we just nodded a lot. Then I went to work Monday and all my mining technology students already knew about it. Yeah, this one is pretty much out there. Good news, though, so U.S. Steel probably won't deploy their P.R. plumbers.

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 was up in the last quarter of 2007, but down slightly for the year. Last week, news reports detailed a fine against Keewatin Taconite for environmental violations. It would seem that U.S. Steel is making an aggressive move related to both stories.

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 there. Also significant is that this would be an immediate project, not a "prospective" project as we've been talking about in the case of the east Range nonferrous mines or the Nashwauk steel mill.

Stay tuned for Friday.

Good news?

I'm hearing credible rumors of something potentially big and ostensibly good happening at U.S. Steel's taconite plants in northern Minnesota (they own Keewatin Taconite and MinnTac near Virginia). I'll let you know when I can confirm.