Community gets Taconite Harbor update from MN Power

The citizen advisory panel (CAP) was established six years ago to give community members, Schroeder residents, in particular, the opportunity to weigh in on what they would like to see happen at the Minnesota Power Taconite Harbor Energy Center. The coal-fired plant was idled in 2016 and was slated for closure this year. 
 

However, at a CAP meeting at Surfside Resort on December 5, community members learned that the plant will not be shut down completely. The Taconite Harbor Energy Center will remain on “standby” for two more years.
 

At this time, Minnesota Power told citizens that the plant would not be completely shut down until sometime in 2022. 
 

That means any economic development planning to be done by the citizen advisory panel is now on hold. There had been some hopes that the former Taconite Harbor townsite could be resurrected as a new affordable housing site, but that too will be on hold until the energy center is shut down. 
 

At that December 5 meeting at Surfside, community members also discussed the railroad between Taconite Harbor and Hoyt Lakes and the Taconite Harbor Safe Harbor. 
 

WTIP’s Rhonda Silence checked in with Schroeder Supervisor Bruce Martinson on all of these matters.