West End News: July 16

It is not much of a surprise, but upsetting nonetheless, to hear Minnesota Power announce the permanent closing of their coal-fired power plant in Schroeder.  To their credit, the utility has been preparing the community for this announcement for several years. 
 
There will be a lot of talk about who is at fault for the closing, but the bottom line is that the power plant has been left behind by the modern world, just like any other outdated technology.
 
However, the pain felt by the community and the people who work at the plant is real and immediate.  Some of the employees will retire. Some will take Minnesota Power up on their offer to relocate to another facility.  But a significant number, who have deep roots and other commitments in Cook and Lake Counties, will be forced to change careers – which is a difficult task in this part of the world.
 
On the positive side, Minnesota Power plans to keep the plant in reserve for another few years, which will require some people to keep up with routine maintenance and security. The decommissioning and deconstruction of the huge industrial site will provide some jobs for quite a few years after that. 
 
With its access to rail service, the power grid and a deep-water port, hopefully a new line of business can be developed at Taconite Harbor that will provide significant jobs into the future.
 
It strikes me as a perfect location for a large solar power facility, perhaps paired with a large greenhouse/fish farm operation.  In any case, we’ll have to put on our thinking caps and make the best of a bad situation.
 
Several other news items caught my eye this week. 
 
The first is a document put together by the nonprofit group Water Legacy.  They prepared it as a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency to intervene with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.  The nearly 500 pages of official documents form a devastating indictment of how the mining industry in Minnesota has managed to avoid meeting even the most basic water quality standards over the last twenty or more years.
 
Water Legacy’s investigation makes it clear that the mining industry has used its considerable political clout to essentially make up its own rules, resulting in significant damage to public rivers and lakes.
 
The second news item that caught my eye is a report that lobbyists spent almost 70 million dollars this year to influence the Minnesota Legislature.  That is more than $320,000 per legislator in a single year. 
 
The third news item was the release of a timetable for the Polymet Corporation to begin a huge new mining operation near Hoyt Lakes in the Lake Superior watershed.  The Polymet executives have repeatedly said that they plan to fully comply with Minnesota’s water quality regulations.
 
I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions about how these news items might, or might not, be related.
 
Bode, the dog from Minneapolis who has been on the loose around Sawbill for the last few weeks, has finally been captured and returned to his owners. 
 
Bode became spooked during a thunderstorm near Burnt Lake in the BWCA Wilderness and ran off from his owners, who had only recently adopted him from a dog rescue organization.  He was spotted every few days since then, but was too skittish to be captured.
 
He finally walked into a campsite at the Nine Mile Lake Campground, more than 25 miles from Burnt Lake.  A woman in the campsite grabbed his collar, thinking he belonged to another party in the campground.  Bode’s dog tags led them to the true owner and the saga of Bode concludes with a happy ending.  Bode’s owners have asked me to thank everyone who helped them over the last few weeks and expressed their gratitude for all the support and concern they received from the good people of the West End.