The "iron nuggets plant" issue - whether a plant to process iron ore into nuggets, which can be used in mini-mills, will be built in Indiana (where the mill is and where the environmental permit process is said to be quicker) or in Minnesota (where the ore is) - an ongoing story that has been covered in detail here in the Indiana Law Blog, but not, as far as I've seen, in any of the Indiana papers, is a classic example of a state trying to balance economic development and environmental issues. As reported here today in the Duluth NewsTribune:
ST. PAUL - A bill passed by the Legislature on Wednesday keeps Minnesota in the running for the world's first full-scale iron-nugget-production facility, a top executive for Silver Bay-based Mesabi Nugget LLC said.For earlier stories, click here, or click Economic Development under the Categories heading in the right column. Posted by Marcia Oddi at May 13, 2004 03:24 PMThe bill, passed by wide margins in the House and Senate, would suspend some state environmental review requirements and allow Mesabi Nugget to modify and use existing air- and water-pollution permits for the closed LTV Mining Co. taconite facilities in Hoyt Lakes. * * *
The Silver Bay pilot plant was developed, in part, with $16 million in state loans from the Iron Range Resources Agency and the Minnesota Minerals 21st Century Fund. But in March, Steel Dynamics announced plans to open the first full-scale production facility in Butler, Ind.
The announcement sent Iron Range lawmakers and Pawlenty's administration scrambling; they believed the technology, developed in Minnesota, would be launched in Minnesota.
But Steel Dynamics said it could get permits and build the plant faster in Indiana, where the environmental review process is easier. The urgency to build the first full-scale plant is being driven by the historic prices unrefined steel, or pig iron, is fetching on the global market. * * *
Earlier this year, as lawmakers sought ways to ease the environmental review process, [Governor] Pawlenty called some of Mesabi Nugget's partners to St. Paul to see what could be done to keep Minnesota competitive. Then he set the commissioners of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Department of Employment and Economic Development and IRR to work at getting the first plant built here.
It was Rep. David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake, who first floated the idea to build the nugget plant at the shuttered LTV site and modify the still-valid environmental permits for the old taconite mine, which put 1,400 people out of work when it closed in 2001.
The possibility of bringing jobs back to the region -- while launching a technology many believe to be the next revolution in the history of American steelmaking -- was cause for celebration, Dill said after the House approved his bill 128-3. * * *
There are still many hurdles to a done deal, Dill admits, but at least lawmakers did all they could to get the technology launched in Minnesota, he said. Under the legislation, Mesabi Nugget will not be required to complete an Environmental Impact Statement for the plant [Indiana law would not require such a review]. But if permits to build and operate that plant are issued by the MPCA, the permits for the older and more polluting taconite furnaces at the LTV site will be terminated.
The Department of Employment and Economic Development has also agreed to create a tax-free Job Opportunity Building Zone at the LTV site.
The Iron Range Resources board of directors, made up of mostly Iron Range lawmakers, also approved a package of nearly $17 million in financial incentives for the project in April.
There are also transportation advantages -- as the iron ore concentrate needed to make the nuggets would have to be moved via rail to Indiana if the first iron-nugget plant goes there.
"All things being equal, we favor Minnesota, of course," Lehtinen said. His company was still pursuing environmental permits for a full-scale plant at Silver Bay.