MinnesotaBrown

Minnesota Power to step up wind power by 200 mW

2008-05-13T10:07:00.004-05:00

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’."

Paper Chase

2008-05-13T09:02:00.003-05:00

Believe it or not, I don't pay my bills with this blog. If I did I'd be on a slow boat to an Australian debtors prison now. I teach at a community college and finals week is coming up. From now through next week I'll be grading a massive amount of papers, all while keeping up on publicity for one of my other projects, Dylan Days. THEN, when that's done, I have to finish the second draft of the book. (Oh, and the column and radio commentary deadlines remain unchanged as well).

Point is, you might not get as many updates this week.

Midnight in the halls of Iron Range power

2008-05-13T08:03:00.005-05:00

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 its the latter. We will only survive this fast-changing transition to the global economy if our elected leaders use their 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.

Five questions about the Iron Range economic boom

2008-05-12T07:10:00.004-05:00

Tony Barrett, an economics professor at St. Scholastica in Duluth, poses five excellent questions about the Iron Range's prospective economic boom in today's Duluth News-Tribune. I sense on the streets and back roads of the Iron Range that people are sitting back, perhaps a bit too comfortable in the belief that good times are about to roll. There is work to do and change to come. This won't be easy. Kudos to Barrett for a concise summary of the issues ahead for the people of the Iron Range.

Democracy on the March: Batman vs. the Penguin

2008-05-12T07:03:00.004-05:00

In the old Adam West TV show, Batman once battled the Penguin (both in full costume) in a democratic election. Sadly, the satire is particularly appropriate for this year. My favorite is Robin's reaction at the end of the clip.

True knowledge in the north woods

2008-05-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

This is my weekly Hibbing Daily Tribune column for Sunday, May 11, 2008. I archive my columns at my writing site.

True knowledge in the north woods
By Aaron J. Brown

The other day, my almost-three-year-old son Henry and I walked down to the lake to throw sticks, a favorite pastime of Henry’s and a ritual that has begun to grow on me. We normally throw rocks but our multiple April blizzards covered all the rocks with cold water. So we’ve been throwing sticks lately, different because they drift back to shore to be thrown again. You don’t get the satisfying “splunk” sound but the whole endeavor is much more sustainable, without the sharp rocks underfoot this summer. It’s kind of like driving a compact car instead of a Mustang. You get high off the ethos, not the pathos.

Henry is highly focused. I hope this means that in the future he will focus on kindness to others and getting a job after college, but for right now he focuses squarely on throwing sticks (or, in dry times, rocks) into the lake while Northern Minnesota’s natural world unfolds around us. On this one particular day, that world included loons.

You don’t realize how little you know about loons until you explain them to a toddler.

“Ducks!” said Henry.

“No, not ducks. Loons. They’re a little like ducks but, uh, different.”

“Ducks!” he repeated.

“No, loons. They’re Minnesota’s state bird. They’re black and white.”

“I throw sticks,” Henry concluded.

Four loons appeared in front of us. Two of them danced on the water, flapping their wings the way birds do in nature photographs in magazines I read at the clinic. Was it a mating ritual? I assumed the dancing birds were the males, but was it three males wooing one female or were these two pairs of loons fighting for habitation rights to the small lake by our house?

“Look, Henry. Those loons are dancing.”

“Ha,” said Henry. “Those ducks funny.”

I know people who know what those loons were really doing, but that’s the whole point. I wouldn’t know where to begin. Sure, I could stuff my brain full of loon facts only to be left with another question. What was that other bird that was swooping down at the loons on the lake, presumably protecting its nest near the shore? That bird has a name and story, too, as do all the other birds Henry and I saw that day. And you know, even after a lifetime in northern Minnesota, including a failed career in the Boy Scouts, a college botany class in which I received a B- and literally hundreds of observations by wily old timers, I still hesitate before identifying tree species.

Basswood? Plausible.

I know a lot of things. I know the historical dynamic of every presidential race of the 20th Century (the taller guy always wins, except when named John Kerry). I know the name of the talking horse from “Hot to Trot,” a movie starring Bobcat Goldwaith that I watched on VHS at my grandma’s house when it was a new release (Don. Just Don). And also know more than I should about adult contemporary hits of the 1980s and ‘90s thanks to a stint as an overnight disc jockey during high school. I know all these things and yet I did not know what those loons were doing on the lake last week. Not for sure, anyway. I would have traded hundreds of things that I know for that one thing I did not know at that moment.

We don’t know as much as we think we do. The more I learn, the more I realize that I don’t know much beyond the tip of my nose, if that. No one can teach this lesson better than someone young, short and curious. The very next thing I do after writing this sentence is to google loons. I need to know more about loons and most other things.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Contact him or read more at his blog: www.minnesotabrown.com.

Update: Forums scheduled for hot 4A race

2008-05-10T09:48:00.004-05:00

Here's an update from the House District 4A race. This is the seat that popular incumbent Frank Moe (DFL-Bemidji) is abandoning to pursue a Ph.D. and focus on his family. We've got endorsement fights on both sides of the aisle.

DFL
There are still only two announced DFL candidates for endorsement: Leech Lake band member and attorney Irene Folstrom and Beltrami County Soil and Water commissioner John Persell. Both candidates have run unsuccessful campaigns for the legislature before and have learned from the experience. The word from the district is that Folstrom and Persell are both working the delegate lists hard and that it's hard to say which currently has the upper hand. There remains the possibility that other candidates could jump in, but no one has expressed any public interest. The SD 04 DFL will hold a series of forums for delegates to meet the candidates.

SD4 will be hosting three forums this month - an open setting for any parties interested in running for House Seat 4A. This is an open forum, welcoming for people interested in running to come and tell area DFLers about themself and some mingling, and one on one conversations and question and answers.

DFL 4A endorsement race forum times and locations:

Sunday, May 18 in Deer River at the Helping Hands recycling center board room - 5 p.m.

Tuesday, May 20 in Cass Lake at the American Legion - 6 p.m.

Thursday, May 22 in Bemidji at the Eagles Club - 6 p.m.

The SD4 endorsing convention will be held on Saturday, May 31 in Cass Lake at the Palace Casino at 10 a.m., registration at 9 a.m.

Gotta' love the subtle mix of democracy and gambling.

GOP
Meantime, the Republicans have a race for their endorsement as well. Furniture entrepreneur Tony Williams was originally unopposed to challenge Moe, but with Moe's departure John Carlson, an insurance man from Bemidji, announced his intent to seek the Republican endorsement for 4A State Representative. Initially it seemed that Carlson would be the more organized candidate, but Williams has posted to this blog vowing a hard fight for the GOP endorsement. The tone I've heard from Bemidji is that Carlson is the guy to beat here, but in these hastily assembled open races it's all about who can turn out delegates.

There are so many variables up and down the ticket this year that I can't properly handicap this race yet. My gut says this seat still leans DFL but is by no means an assured victory. So much depends upon the strength of the endorsed candidates.

More steel and speculation in this week's Biz North

2008-05-09T07:14:00.003-05:00

Wayne Nelson and the writers at Business North do a fine job of covering the economic news of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. This week's edition has a couple of interesting Iron Range stories.

First, this story reviews Essar Global's North American steel ambitions, something I talked about earlier in the week. This is the company that is in the process of buying Minnesota Steel, a proposed mining and steel-making operation on the Iron Range.

Then this story explores how the Iron Range is currently driving the region's manufacturing and service economy in advance of what is still believed to be a potential economic boom.

Brown on the Air: Mom's Cooking

2008-05-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

My weekly commentary for Saturday's "Between You and Me" on 91.7 KAXE is entitled "High Heat" and talks about a couple kitchen stories and life lessons in honor of my grandma on this upcoming Mother's Day. The call-in show will discuss the nostalgic topic of "Mom's Cooking" while sharing great music and probably a recipe or two. It sounds like John Bauer will be filling in as host this week. Tune in between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday, May 10. It should be fun. You can pick up KAXE on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota or stream it online at www.kaxe.org.

Great news! The Range is getting shafted by lobbyists!

2008-05-08T21:06:00.005-05:00

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.

Rural broadband needs a little less hooey and a little more Huey

2008-05-08T14:18:00.008-05:00

You know, it's not necessarily cool to idolize the late Louisiana Gov. and Sen. Huey Long, who was assassinated at the peak of his power in 1935. Most people don't know who he was and, technically speaking, he was a corrupt despot. But he took a poor state, Louisiana, and brought it from one century into the next when most folks thought it'd be stuck back there forever. How? He just did it. He got the money and he built the roads, schools and hospitals. It was ugly. He fought powerful interests and used rough tactics. But his name is still on all the stuff in Louisiana.

Today, we have paved roads in northern Minnesota. They're not always great and should be improved, but they are paved. No one could fathom forcing rural Minnesota to go without paved roads just because they weren't close to the Twin Cities. Without these paved roads, we'd be mired in poverty forever just as Louisiana seemed to be in the 1930s when Long was governor and the rural roads were so bad farmers couldn't move their crops.

Well, today, the most pressing issue isn't unpaved roads. The issue is affordable high-speed internet access for every Minnesota (heck, American) at work and at home. It's the new utility that will bring us from one century into the next. It is a very expensive concept with millions of miles of cable to install. There are a lot of reasons not to do it, but those reasons will all seem pretty silly when the Internet -- and thus the economy -- is controlled by other countries in the future, counties that invested in high-speed internet throughout their population.

Here's a practical op-ed by the Blandin Foundation's Jim Hoolihan that ran in Wednesday's Pioneer Press regarding rural broadband. This is the first step toward what must be done. It's what Huey would do. We have access to as much or more resources in northern Minnesota than Huey did in Louisiana 1930. We could build the best rural internet network in the country. Not because our retiree population demands it (they don't), but because that's what needs to happen to make this region competitive in the future.

Getting along

2008-05-08T07:56:00.003-05:00

Minnesota Public Radio has a story today on why Republicans and Democrats can't get along. Iron Range State Rep. Tom Rukavina is quoted near the end. His diagnosis: not enough free beer. His solution: more free beer. Makes sense to me.

City Pages reports on Iron Range past, present

2008-05-07T13:33:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure what drew them to us, but City Pages -- the Twin Cities' alt weekly -- profiles a snippet of Iron Range history and provides a surprisingly detailed look at new nonferrous mineral mining technology on the East Range in this week's web edition. The history portion in particular puts a bit of a perspective on our early years here on the Range. I review how this history manifests in present times in my upcoming book "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range." (October 2008, Red Step Press). Now that I have my semi-random plug in for the day, back to work ...

A one paper state?

2008-05-07T10:49:00.003-05:00

Mainstream media, especially newspapers, continue to struggle in the Internet Age. As I've said before, there remain many questions about what will happen to the mainstream media this decade and beyond. But one things seems clear: The Twin Cities will probably be a one paper town sooner than you'd think. Minnesota will have only one newspaper that reaches a statewide audience. What it will be called, who owns it and what political agenda it may push remain to be seen. What I do know is that we'll be told that the change is good for readers and that investigative and political reporting will remain fair and deep. This will be a lie.

Excelsior petitions for delay in PUC ruling on Mesaba project

2008-05-07T10:24:00.005-05:00

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.

Obama blasts through cable news flak

2008-05-07T10:13:00.003-05:00

Well, I watched several consecutive minutes of cable television news last night and at no point did I feel the need for alcohol. That's a good night. Barack Obama has Fort Clinton surrounded on all sides. He should offer to pay her campaign debt and end this thing.

Meantime, let's take a look at his speech from last night. Not quite as good as Iowa, but a reminder of why folks like me like this guy. Don't worry, baby boomer friends. He'll be fine.

Obama, Clinton bar fight reaches "hard to watch" stage during awkward moment between de facto conclusion and police arrival

2008-05-06T10:56:00.007-05:00

So you all know I'm in the tank for Obama so I'll spare the feigned objectivity here. I am, however, finding ways to enjoy this protracted race for the Democratic nomination even though it hasn't been very good for my guy.

Have you ever been to an Iron Range bar? At night? Sometimes, around 11 or so, a fight breaks out. Maybe between guys, maybe between girls. Doesn't matter because everyone's drunk. Every once in a while you have this dude or lady who, by points, is losing the fight. They're bleeding out their nose and eyes. Their t-shirt is all messed up. But they don't think they're losing. They take a punch and pretend like that was all part of their fight plan, to weaken their opponents fist with their face and neck. And for some reason, even though it's hard to watch and that everyone in the joint knows that the night will end with this person in the hospital, it invokes sympathy if not outright admiration from those watching. "Woah, she's up. She got up again! Damn!" That's kind of how I feel about Hillary Clinton in this whole deal. By the numbers, this is pretty much over. She had a clear path to victory before Iowa and then blew it by not having a Super Tuesday plan and by choosing an incumbency message in a change year. The only path to the nomination for her now involves both a complete collapse of Obama and a coup at the DNC. That could happen, but it probably won't. Still, in a strange way my view of Hillary Clinton is higher now that it has been in months.

I'll still be pulling for Obama tonight. Come on, Indiana and North Carolina. He's telling the truth about the ridiculous gas tax holiday (even Bill Hanna agrees with me) and he's survived the worst month of sustained negative TV coverage of any candidate in the race so far. Obama has been tested and he's ready. He's still basically even with McCain and poised to pull ahead when the Democrats unify. And they will. One way or the other.

But oh, what a fight! I'm betting that Clinton will still be standing in the corner of the bar, motioning for more tomorrow morning. The regulars are going to be talking about this fight for a long, long time.

Nashwauk is just one push pin on a big map for global steel company

2008-05-06T09:57:00.005-05:00

It's been said before, but Essar Global's ongoing purchase plans of the Minnesota Steel project -- a proposed iron mining and steel-making operations near Nashwauk -- sends the Mesabi Iron Range deep into the complicated global steel market. For two decades, Iron Rangers have come to view the prospective mine and steel mill on the old Butler Tac site as a good "jobs" project, one that would make steel in the same place where ore is mined. Reading these world headlines about Essar's activities in North America shows me that we don't yet fully understand the long term goals of this company in our area, other than they need our ore -- just as all the other steel companies have needed our ore since the 1890s.

Close observers of this story knew that after Essar bought Minnesota Steel, they bought Algoma Steel in Michigan, a facility that processes iron ore much the same way the proposed Nashwauk steel plant was supposed to do itself. Now, Essar is vying for Esmark Steel, a Chicago-based steel company with customers throughout the continent. So Essar now holds ore interests, steel plants and a distribution system -- just like Rockefeller and Carnegie did back in the old days.

First, this business story from the Hindu Times of India:

Essar Steel consolidates presence in N. America
Mumbai, May 2 -- US-based Esmark, which the Essar Group is set to acquire with an enterprise value of $1.1 billion, is part of a well-planned strategy of the Indian steel maker to consolidate its presence in the controlled and well-protected North American steel market that is estimated to be over $100 million tonnes (mt).

Esmark will be Essar’s third acquisition in the North American and Canadian markets — it had acquired Algoma Steel for $1.6 billion and Minnesota Steel for an undisclosed amount in April last year.

With this acquisition, Essar will have a production capacity of 7 mt in the North American and Canadian market — 4 mt from Algoma and 3 mt from Esmark. Significantly, this is higher than that its current production capacity in India, which is at 4.6 mt.Market presence

Although Essar Steel has been exporting to the North American markets for some years now, it became clear to the company that to consolidate its presence in that market, it had to be physically present there. This was because the US steel market, which is one of the world’s largest, is known for its protective nature.

Then, today, we learn that the Steelworkers union may battle the Esmark sale over contract issues. This May 3 story shows some of the seeds of discontent. We also learn that Esmark controls steel facilities throughout the Rust Belt. Essar could conceivably hold a piece of all of the major mining and steel-making regions in the United States if these deals go through. That's not necessarily bad, but it would be foolish of us Iron Rangers to assume we are Essar's top priority. As future negotiations with this company play out, we need to make sure that our interests -- steady jobs, fair payment of taconite taxes to fund our schools and communities, and good business and environmental practices -- are represented at the table.

As far as whether Minnesota Steel ever makes steel or not, well, it would appear that the answer depends far more on the American economy than the continued growth of India and China. Essar is trying to break into the Indonesian steel market, which would provide a much more economical way to feed the steel demand in huge, growing Asian nations. (Just look at how convoluted the Indian steel market is right now; all of this now affects people sitting at the Wauk-In cafe in Nashwauk). If the U.S. needs steel, an efficient direct-reduced steel plant in Nashwauk will be very successful. If the U.S. economy falters more then it may be many years before demand gives Essar the reason it needs to continue onto the final phase of Minnesota Steel: the phase that includes actual steel production. Until then, it may just be another mine with far fewer jobs than we had originally hoped for.

Welcome to the new world order. Find yourself a Hindu translator and get ready for an interesting decade in northern Minnesota.

Anzelc speaks truth on Mesaba boondoggle

2008-05-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

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?

Northern Cheapskate featured in Star Tribune

2008-05-04T12:43:00.004-05:00

For those who don't know, my wife Christina is the Northern Cheapskate, blogging about family budgeting, money-saving tips and personal finance. She got a great write-up in Kara McGuire's Star Tribune "Ka Ching" column in the Money section today. Check it out. Here's the setup, which is followed by several specific tips that Christina suggested for families to save money:

Several of the best ideas came from Christina Brown, also known as the Northern Cheapskate (www.northerncheapskate.com).

She's traded her career as an academic adviser to be a full-time mom whose new job includes not only taking care of her 2-year-old and 10-month-old sons, but also stretching dollars. "As my toddler says, 'Daddy makes money, mommy saves it,' " she said.

Buck up, Dollar!

2008-05-04T00:00:00.003-05:00

This is my weekly column for the Sunday, May 4, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. I archive past columns at my writing page. A shortened version of this piece also aired as a radio commentary on KAXE's "Between You and Me" yesterday. Go to http://www.kaxe.org/ and click into the archives if you would like me from the past to read this to you. Or just read what's below. That works too.

Buck up, dollar
By Aaron J. Brown

A dollar doesn’t go as far as it used to. The dollar is “weak” right now. That’s according to stern-looking smart people on those obscure financial channels up in the 8,000s on your cable or satellite service. I think the one guy was wearing suspenders and a bow tie. So it must be true. Money from other countries is forming a circle around the dollar in the dark alley of international currency exchange. The British pound brandishes a chain. The Euro sharpens its shiv. The loonie slaps a homemade club against its palm. Even the hapless peso laughs menacingly at our weakened dollar while the yen burns holes in George Washington’s face with its eyes.

As much as I’d like to fake my way through a discussion of international currency, what I really want to talk about is how far we can make a dollar go during these tough economic times. Can a dollar get us through breakfast? Can a dollar sprout wheels and get me to work? No, but a dollar can win me a rifle in a Cub Scout raffle. What does that say?

We have to keep matters of currency in perspective. I may not be an expert but I have observed that what we perceive as “a lot” in this country is “not a lot” in other countries. Some currencies measure units in the tens of thousands. In Zimbabwe, one American dollar equals 30 million Zimbabwean dollars. With high food prices and under stocked stores, people there now pay hundreds of millions just for one meal’s worth of bread. A couple hundred million dollars here buys you an NHL franchise. Not a good one but, you know; there’s a bar in the VIP box.

For Americans, there’s just something magical about the dollar. As a kid, a crisp green dollar unleashes untold powers in the candy section of the local store, the only place that really matters. First the little pennies saved turn to nickels and dimes, then to the big round quarters with the man who looks like your friend’s grandma on it. Four friend’s grandmas and you can trade them in for … a dollar. And, oh, that first kid dollar can buy anything. A helicopter. Your dead pet’s reanimation. An army of ninjas. That country on the news that you think sounds like I’veGotaStan but that your parents say is Afghanistan but that when you buy it you’ll rename I’veGotaStan because you’ve got a dollar and that’s how it’s gonna’ be from now on.

It’s no wonder businesspeople keep their first dollar earned. Even businesses that fail probably wait until the last possible moment before cracking open that frame and shipping the first dollar off to the bill collector. For the optimistic, be they children or entrepreneurs, a dollar is everything.

I wonder if dollar stores keep their first dollar. Is that too predictable? Too cute? I bet they don’t. Dollar stores exist because of a far more adult, far more cynical view of the dollar. A dollar is nothing, they imply. Look at me, says a candle on the shelf. I don’t look like much, but I’m only a dollar. A dollar is nothing. You don’t need me but you don’t need that dollar either so let’s help this cashier in the humiliating vest make quota tonight. And look, I have a matching plate, says the candle. It’s only a dollar.

Yes, these are hard times for the dollar but let’s show it a little respect. You can do a lot with a dollar and if you’re smart, dollars beget more dollars. That’s the beauty of the system, the genius of hard work combined with compounding interest. It all works perfectly so long as we have faith in the Almighty Dollar. An illusion perhaps, but the dollars that visit my bank account every two weeks keep my lights on. Shine on, Mr. Washington.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Read more or contact him at www.minnesotabrown.com.

Oberstar gears up for campaign today

2008-05-03T00:00:00.003-05:00

The Eighth Congressional District DFL Convention opens today in Duluth. I'll be covering the convention from the audience of Hibbing Community College Theatre's production of "Born Yesterday" (tonight at 7:30 with a Sunday matinee!) via my cell phone that will be switched off. I expect my coverage of the convention to be among the worst ever. Call me when Oberstar retires. Meantime, he's not retiring. He's in great health, chairs transportation and his Republican opponent remains theoretical.

PRESS RELEASE: Oberstar to Kick Off 2008 Campaign in Duluth
DULUTH – The longest winning streak in the history of Minnesota politics continues. Congressman Jim Oberstar (DFL-Chisholm) will kick off his 2008 Congressional reelection campaign on Saturday, May 3. Oberstar, seeking his 18th term, will be joined by supporters in the Lyric Room at Porters Restaurant in Duluth at 9:45 a.m. to launch the 2008 campaign. Immediately following this event, Oberstar will attend the 8th District DFL convention, where he will seek his party’s endorsement.

The Empire Strikes Barack

2008-05-02T13:49:00.004-05:00

Got five minutes to burn on Friday afternoon? Familiar with the Star Wars series? Support Barack Obama? Or, do you support Hillary Clinton and want to see the what these crazy kids voting for Obama can do with all their digital editing software and idle time? Check out this video. That's right, folks. We can do this all damn summer! We haven't even tapped all the Star Trek footage yet. That's the nuclear option.

(For McCain voters, just click on the tubes below and see what the internets are capable of).

Taking Requests: Minnesota Steel, sure thing or just a myth?

2008-05-02T10:00:00.002-05:00

This is the third and, for now, final installment of the randomly occasional "Taking Requests" segment, in which I blog about Range issues on the minds of MinnesotaBrown readers. Today's topic, at the prompting of a couple e-mails I've received, is the Minnesota Steel project near Nashwauk.

For the past decade, the biggest of all the "proposed" economic development projects on the Iron Range has been the Nashwauk steel plant. It's gone through a few name changes and the details have shifted somewhat, but the idea has always been pretty consistent. Let's take the ore from the Iron Range and turn it directly into steel right here, saving transportation and processing costs and making American steel more competitive in the global marketplace. For a region that has depended on reliable blue collar jobs like mining and manufacturing, the prospect of union steel mill jobs has been a tantalizing possibility.

This is not a new idea. Some in my family remember the idea of turning the old Butler Taconite site near Nashwauk into a direct-reduced mine and steel mill shortly after they closed the Butler plant in the early 1980s ('83, I think, but my Iron Range Almanac of Plant Closures is in the other room). Today the Minnesota Steel plant is closer to reality than ever. It has its permits. It has an owner, India's Essar Global, that is experienced in steel making and international finance. It enjoys widespread political and and public support, more so than any other big proposed economic development project on the Iron Range. It also would provide more jobs than any other project and, to me, makes the most logical sense. Why not make the steel here when the ore product is already all heated up and ready to go.

GOOD NEWS (for Minnesota Steel proponents)

Minnesota Steel secured its permits. In addition to being necessary this also puts the mine/steel plant first in line for construction, ahead of other projects. The untold story in all this development on the Range is that at some point the federal EPA is going to say "no mas" because of our proximity to the protected Voyageurs and the Boundary Waters parks. Provide it's built in the next year or two, the steel project will avoid this barrier.

There are, according to a state official, eight engineers from Essar working in Hibbing on pre-construction preparations for the first phase of construction at Nashwauk. These are Essar regulars, not contracted engineers, which to me implies seriousness.

Despite the bad economy, steel prices are still high and the fundamental motivation for building a direct-reduced steel mill on the Range remains intact.

BAD NEWS (for Minnesota Steel proponents)

Lots of talk, no shovels. Which means that for all the progress over the past two years there are still the same number of steel plants on the Iron Range as in 1983: zero

The reason for no groundbreaking is a delay in Essar's financing, caused in part by global trouble in the banking sector. That global trouble isn't going away any time soon, so the worry is that this delay could last longer than we're being told.

The longer the Minnesota Steel construction is delayed, the greater the risk that the current favorable steel market will enter it's cyclical downward trend and add further financial barriers to the plant's success.

Howard Hilshorst, the northern Minnesota mining executive brought in to steer the project, is no longer with the company. I still don't know why. Some fear that without a strong local voice inside the room with the Essar executives Iron Range interests might not be represented as well. I still don't think Hilshorst's departure is a signal of devastation for the project because there are engineers working on the Range and there remain Iron Rangers doing political work on this; but that's still not the same as an executive with Iron Range ties.

Essar also recently bought a low grade steel mill in northern Michigan that functions much like the steel mill proposed for Nashwauk is supposed to. The company itends to begin its northern Minnesota operations by shipping concentrate to Michigan much the way all other Iron Range ore products are shipped east. This begs the unanswered question, "will they follow though in building the Iron Range steel mill if the Michigan option works?" I've heard that Essar has signed papers on steel-making equipment intended for Nashwauk, but we won't know what the company really plans to do until they start construction. A company representative has told the media that the phased introduction of steel-making was always part of the plan, but that's a fairly predictable response.

Now there are some in the environmental community who would rather the whole thing go away, but this project -- unlike Excelsior Energy or even the mineral mines on the east Range -- enjoys wide support. Despite my environmental concerns and my outspoken position against public boondoggles, I still think the steel mill is a good thing for the Iron Range. As the cereal commercials say, it could be part of "this balanced breakfast" so long as we remember to include some metaphorical fruit, orange juice and granola in our economic mix.

We'll see what happens in coming months. If we don't have financial close and groundbreaking by this summer this project can be considered far less certain than we Iron Rangers have been hoping. The fundamental truth remains: Minnesota Steel isn't real until shovels start digging.

Brown on the Air: "The Almighty Dollar"

2008-05-02T00:00:00.001-05:00

My weekly essay for KAXE's "Between You and Me with Heidi Holtan" will cover the value of a dollar as the show topic asks "What can you get for a buck?" My thoughts range from international currency to Zimbabwe to crappy stuff you can buy at the dollar store. Ideally, this will make more sense when you hear it. An expanded version of my radio essay will run as my Sunday column in the Hibbing Daily Tribune.

Tune to 91.7 FM or set your browser to http://www.kaxe.org/ between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday to hear "Between You and Me" and check out Sunday's Hibbing Daily Tribune for the column.