The Iron Range can benefit from the fight against Climate Change
Many of us are concerned about climate change. Northeast Minnesota is home to the MN Northland Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby and to the Ely Climate Change Group. A recent combined meeting of these groups viewed and discussed the 24 minute video on opportunities for iron and steel in MN made by CCL. You can watch it on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4JyAWRuvsI
The manufacture of steel contributes around 7% of the world’s greenhouse gases. Minnesota is the major source of iron ore in the USA and MN exports its iron ore to other states, some in the form of taconite pellets and some in the form of direct reduction grade (DR grade) pellets. All the processing of these pellets into direct reduced iron (DRI) and finished steel occurs in the rust belt, with the jobs and associated “value added” going to other states (like Ohio).
A new and much cleaner way of making steel uses DR grade pellets and electric arc furnaces to produce direct reduced iron using green hydrogen made with renewable energy. We are excellently situated to do this process here in northern MN, right at the mine sites. We have the iron ore (no one else has this), we have access to large amounts of renewable energy (wind and hydropower), we have a well-developed transportation network, we have the water and the brown field sites ready for development and we have the labor force wanting good paying jobs. MN was selected recently as one of the Department of Energy Hydrogen Hub locations. The demand for “green” steel continues to increase as people become more concerned about climate change.
There can be side benefits to making DRI here. For example Form Energy makes iron-air batteries designed to run for 100 hours for the management of renewable energy on the electric grid. These batteries need DRI. Xcel is planning to install these batteries (10MW, 1000MWh) at Becker MN (the Sherco site). Many more will be needed as the electric grid transitions from fossil fuels to wind and solar power. Form Energy is building a battery plant in West Virginia. They would find ideal conditions to build their next battery factory in MN next to a DRI plant.
Another application for the highly reactive DRI material is to decrease the sulfate in water discharges that inevitably come from the mining and production of iron. An inexpensive procedure that cleans discharge water has been developed in Babbitt by ClearWater BioLogics. DRI is essential for this.
National Renewable Energy Lab and MN NRRI research shows that Minnesota leads all other states in the most cost-effective development of these clean-energy and iron-based industries. Now is the time to push for these initiatives before these opportunities disappear to competing states. The Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provide enormous funding for exactly these types of projects that develop and use technology to reduce CO2 emissions and generate well-paying, sustainable jobs. Please let your state and federal legislators and local leaders know you support this future for Northern Minnesota.
Barb Jones for Ely Climate group; Jeff Hanson, Brett Cease, Mike Overend, Eric Enberg, Charlie Orsak, Katya Gordon and Russ Mattson for the MN Northland Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby
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