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
You can find the CCL video (24 mins) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4JyAWRuvsI
You can find the zoom recording of our Oct 10th meeting (including both video and discussion) here: https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/nYNCpZxeEBYbKdzT__RDbZO_ovMlRNTc4asS8IpIm28lJ1vJh2mX2MsjkmdAPrOm.RlIXLwDuXSMEBdrD Passcode: 14Y#t=5C
Let your lawmakers and newspapers know you support these opportunities Rep. Pete Stauber stauber.house.gov/contact Sen Tina Smith smith.senate.gov/contact Sen Amy Klobuchar klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-amy
Sen Grant Hauschild sen.grant.hauschild@senate.mn Rep Roger Skraba rep.roger.skraba@house.mn.gov IRRRB https://mn.gov/irrrb/about-us/contact/ Find your legislators www.leg.mn.gov/leg/legislators Timberjay marshall@timberjay.com Ely Echo https://www.elyecho.com/letter-to-the-editor
SAMPLE – use this, or make changes, or write your own Dear legislator xxxx Climate change affects us all. In northern MN we need to use our resources to help reduce pollution from the iron and steel sector. We mine iron ore but then ship it away for processing and do not clean up the pollution affecting our waters and wild rice beds. Instead we could process the ore locally using our plentiful green energy supply, and we can also address the sulfate pollution to clean our lakes and rivers. This would produce clean steel which is needed in increasing supply for the energy transition and for iron-air batteries like those developed by Form Energy. It would also create clean environments and local high paying jobs. Our colleagues at Citizens’ Climate Lobby have made a short video on the topic. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4JyAWRuvsI Funding is available through the Inflation Reduction Act. MN has the ore, the clean wind power, the transportation infrastructure and the workers. We need to seize this opportunity.
Finally there is a meeting of the Mineland Vision Partnership (MVP) meeting focused on Climate Change in Chisholm on November 8th 10 – 12am. This meeting is open to the public and you may wish to attend. The CCL team will be making a presentation. MVP’s website https://mvpmn.org/ states “MVP is open to the public and encourages all interested stakeholders, whether private property owners, mining company representatives, business and community interests to engage in the organization’s activities.”
Thanks to our Northland CCL team for their leadership.
Randy is the lead scientist on mercury related research in Forest Service Research. You can find his bio here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/about/people/kolka He has been working on mercury cycling in northern Minnesota since the mid-1990s, starting with his PhD dissertation. Much of his mercury research is on the USDA Forest Service’s Marcell Experimental Forest just north of Grand Rapids. He also leads the important SPRUCE experiment (Spruce and Peatland Responses under Changing Environments) which some of us have visited. Randy is an adjunct faculty member at six universities in the US and Canada and has nearly 300 scientific publications.
Factors Influencing Mercury Cycling and Bioaccumulation in Fish
Cutting-edge research on the Marcell Experimental Forest and other locations in northern Minnesota over the past couple of decades have led to discoveries related to mercury biogeochemistry, atmospheric deposition, hot spots where the bioaccumulative methylmercury is produced and controls on that production, the impact of fire on the transport and bioaccumulation in fish, and how warming associated with climate change influences mercury cycles. As a result of our long-term mercury research program, EPA and the state Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has used our research in major cases such as the Polymet mine decision, and currently with proposing a total maximum daily load (TMDL) policy for the St. Louis River.
This talk was recorded on zoom. Here is a link to the video:
David is the Senior Strategic Director in their Climate & Clean Energy Program. You can read more about his work here: https://www.nrdc.org/bio/david-doniger
David has been at the forefront of the battle against air pollution and global climate change since he joined NRDC in 1978. He helped formulate the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement designed to stop the depletion of the earth’s ozone layer, as well as several essential amendments to the Clean Air Act. In 1993, he left NRDC to serve on the White House Council on Environmental Quality, followed by key posts at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He rejoined NRDC in 2001 and has since been working to defend the Clean Air Act from assaults in Congress. He is based in Washington, D.C., but spends some time in Ely during the summer.
August 16th 2023 (one day after our meeting) is the one year anniversary of Biden signing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. The IRA is the single largest investment in climate and energy in American history, enabling America to tackle the climate crisis, advancing environmental justice, securing America’s position as a world leader in domestic clean energy manufacturing, and putting the United States on a pathway to achieving the Biden Administration’s climate goals, including a net-zero economy by 2050.
David will give us his perspective on the status of the IRA at the one year mark. What has been achieved so far, and what we can expect in the future.
This meeting was recorded on zoom. Here is a link to the recording:
Doug brings expertise of forestry and fires. Doug is District 2 Supervisor/Secretary of the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD). He has a good understanding of local and state agencies. He runs an off-grid solar home. Our conversation covered both the forest and the trees and how humans and other animals in northern Minnesota are affected by climate change. This is not a summary of the conversation but it is a summary of the useful contacts and links that were discussed.
CLIMATE AND WEATHER MAPS
Climate Reanalyzer from the University of Maine is an excellent site
World average temps showing record high temps early July
SWDC works with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), a division of the USDA, to provide financial assistance to landowners through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Many Lake County landowners (usually with properties 2+ acres in size) have benefited from this program. You can apply for an EQUIP grant without a stewardship plan.
WILDLAND FIRE INFORMATION
FIREWISE – a program to help homeowners make their property more fire resistant
For Lake Co Firewise contact Aaron Mollin-Kling 651 387 1770
BOOKS on fire preparedness
“Surviving Wildfire: Get Prepared, Stay Alive, Rebuild your Life (A Handbook for Homeowners)” by Linda Masterson
“Creating a Firewise Property” a folder published by the DNR. Available for download here: https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/assistance/backyard/firewise/creatingfirewiseproperty.pdf
Summary of climate meeting March 14th 2023 on solar installations in Ely
The full zoom recording is available but very large to upload. If you would like to watch it ask me by email (b2jonesmn@gmail.com). Almost all the information is summarized here.
Four projects were presented, one grid tied and the others off-grid. All presenters were enthusiastic about their choices. Only the grid tied system was a retrofit, the others were designed and built as the home was constructed.
Presenters were Jodi and Mike (grid tied), Kurt, Doug, and Consie and Roger all off grid.
Jodi and Mike’s system:
00:02 – 00:16 approx Grid tied, no batteries, 20 ground mount solar panels, 400W each. Installed by Wolf Track Energy https://wolftrackenergy.com/ 218 302 5601 from Two Harbors. Cost for installation and materials $31,000, plus $4800 for site clearance. Expect return on investment in 25 years but this was not the motivation. Installed in summer of 2022. By Sept 2022 they were feeding energy to Lake Country Power. LCP contact person Josh Nevela 218 742 5722 was very helpful. https://lakecountrypower.coop/renewable-energy LCP buys their energy at a slightly lower rate than market. Monitoring system from “Enphase” based in CA. J&M maintain a generator for emergencies. House heat is by propane.
There was a lot of discussion about snow removal from panels. Most agreed it was worth doing. C&R have access to the top of their panels from their deck. They push the snow off downwards, easy and quick. For a given amount of sunlight panels generate more electrical energy when they are cold. But mid-winter’s short and cloudy days limit their output. Peak energy generation is in the summer.
Kurt’s system: 00:17 – 00:30 approx Kurt designed and built his 2300 sf house with the intent to be off grid and to use solar power. He built in 1995. He runs all the usual electrical appliances on AC power including a 220V well pump. Making 200V needs 2 DC to AC converters. There was discussion about the relative merits of AC vs DC appliances especially freezers. DC is more efficient but also more expensive to buy and has less selection. Kurt showed images of his batteries, 2 converters, solar panels. He provided info on Backwoods Solar (Idaho) who provided the hardware and helped with design. Get a very useful free brochure at info@backwoodssolar.com (Note that C&R also used and recommend Backwoods Solar) Their website is www.backwoodssolar.com. Kurt’s solar array generates 10,000 watts at about 375w per panel and was made in Mt. Iron by Heliene. There was discussion about lead acid battery properties and the need to monitor and maintain the batteries carefully. His batteries are in a metal container, normally covered, vented to the outside with a fan to avoid hydrogen buildup. The system was installed by Kurt and his buddy who is a master electrician.
Doug’s system:
00:30 – 00:42 This is an off-grid 1 kW array with battery backup installed in the late 1990’s. The home is about 2000 sf. Doug purposefully made a small system and has adapted his lifestyle to the power available. He heats the house and makes hot water with wood, cooks with propane. Emphasis on getting good equipment, especially the panels. Lead acid batteries need to be replaced in 5 to 8 years. Both D and K stress the need to understand battery chemistry and take care with charging. Batteries are happiest at 60-70F but can withstand freezing temps if fully charged. Musk’s Li-ion batteries are way more expensive than lead acid.
Consie and Roger’s system:
00:42 – 01:06 C&R built in 2009 and designed the house for efficiency and a 4kW off-grid solar. There is enough power to use carpentry power tools when the sun is shining. They avoid loss by phantom power by installing switchable outlets or using power strips. The house has 4” of rigid foam around the outside walls, lots of windows for winter sunshine, a solar hot water system on the roof that feeds in floor heating, and a wood stove. Additional backup comes from a propane boiler. C&R run a generator for 2h or less on cloudy winter days to recharge the batteries. Comments on generators include the need to buy a good one for longevity and good waveform. The 3 level house has a deck high enough to be above the solar panels allowing for easy removal of snow. Advocate for use of “Kill A Watt” usage meter to learn appliance energy use. They can be borrowed from the library. Also (for those of us who use power from the grid) LCP’s “Smart Hub” which gives you access to energy use on an hourly basis. C&R also spoke well of Backwoods Solar who helped design their system.
Comments from the zoom audience:
01:06 – 01:14 Several people felt that LCP was not supportive of solar, especially for summer use cabins. (However see comments by J&M above). Doug pointed out, from his experience, that batteries can be left to freeze for up to 6 months over winter without damage if they are fully charged and stored in an insulated box. This is an issue that concerns summer residents. Colby Abazs from CERTs (Clean Energy Resource Team) was impressed at the level of knowledge in the community. He is available to advise interested parties on how to start and rebates available through the Inflation Reduction Act. You can reach him at colby@cleanenergyresourceteams.org
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