Amid the long-dormant remains of the Iron Range’s glory days, Minnesota’s first new steel mill since the Duluth Works steel mill closed over 40 years ago is taking shape. Even more exciting, the steel mill is being designed to produce green steel, a premium product which corporations in the
Sustainable Steel Buyers Platform
are eager to purchase.

Iron is a fascinating metal. As a star uses up hydrogen, it fuses the elements into heavier and heavier elements from hydrogen with an atomic weight of one on up. With an atomic weight of 56, iron is the end of the line for a star, which then blasts its contents in all directions. Trillions of tons of iron, among other elements, were collected in the rocky planets closest to the Sun, including Earth. Without free oxygen in Earth’s early atmosphere, iron was suspended in the oceans until blue-green algae developed photosynthesis. This produced oxygen as a waste product which avidly bonded to the suspended iron. Four trillion tons of iron precipitated out and formed the Iron Range and other deposits worldwide.

Think about it: The iron that is in your red blood cells originated from the destruction of lost worlds billions of years ago.

Removing that oxygen from the iron and producing pure iron and steel is one of the most greenhouse gas-intensive industrial processes, producing at least 7% of humanity’s emissions annually. Cleaning that up takes 50 kilowatts of electricity to produce one kilogram (2.2 lbs) of hydrogen, and 50 kilograms of hydrogen are required to produce one ton of reduced (deoxygenated) iron. An additional 750 to 1,000 kilowatts of electricity is needed in an electric arc furnace to produce a ton of steel.

Now, like a chess game in a Harry Potter movie, the pieces are rumbling into position to produce green steel here in Minnesota. Minnesota Power is laying down transmission lines from the north, west, and south to concentrate the region’s vast hydro, wind, and solar electricity resources on the Iron Range.

Near Nashwauk, Mesabi Metallics is investing billions of dollars to build a hot, briquetted iron facility and electric arc furnace to produce green-coiled steel for a variety of American industries, such as the auto industry.

I can also attest that Nashwauk is solidly behind the production of green steel. I attended a town-hall meeting on Nov. 20 at the historic Nashwauk City Hall to hear a presentation on Mesabi Metallics. The place was packed with ordinary citizens, with the excess crowd spilling out into the halls. Green steel was front and center and was warmly embraced. And why not? There are promises of 1,000 construction jobs, 700 indirect jobs, 350 multigenerational mining and steel jobs, and millions of dollars in local and state taxes from a zero water discharge mine.

Mesabi Metallics is showing that economic development and environmental protection can both be achieved.

However, there are potential clouds on the horizon for this forward-looking project.

On the federal level, the Inflation Reduction Act offers temporary subsidies for industrial hydrogen production that are essential for the Mesabi Metallics green steel plant, but that is potentially under threat from the incoming administration of President Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled House and Senate.

We need to preserve the Inflation Reduction Act. Please contact our U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber at 202-225-6211, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar at 202-224-3244, and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith at
smith.senate.gov

We also need the state of Minnesota to approve a routine amendment to the existing permit to mine. Mesabi Metallics is still waiting on this glacially paced permitting process at the state level. Please contact Gov. Tim Walz at 651-201-3400.

Eric Enberg is a member of the Northland Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, the Duluth Climate and Energy Network, and Healthcare Professionals for a Healthy Climate. He practices family medicine in West Duluth.