Minnesota Power ‘Disappointed’ With Superior City Council’s Denial Of NTEC Public Hearing

SUPERIOR, Wis. — Minnesota Power is “disappointed” with the city of Superior after the council voted down the opportunity for a public hearing on the proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC).

On Wednesday night, five of the nine city councilors voted to hold a public hearing. But the motion to approve needed six votes.

This comes after the Superior Plan Commission voted against Minnesota Power’s requests to vacate undeveloped city streets and rezone a small piece of land on the NTEC site along the Nemadji River.

Mayor Jim Paine, who is strongly against the project, did not push for a public hearing at the meeting. While Councilor Brent Fennessey, who supports NTEC, said denying a public hearing for a developer is unheard of.

Both Paine and Fennessey are on the Plan Commission.

“We are under no obligation to take up these public hearings. If you do not believe that we should, that we should make these changes,” Paine explained. “So again, the Plan Commission has not asked you to do this. This is entirely up to you. The reason I’ve listed here is to give the minority an opportunity to argue for why the council should nonetheless make these changes.”

“We’re not voting on whether each individual counselor supports and NTEC. We’re not voting on whether each individual counselor opposes NTEC. All we’re voting on is if we should have a public hearing or not. And to my knowledge, I don’t think we have ever denied an applicant for a rezone request, alley vacation, a street vacation, and opportunity for a public hearing,” Fennessey said.

NTEC has received multiple regulatory approvals from state and federal agencies, and state courts.

But people against NTEC believe the plant will create serious health and environmental concerns.

The Fond du Lac Band is also against NTEC, as the site is adjacent to a Native American burial ground.

Minnesota Power released the following statement Thursday about the council’s vote.

“As a long-standing business partner in this region, we were disappointed by the lack of transparency and communications surrounding the hearing and with the City’s disregard for conducting a fair process involving all interested parties. We are evaluating next steps with our project partners to ensure we meet our commitment to safe, reliable, and affordable power in this clean energy transformation.”