DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Iron Range officials are upset with threats by Magnetation Inc. to build a $300 million iron ore processing plant in another state to get around Minnesota's tough mercury pollution rules.
The Duluth News Tribune reports Magnetation (http://bit.ly/wYhNMD) is considering sites in Superior, Wis., Indiana and Illinois as an alternative to Minnesota's Itasca County for a plant that will employ about 150 people.
Rep. Tom Rukavina and St. Louis County Commissioner Keith Nelson are criticizing the company because Minnesota gave Magnetation state grants and loans to help it get started.
Magnetation CEO Larry Lehtinen says the company needs a pellet plant operating somewhere by early 2015, and that will require permits in hand this fall. He says Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois can meet that timeline, but Minnesota regulators haven't made that promise.
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Information from: Duluth News Tribune, http://www.duluthsuperior.com
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
