Lots swirling around steel plant plans

We’re just over a week away from the Iowa legislature passing the biggest single incentive package in the state’s history. The move was in the hope of securing a commitment from Mesabi Metallics to build their $15 billion steel plant in Green Bay bottoms, or somewhere in Lee County, or somewhere along the Mississippi River in Iowa.
During these past eight days, the reality has started to sink in, and those who are looking for clicks on their individual social media platforms are engaging to, well,  get more clicks. The reality is these posts are mostly opinions and are tainted with the bitterness of those posting. Many are getting comments on their posts that are contrary to what is in the video or information posted, and that’s an acceptable price for them.
But as I’ve said many times over the past eight days, this project is unfathomable to most, including me. Most can’t perceive, nor can I, of the vast amount of gears that are involved in getting this project to Iowa.
Many people are railing about the cost of the investment, but they cherry pick the stats and don’t find it necessary to talk about all facets that comes along with it. That’s the scary part of people doing their own social media reporting. The passion for the topic is great, but if no one is editing, or questioning you prior to your post, then your information runs unchecked – which I think is what they’re probably railing about to begin with.
Saturday morning, I saw video from a guy who said he wasn’t just talking about the steel mill, he came down and did his research. Then when I went to click on it to correct some of his information, he had limited those that could comment. Well, damn. Now we got people professing to be sharing news and they don’t want anyone to be able to challenge what they are saying, while they challenge - what everyone else is saying.
In particular, this guy said that President Trump stood in the Oval Office with Howard Lutnick and told America that this steel facility was a done deal. And this social media poster was coming to Lee County to save us all from the lies.
Well, sir. President Trump didn’t stand at all. He sat the whole time. And I recall Howard Lutnick saying the project was a done deal and President Trump nodding his head. He also said the President said work had already started. Work has started. The project is an interconnected steel fabrication system that starts with pellet generation in Minnesota and ends with marketable steel wherever this plant ends up being located. So, technically, the work has already started.
It’s also not lost on me that the people who are full-throated against even the possibility of this second “unicorn” for Lee County, are coming from areas outside southeast Iowa. State Sen. Dan Dawson spoke at great length about the dangers of a $1.4 billion incentive package and how much it would cost Iowans and Iowa’s counties. What he failed to talk about, with good reason as it didn’t help his passion, was the economic inputs.
I ran the Fort Madison KFC when the fertilizer plant was built, and I know what these iron workers spend a day on food and where they get it. We had the biggest sales increase in our part of the country. I think I won a leather jacket or something, but more importantly the bonus structure associated with that type of sales increase was much better than the jacket.
If, or when, this happens, there will be tremendous economic input. I spoke with several elected officials at nearby communities and all are getting plenty of phone calls from developers looking for land and zoning requirements.
Real estate values could increase. The real emotion will be seen when we get a look at the negotiations currently underway with Mesabi and Lee County over the property tax landscape going forward.
Other interesting topics will include the cost and viability of the natural gas question. Will that come from the north or the south, or both? Will it be enough for feeder facilities, or to allow the fertilizer plant greater access? What triggers that work, and when will it start? Will it be required to be in place before the first tranche of incentive payments is made, or will it all move as one project?
What about barge traffic and the impact to agricultural shipping? Will rail service be included to help move ore to the area when the river freezes? What are the environmental impacts and what’s going to be kicked into the air we breathe? There are a lot of questions to be asked and answered, and all the opinions being expressed have merit. But if you’re going to throw things out on a public consumable platform like Meta or X, make sure you are being as fair as possible in your interpretations. If you’re just setting about an opinion, then make that know, as well.
Speaking of kicking stuff into the air, the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, is planning on some heavy detonations to mitigate the dangerous lead azide that was discovered earlier this year on the property. Lead Azide is extremely unstable in its current condition at the facility and prompted the evacuation of the plant for several days.  We better be watching what these detonations entail and the repercussions, as well, but that’s Beside The Point.
Chuck Vandenberg is editor and co-owner of Pen City Current and can be reached at Charles.V@PenCityCurrent.com.