VIRGINIA— The Iron Range is facing economic challenges, but most speakers at the State of the Range event, held here Sept. 17, offered warnings mixed with hope for the future of the region.
While the second annual event was sponsored by the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation, it offered perspectives from steelworkers, mining, and tourism representatives as well as IRRR officials. Interest was apparently high, as the hall at the Iron Trail Motors Event Center was close to packed.
“Last year, around 160 people attended this event,” noted IRRR Commissioner Ida Rukavina in her opening comments. “This year we had over 350 RSVPs and so it’s incredible to see so many people and citizens of the Iron Range come together.”
It was the same location where more than 500 people packed the hall for a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency public hearing on the issue of sulfate and wild rice, and it was clear the issue was still fresh on the minds of many.
State Sen. Robert Farnsworth, R-Chisholm, suggested that the push for stricter regulation of sulfate discharges from the region’s taconite mines was part of “a coordinated effort to prevent serious economic development” on the Iron Range. “It should not take 20 years to open a new nonferrous mine, and the current mines should not be forced to comply with some unscientific sulfate standard that would have devastating effects across our entire region if it was actually instituted,” he said.
That theme came up again in comments from United Steelworkers union district staff representative John Arbogast. “We are at a crossroads in mining on the Range that we probably haven’t seen since 1978,” he said. “Every single mine is in peril as we speak right now,” he said, arguing that permitting concerns related to sulfate discharges could lead to additional mine closures.
On everyone’s minds was the continuing shutdown of the Minorca mine and the partial shutdown at Hibbing Taconite, which have idled just over 600 mine workers, due to economic conditions in the case of Minorca and the near-exhaustion of available reserves in the case of Hibbtac. “I think the only hope is that interest rates have to come down. People have to start buying cars,” said Arbogast, noting that the glut of pellets needs to work itself out.
Arbogast said he worried Keetac could be the next to close if it’s required to meet the state’s wild rice sulfate standard, with Minntac facing a similar fate in the years ahead.
Kristen Vake, with the Iron Mining Association, echoed those concerns, noting that blocking the sulfate standard has been her organization’s primary focus for the past several months. Vake said the current standard is unattainable. “I would love to stand up here and say we have a solution to the problem, but we don’t. In fact, no one does,” she claimed.
State of tourism
While much of the event focused on the mining sector, Beth Pierce, executive director of Discover the Range, highlighted this year’s challenges to the region’s tourism economy. She said limited snow last winter shortened the snowmobile season, while political and weather-related factors have reduced traffic this summer. “You may have heard that some Canadians aren’t happy with the United States right now and this has changed their travel habits,” said Pierce. “Requests for information to my office from Canada are down 60 percent over past years, so that’s a lot of lost opportunity. And, no offense to our Canadian guest here tonight, but what Canada did not send us in visitors it more than made up for in smoke this past summer. And I do not mean to downplay the effects that that had on their country, but it made us extremely un-Instagram-worthy this summer.”
Pierce noted that fires closer to home led to closures and other impacts in the Superior National Forest, which was followed by intense rain events, which damaged area trails.
“Despite all that, we’re seeing record ridership on the Mesabi Trail this summer and increased use of the Iron Range off-highway vehicle recreation area compared to last year.”
Pierce noted that tourism is about much more than attracting visitors. “There’s something called the ‘halo effect’ of tourism, and what that means is that tourism marketing gives destinations a lift in public perception,” she said. “It can raise awareness of us, not only as a destination, but as a place to live.”
IRRR officials focus on their work
As a state agency created in order to diversify the Iron Range economy, the agency’s staff used the Virginia event to highlight some of their work over the past year. In a Power point narrated by community development director Whitney Ridlon and Ryan Malich, director of development, the two highlighted the more than 170 projects funded, ranging from critical public infrastructure to recreation. “Economic development isn’t only about industry and commerce, it’s about quality of life,” said Ridlon. “We’ve invested in projects that celebrate our region’s heritage, expand our amenities, reshape our landscapes, and draw visitors to experience what makes us unique.”
She highlighted the agency’s major investment in Ely’s planned 37-unit market rate apartment building, which is now funded and set for a construction start in 2026. Ridlon lauded the partnership between the agency, the city of Ely, it’s HRA, and the developer, D.W. Jones, that made it all possible.
“Housing projects depend on collaboration,” said Ridlon. “Only when partners join forces to provide both leadership and funding do these initiatives succeed.”
Malich highlighted ways the agency has assisted area businesses by providing capital funding that allows businesses to grow more quickly and ultimately employ more workers.
He also highlighted how the agency responded to the June 2024 flood in downtown Cook, which severely damaged much of the downtown business district. Malich noted that by working with the Entrepreneur Fund, the agency has been able to provide financial assistance to many of the businesses impacted by the high water that has helped them recover.
Optimism for the future
Commissioner Rukavina, in her closing remarks, noted the many challenges facing the region, including the current downturn in the mining sector. But she noted that the region has faced similar periods throughout its history yet found new technologies that allowed the Iron Range to continue to thrive.
“I believe that similar innovation is underway now,” she said, citing among other things, the new helium deposit discovered near Babbitt. She noted that the region has also been identified as one of the most likely locations for the discovery of geological hydrogen and that exploration is now moving forward. “This could fuel energy and steel making in the future, perhaps even launching an industrial revolution for the Iron Range,” she said.
She also noted that nonferrous mining was still in development and could open new employment opportunities in the future.
“Our forest industry is ripe for new opportunities,” Rukavina added. “Technologies like mass timber and thermally-modified wood are key to transforming our forest economy, not just how we build,” she said.
Rukavina noted that, when it comes to government, “there really is no other agency in this state or country that has the beneficial impact that this agency does,” she said. “When we talk about how government works and how it should improve people’s lives, this is the perfect example of good government.”