BY BILL MORGAN STAFF WRITER

 

 

The meeting was scheduled for two hours and was to be informal, with guests who had issues and/or questions meandering through the BCC gym to tables featuring representatives from Northern Metals, the City of Becker and Trinity Consulting — the firm responsible in assisting Northern Metals with the process of passing air-quality controls.

 

However, the meeting veered from its original purpose and became an open forum for questions and answers from the 30-35 people who attended.

 

Becker City Administrator Greg Pruszinske opened the meeting with a quick introduction of the parties involved. Mayor Tracy Bertram and Councilmembers Rick Hendrickson and Mike Doering were on hand as well as Community Development Director Marie Pflipsen. Sen. Andrew Mathews of Dist. 15 was also in attendance.

 

Others from the community included Carol and Jerry Bruns, Lonny Seeley, Bud Stimmler and Jean Johnson.

 

Pruszinske said he heard a lot of questions following the last open house and wanted to  answer them as best he could. One of the questions he was asked was, “Why is the city interested in a project like this?”

 

Pruszinske explained that with Sherco’s decommissioning of two units in the near future, he thinks it is imperative for the city to do what they can to supplant the expected loss of jobs and transition the city to continue building for the future.

Pruszinske said he has been working on this project for several years and is confident the business will be a great addition to the community.

 

Another concern he heard from residents is the pollution control issues NMR has had in the past and how they plan to overcome those issues.

 

Pruszinske said NMR is planning to build a state-of-the-art facility — unlike any other facility in the United States — that will set the standard for pollution control moving forward.

 

“It also positions our industrial park for future growth,” he said.

 

Scott Helberg, COO of NMR and a resident of Becker, spoke to the crowd about his company and its move to Becker. He mentioned how Becker is ideal for NMR because of its consumer power potential and rail service. He explained that NMR will receive approximately 200+ trucks each day from all over the city, state and country and will converge on Becker from numerous inlets off Hwy. 10, Hwy. 94 and othe roads from all directions.

 

Resident Dennis Carlson told Helberg he has previous experience in transportation studies and expressed his concern for the increased traffic on a road (Hwy. 10) that is notorious for accidents featuring people trying to cross.

 

Another resident brought up all the recent articles and news reports on the failed MPCA checks and asked, “Why were you continually out of compliance?

 

Helberg told everyone he took over as COO in 2017 and many of the issues from the past occurred before he took the helm. He assured the public that he is personally taking the load to work with the MPCA to build the most perfect facility — 100% enclosed — and that all the processing of materials will occur inside the facility.

 

He also said a third party company will be regularly testing the facility — sometimes on expected visits and sometimes not — to ensure NMR is meeting the standards.

 

Clay Raasch with Trinity gave a presentation of the process his company executed while working with NMR to meet the MPCA air quality measures. He gave some background on existing air quality and discussed preventative measures taken to ensure air quality will be protected with this project. 

 

He talked about features of the proposed facility in relation to air quality and explained the efforts that will be taken to ensure NMR is in compliance with permitting terms.

 

He talked about how rigorous the MPCA is in regards to guarding and protecting air quality in the permits they issue. He talked about air dispersion modeling and air emissions risk. He described how an environmental assessment worksheet works and outlined what a feedstock and fugitive dust control plans were. 

 

He went into detail about how the air quality related features were being instituted at NMR and how the MPCA’s permit compliance will be carried out.

 

Steve Olson, a local farmer, walked away from the meeting still unsatisfied. He too expressed his concerns for traffic issues and pollution and wonders why Becker has to take on all the “pollution’ companies. 

 

“How much can a community absorb?” he asked.

 

NMR is expected  open for business in August of 2019.