Indigenous tribes urge federal officials to deny loan request for Superior natural gas plant

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Indigenous tribes in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin are asking federal officials to deny a utility's request for a loan to cover its share of a natural gas-fired power plant on the shores of Lake Superior

MADISON, Wis. — Indigenous tribes in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin have asked federal officials to deny a utility's request for a loan to help build a natural gas-fired power plant on the shores of Lake Superior, calling the project unthinkable in the face of climate change.

Chippewa tribes located across the northern third of the three states sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture officials on Sunday asking them to deny Dairyland Power Cooperative's request for a $350 million public loan. The request is intended to cover the utility's share of the cost of building the Nemadji Trail Energy Center power plant.

«As our shared climate rapidly continues to destabilize, it is unconscionable that Dairyland Power Cooperative has not canceled its request for a $350 million public loan and permits to build Nemadji Trail Energy Center,» the tribes said in the letter. It added later, “In short, this location was never the place, and now is obviously not the time, to build new fossil fuel infrastructure of any kind."

Dairyland Power Cooperative, Minnesota Power and Basin Electric Cooperative have been working to gain permission to build the $700 million power plant for more than three years. Plans call for the facility to be built near an Enbridge Energy pipeline hub on the banks of the Nemadji River, which flows into Lake Superior, in the city of Superior, Wisconsin.

The utilities say using natural gas is a flexible means of producing electricity when wind and solar aren't available and would serve as an