The owners of a proposed $1 billion gas-fired power plant in northern Wisconsin are officially calling it quits on the Nemadji Trail Energy Center in Superior.
La Crosse-based Dairyland Power Cooperative and South Shore Energy notified the Public Service Commission that they’re canceling the project in a letter filed Wednesday by Daniel McCourtney, manager of strategic environmental initiatives at Allete. Allete is the parent company of Duluth-based Minnesota Power, which backed away from the plant in December.
“No construction has occurred on NTEC or the (generation tie line),” McCourtney wrote. “Accordingly, the owners respectfully request that the commission acknowledge their relinquishment of all rights associated with the (approvals).”
In 2020, the PSC granted approvals, or certificates of public convenience and necessity, to the project’s owners to build a natural gas plant that would produce between 550 and 625 megawatts of power. The utilities said the project would provide a reliable source of electricity as they shifted away from coal and invest in renewable energy.
However, the project faced years of legal challenges from Indigenous and environmental groups, local opposition and permitting delays.
In December, Jennifer Cady, vice president of public policy for Minnesota Power, highlighted in a filing to the commission that air, wetland and construction permits had expired due to project delays. The company ended an agreement with its subsidiary South Shore Energy to buy power from the plant.
The city of Superior had also denied local approvals. Residents, tribes and environmental groups had raised concerns about the plant’s contribution to heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, air and noise pollution, and effects on wetlands.