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Minnesota Stories:
Jeremy Kalin, a Minnesota State Representative from tiny Lindstrom, Minnesota, describes his hometown as “a small village of 2500 people in Chisago Lakes, the Swedish Lutheran Riviera on the St. Croix River.” Though Lindstrom is small, its potential for green development is huge. Plans for a carbon neutral industrial park in Lindstrom and Chisago City are in the works, and the project is drawing interest from foreign businesses looking to set up shop right here in Minnesota.
Chisago Lakes enjoys a strong connection to Sweden – Lindstrom itself has a Swedish sister city – but it seemed as if the area couldn’t compete with the Swedes’ achievements in environmental stewardship and green industry. “We have a strong connection with Sweden, which is beating us here in Minnesota because they have decreased their carbon emissions 10 percent and they have increased their GDP almost fifty percent in the last two decades,” Kalin said. “How? Bioenergy.”
Bioenergy, as defined by the United States Department of Energy, is the energy product derived from biomass. Biomass is plant-derived, organic material from renewable sources, and can be culled from crops or trees grown especially for this purpose. Agricultural crops, aquatic plant matter and many types of waste are sources of bioenergy.
A 2007 study conducted by the University of Minnesota found that Chisago Lakes had a prime source of this bioenergy in its own backyard – literally. “We have a lot of prairie grass, we have a lot of wood waste and oak wilt that can be used to fire a power plant for electricity and for heat,” Kalin said. “That’s going to be the central engine of the first carbon neutral industrial park in the nation – in Lindstrom, of all places.”
The Chisago Lakes City Council’s Economic Development Authority, or EDA, has spent months investigating the possibility of building an industrial park in Lindstrom and Chisago City which is powered exclusively by bioenergy. The EDA reasoned that a partnership between the two cities would allow them to combine their resources and reap mutual benefits from the project. Last year, Chisago City, Lindstrom and Chisago Country sponsored Bioenergy Days in Mankato. Several Swedish businesses attended the event and expressed interest in working with the Chisago Lakes area to further develop their plan. “We’re working with Swedish companies that want to have a location in Minnesota and already have a strong connection with Little Sweden,” Kalin said.
Beyond these potential energy partners, other businesses are interested in powering their operations with green bioenergy. “We’ve already heard from interested companies. We say, ‘You could have all of your energy provided by this green power plant. Your energy bills will be your cost of running the power plant and nothing more,’” Kalin said. “They’re really going ga-ga over it.”
With the passage of a new green jobs bill authored by Kalin in the state legislature, it looks as though Kalin’s dream of a green power plant in Chisago Lakes will become a reality. “It’s a very unlikely story that’s become a real possibility,” Kalin said. “I’m hopeful that in the next 18 months, we’ll see a shovel in the ground.”
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