July 2007 archive

The week ahead

Today: Catching up on paperwork. Baby feeding, care. Not fully aware of outside world.

Tuesday: The Minnesota PUC holds its final hearings from the stakeholders on whether to approve the mandatory power purchase agreement between Xcel and startup company Excelsior Energy. Remember, the commissioners are looking at a professional judgment that recommends not approving the risky deal and are employed by a Governor who wants it for political reasons.

Wednesday: St. Louis County Fair opens in Chisholm!

Thursday: Final deliberations by the PUC on the Excelsior matter. If the purchase agreement is nixed, the project is dead. If it is approved, we are in for SIX YEARS of legal wrangling and back door deals before the project gets bought out or smothered by a pillow in the night. Big bucks, no whammies!

Friday: To be determined. Drinking, maybe?

Saturday: Seven years of marital bliss in the Brown household.

Beware twin swarm

(This is weekly Hibbing Daily Tribune column for Sunday, July 29, 2007).

I am trying to limit writing about my new life as father of three boys, including a set of twins born this month. But in the grocery store, at work, in the bank, the people say: “I can’t wait to hear more about those twins.” If I were sleeping more or changing fewer than 20 diapers a day, I might say no. I might write about the new makeup of the Supreme Court or the dangers of childhood obesity. But a third of my day is spent fastening and unfastening onesies, with the rest spent hauling 120-pound bags of dirty diapers that look like the monsters from “Tremors” to the dump. So, here we go.

Doug and George are getting bigger all the time and we’re getting as many as four consecutive hours of sleep every night. Sleep deprivation does things to your head. It manifests in different ways between Christina and me, but one common result is the erosion of the mental filter that prevents us from saying thoughts. For instance, after a 24 hour period with little sleep, we were talking about something we saw on the news. When we finished, Christina said, “I just had a conversation. That’s nice.” I have the same problem. Here is a random list of things I said last week that would normally remain inside my head:

“I love WD40!”

“Hey look, that lady is wearing a babushka!”

(After seeing a TV news report on Christian toys, including a plastic Jesus Christ of Nazareth) “You know, I just don’t think the real Jesus would have cut abs like that. Nutrition wasn’t that good back then. Does that make me an ‘ab’nostic.” (Followed by long, inappropriate laughter at own comment).

But after we got more sleep, we began to notice more about the world around us. Some interesting phenomena occur when you take twins out into public. The first is “twin swarm.” Twin swarm started the moment we left the hospital. Random strangers gathered around us like we were Kevin Bacon in “Footloose.” Then, days later, we all ventured out to a restaurant. And again later we visited folks at work. We began to realize that no matter where we go with the twins we are swarmed by people. Everyone means well and we certainly appreciate all the well wishes, but in our sleep deprived state I confess that the conversations become pretty repetitive. Allow me to recreate a common narrative with my unavoidably snide thoughts annotated in parentheses.

Babies! (No, these are hams).

Two babies?! (Oh no! There were three when we left the house!)

Are they twins? (No. One of them is actually a spare we bought on the Internet for parts).

Are they identical? (You tell me, Hoss. What do you see?) At this point, many will begin to narrate the differences they see between Doug and George. “Oh, look, George is bigger,” “Doug has more defined features,” or “George is currently sitting on the left.” Then they look at us as though they’re telling us new information, to help us remember. It’s a little like those “Hocus Pocus” cartoons you used to see in the paper. “I think his right foot is moved somewhat and, look, that one’s ears are bigger.” Thank you, everyone on Earth, for setting us straight.

Do twins run in the family? (Not until sometime between nine and 15 months … wocka wocka!)

You’re going to have your hands full! (If only it were just our hands!)

The other interesting thing is that other parents of twins do not ask these questions. They simply grab you by the arm and nod knowingly. It’s like we’re in a club now. I’m not sure if it’s a secret club but I do know there will be free day care if they ever host a convention.

Meantime, life with three boys continues. Thanks to all for your continued kindness. Yes, they are twins. No, they are not identical. Our hands are indeed very full.

More columns

Youth tracking to the Democrats

BROWN HQ (July 27, 2007) -- A new survey shows Republican support among youth dropping dramatically. I found the story in this post on Politicalwire.com.

I worked with high school kids as a coach from 2003-2006 and I remember being amazed at how conservative they were politically. In general they seemed to buy into the talk radio notion of Democrats being weak and inept and President Bush and the Republicans protecting us from evil. This, despite the fact that many of the "Republicans" in the group were angry about school funding cuts with several even supporting gay marriage. For these kids, it was really about 9/11. They were maybe 10 or 12 when the terrorist attacks happened and it shaped their entire world view. It became the most important problem on the planet for them. They saw President Bush with the bullhorn at Ground Zero and they listened and believed.

In the time since, the living people most responsible for those attacks are still at large. We are mired in a poorly planned war in Iraq that has no easy or immediate end. Hurricane Katrina. Predatory lenders run amok. Corporate CEOs prosper and the middle class struggles harder and harder to keep what they have. If this survey is to be believed, the Republicans may have set themselves back for a generation.

As a Democrat, I'm glad to see that the next generation might be coming to some of the same conclusions as me. But this is more an unbelievable failure of the Republicans to create a permanent majority. From 2002 until maybe early 2005, the Republicans could have put us Dems on ice for a long time. They could have pursued an inclusive foreign policy, put the Iraq effort into capturing Osama bin Laden, cut taxes for the rich a little less and cut them more for the middle class. Had they done those things, Republicans would have a lock on Congress that might have lasted as long as the one Democrats held for much of the 20th Century. Bush really could have gone down in the history books as a significant, maybe even great president. Perhaps the youth of today will, in the future, look back and remember how terrible 9/11 was and how badly Bush and the Republicans screwed up the aftermath. If that's the case, our whole political climate may change in many incalculable ways.

Brown on the air

BROWN HQ (July 26, 2007) -- My Saturday essay on KAXE's "Between You and Me" with Heidi Holtan is about local foods. That's the theme of the show after the station's general manager, Maggie Montgomery, vowed to embark on a project that would replace her entire diet with foods grown and produced in northern Minnesota. The topic reminded me of the cultural role of food on my native Iron Range. Tune in Saturday, July 28, from 10 a.m. to noon on 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota or online at www.kaxe.org.

Also this upcoming Sunday: my column will again explore my life as the father of a 2-year-old and newborn twin boys. I'll post it here over the weekend.

Wall Street Journal points out Coal's market problems

BROWN HQ (July 26, 2007) -- Yesterday the Wall Street Journal ran a story by Rebecca Smith about coal-fired energy on its front page. I found a link here, but the most important part is the lede: "From coast to coast, plans for a new generation of coal-fired power plants are falling by the wayside as states conclude that conventional coal plants are too dirty to build and the cost of cleaner plants is too high."

Here is my previously published column on the matter.

The WSJ story references Excelsior Energy's proposed $2.3 billion coal gas power plant on the Range and offers this analysis (bold and underlined text are my emphasis):
The (MN PUC administrative law judge) concluded the 600-megawatt Excelsior plant wouldn’t be a good deal for consumers. The judge concluded it would cost an extra $472.3 million, in 2011 dollars, to make the power plant capable of capturing about 30% of its carbon dioxide emissions, and another $635.4 million to build a pipeline to move the greenhouse gas to the nearest deep geologic storage in Alberta, Canada. Thus, $1.1 billion in pollution controls had the potential to inflate the cost of power coming from the plant by $50 a megawatt hour, making electricity from Excelsior twice as costly as power from many older coal-fired plants that simply vent their carbon dioxide. The recommendation will be considered by the commission on Aug. 2.

Remember, this isn't "Mother Jones." This isn't the "New Yorker." This is the freaking Wall Street Journal, a conservative paper read by the people who would finance this project. The lobbyists who run this "company" called Excelsior Energy keep saying how clean their project is to gain deferred loans and special treatment. All of what they've asked for has yet to include the truly clean technology. These Excelsior guys, if the PUC grants them the purchase agreement, will be BACK asking for more money to pay for the sequestration and pipeline. Otherwise it's just going to be a coal burner that makes toxic liquid smoke instead of toxic regular smoke.

Meantime, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) is making coal gasification plants his priority for his term as chair of the National Governor's Association. (Pawlenty appoints the members of the state PUC.) Sen. Norm Coleman (R), up for re-election in 2008 and rapidly losing popularity because of the Iraq War, is the single biggest backer of the Excelsior project at the federal level. Pawlenty and Coleman are the last remaining Republicans in major state offices and they know that touting jobs on the Range might narrow the gap in this heavily Democratic area for a tight '08 race. Then, in our neighborhood, most of our DFL state lawmakers have blindly supported the project, throwing money and support to an endeavor that robbed Iron Range Resources of money that could have been better spent, providing political fuel for Republicans and coal barons. If the PUC approves the project it will be for strictly political reasons -- not because of its merits. Here's hoping they won't. But if they do, Excelsior probably won't get private financing and may not even get the federal permits. They declare bankruptcy and we're out a whole lot of money (hundreds of millions of dollars if they tap the federal loan guarantees) for a plant that will either never be built or destroy the energy market in Minnesota, a la California in the late 1990s.

Maybe then we'll finally change how we fund economic development on the Range and shake up the local political climate. But by then the terrible costs will have already been incurred. We won't have as much mineral money. Redistricting will further erode our political power. Another generation of Iron Rangers may be forced to look at the Twin Cities as the most consistent hope for secure employment.

It doesn't have to happen this way, but those are the stakes.

Minivan Man

BROWN HQ (July 24, 2007) -- Today we inked a deal to buy a minivan, specifically a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country. It's a smooth-ridin' van and we can store stuff under the seats. Watch your asses, East Side.

'You Tube' debate

BROWN HQ (July 24, 2007) -- I have largely avoided watching the 2008 presidential debates this year because of their staggering inaneness and irrelevance. I did, however, take in most of last night's Democratic "You Tube" debate on CNN. It was actually a pretty good debate, consider the number of candidates. Some observations:

Hillary Clinton
In terms of debating style and image, she won this thing. I have never been a big fan of Hillary's but last night I remember thinking how she looked and talked like a president. She defies all of the stereotypes about female candidates and was quick on her feet throughout. Impressive. For the first time, I believe I could support a Clinton candidacy ... if she wins.

John Edwards
I'm still voting for John Edwards. He was a little inconsistent in presentation, but his message was what I was looking for and when he's on, he's really good. He is saying the same kinds of things about systemic change that Barack Obama is (which I like), but is tougher than Obama so far. I also appreciate that he's a mainstream candidate proposing bold things (universal health care proposal that is feasible in the short term, specific energy initiatives, etc.). His performance last night hit a personal chord for me. I have written (and will continue to write) much questioning the proposed coal gasification plant in northern Minnesota. But even though I and others make convincing arguments showing the procedural, economic and environmental problems with the Mesaba Energy Project, most of our local and state Democrats support the damn thing because it appeases the powerful coal interests while reducing some carbon emissions. Also, of course: jobs, jobs, jobs (the rally cry of desperate Iron Range developers). Last night, Edwards said this:

"The last thing we need is another carbon-based fuel in America. We need to find fuels that are in fact renewable, clean, and will allow us to address directly the question that has been raised, which is the issue of global warming, which I believe is a crisis."

Edwards was talking about coal liquification, but coal gasification without on-site carbon capture (like the Range proposal) is similarly bad news. Edwards has also talked about the fact that whole notion of "clean coal" is propped up by vast tax breaks and subsidies for coal companies and the power companies that use their coal. (Also a problem with the Mesaba project). This clean coal stuff is much more expensive and less wonderful than we are told.

Anyway, I was wavering on my man Edwards, but I'm back in the fold. In general, last night's debate solidified my confidence in the Democratic field of candidates. The Republicans are actually in more disarray, which is an historic rarity.

Barack Obama
I still like him, but he's got some sharpening to do if he's going to beat Hillary in the early states. He has the pulse of the people with his message about collaboration and change without compromising core principles. But he is a little soft focus sometimes and a candidate like Clinton will bury him every time if that continues. His campaign's financial situation is nice, but he's not there yet. Until he steps it up, he is my front-runner for VP.

Joe Biden
If this were 1952, a guy like him would be our nominee. He's smart and tough. He also lacks any form of rhetorical filter to prevent him from ruining a great statement with an off-the-cuff blunder. Secretary of State, unless something changes.

Bill Richardson
Great resume -- probably doesn't have the delivery to pull this one off. Cabinet or VP, unless something changes.

Chris Dodd
Nice guy. Not happening.

Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel
Delightfully unelectable.

'You Tube'
This Washington Post story reprinted in the Duluth News-Tribune talks about a fundamental problem -- one indirectly related to a couple columns I wrote this month -- that the Internet is not truly democratic until high-speed access is affordable and universally accessible. I have argued that northern Minnesota should marshal its resources to enhance high-speed access and afford ability. The poor and the rural are not at the table yet and we must fix this. Water, heat, electricity, internet. The web is a utility now and should be treated as such.

Harry Potter

BROWN HQ (July 23, 2007) -- The ending is "out there" now, so I'm not going to play the spoiler game here. I am just struck, after having read a 750-page novel in two days, at the significance of what J.K. Rowling has done with her "Harry Potter" series. It is on one hand an escapist children's tale of magic, but also a window into our times. No, I'm not one of those "Voldemort = Dick Cheney" guys. I think Voldemort is something that lives in all of us -- a sense of selfish pride, loneliness, hopelessness and fear that exists in every person. We are all fighting this battle every day and Rowling has put it all in a children's book. She takes criticism for her prose, but I think it's good that her style does not match that of the award-winning literary novels of our day. It's an old story of good vs. evil told in modern times to a vast audience. It's a coming of age story wrapped up in a mortality play. I just think that's very creative. In her final Potter book, Rowling has completed a seven-part masterpiece that will hold up over time.

Happy Birthday, Balsam Township!

BROWN HQ (July 21-22, 2007) -- It's Centennial weekend for Balsam Township in rural Itasca County, Minnesota. Our home township didn't have paved roads until World War II and at one time was known as the poaching capital of Minnesota. Lots of good people and good times this weekend, though, as we celebrate 100 years with our friends, family and neighbors.

Writing under double pressure

(This is my weekly column for the Sunday, July 22, 2007 Hibbing Daily Tribune).

So, we’ve got these newborn twin boys at home now and a two-year old to boot. Therefore I’m now crouching in the hall closet scrawling this column in the margins of a Lands End catalogue with a red pen that Henry just recently tried to insert into the dog. Outside, nothing but tiny yelling.

One of the first things to suffer under the strain of three boys age two or younger (henceforth known as “babysplosion”) is the part of your brain that develops 600-word columns for the newspaper, the pontificatabellum. Everyone has a pontificatabellum, but only columnists like me have harnessed its powers to get paid to write about economic development one week and baby poo the next. Anyway, mine’s shot. The best I can do is a stream of observations that might be great columns under normal conditions.

* We’ve had the babies home for a couple weeks now, so we can safely look back at our experience of going through a pregnancy and delivery. Our medical community in the Hibbing area is outstanding. I’ve been to many larger cities and more populous regions that don’t have the diversity and depth of medical service that we enjoy here, including cities the size of Duluth that don’t have regular obstetrics care. This is one area where the Iron Range holds a tremendous quality of life advantage over other places. I would elaborate, except Henry is currently attempting to smother the dog with a decorative pillow.

* We got a DVR receiver for our satellite last week. This means we can pause live TV, record multiple programs and store hours of our favorite shows for later viewing. When I got it I thought, “Ooo, this means I can find educational shows to use in my classes and we can tape “Lost” to look for clues.” Reality has been a cruel mistress. About half the hard drive is packed with episodes of “Thomas the Tank Engine,” and I programmed about half a dozen movies that I won’t be able to watch until these kids are driving cars. Flying cars.

* A few weeks ago the big news outlets reported on a recent study that shows that first born people have slightly higher IQ’s than their younger siblings. Some attribute the difference to the environmental factors faced by first borns, including more responsibility and parental attention. Speaking as the oldest of my family, I know that the issue is really that younger siblings are just a little bit dumb. They try hard, which is cute, but they’re just not going to win any chess tournaments. (You know, 20 years later it still feels good to rip on your siblings).

* We’re going to bite the bullet and go shop for a minivan in the next couple months. People make fun of minivans as being the vehicular equivalent of being spayed or neutered. I don’t think that way at all. One of my first cars was a minivan and I won a drag race with one once. (I suppose I shouldn’t do that this time around). We also already own a station wagon, so a minivan won’t change our image all that much. Christina had a good idea to put a bumper sticker on the station wagon that read “My other car is a minivan” and vice versa.

As soon as these little guys start sleeping more than three hours at a time, I’ll be back to my “coherent” self. Or so I now claim. The ironic thing about parenthood is that it provides bountiful writing topics and very little time to put them on paper.

More columns

Brown on the air -- Saturday, July 21

BROWN HQ (July 20, 2007) -- An essay about my boy scout experiences, including a sugar-induced joy ride in a pickup truck and failure to tie knots, airs this Saturday on 91.7 KAXE's "Between You and Me" with Heidi Holtan from 10 a.m. to noon. The piece will likely be re-aired Monday morning on the KAXE morning show between 6:30 and 9 a.m.

The Duluth Dozen

BROWN HQ (July 18, 2007, with July 20 updates) -- I like a juicy small- to mid-sized city election. In Minnesota, they're supposed to be nonpartisan (but there's a lot of winking which keeps it edgy). Also, city elections tend to be very personal. A hundred votes can shift in a heartbeat if there's a traffic jam or if one of the candidates looks splotchy on cable access TV. Crazy people are not screened out of debates or even the evening news, so awkward diatribes reign supreme. In years past the Iron Range produced plenty of these sorts of things. In the early 20th Century until the 1950s, before labor organizing was accepted in the mines, workers would form secret societies to elect their own to high city office. These organizations, called Units, often met in small groups with information relayed from group to group by liaisons. In Hibbing and several smaller towns they succeeded in electing a slate of candidates to city offices. City politics in places like Hibbing, Virginia and other small Range towns are actually less organized today, with fewer candidates and usually only petty controversies. In Hibbing last year, the race for mayor didn't have a primary and featured the incumbent and an inexperienced candidate who actually "rapped" his answers to questions in one debate. (Yes, he had a beat box guy there with him).

Thus, I must comment on the hum-dinger of an election they're cooking up in Duluth. Twelve (!) candidates filed for the primary, including the last-minute entry of the incumbent, Herb Bergson, who had previously said he wouldn't run. Other candidates include Charlie Bell, Meg Bye, Joanne Fay, Greg Gilbert, Todd Gremmels, Sunny Helbacka, Reiner Nelson, Don Ness, Jim Pratt, John Socha and Robert Wagner. Today's DNT has the Bergson story and a glimpse at the race.

UPDATE: It's impossible to predict who will come out of the Sept. 11 primary right now. I could see any combination of Bergson, Ness (current city councilor and former campaign chair for Congressman Oberstar), Bell (businessman and most conservative top tier candidate), Fay (county commissioner), Bye (former city councilor) or Gilbert (current councilor). Most of the top candidates in this race are Democrats in a city that votes DFL about 3-1. Thus progressives will probably split their votes between Gilbert, Bye or Ness. Moderates will take a hard look at Ness, Fay, Bell and possibly Bergson, whose anti-union diatribes of late have separated him from the progressives. Conservatives will unite behind Bell or Fay or maybe Bergson because conservatives in Duluth really, really hate unions. Even though Bergson has had a dismal first term, with a DUI arrest, public battles with almost every city worker union and bad press following ham handed firings and public relations gaffes, he's still got the best chance of advancing to the general because of name recognition. The top two candidates might have only 15 or 20 percent apiece, which might allow an interesting pair to emerge. In the general, Bergson would be at a disadvantage -- especially against Bell (who lost in '03 but has a lot of money and business backing) or Ness (who, despite losing the labor endorsements and having no backing from the liberal DFL wing, was Duluth's highest vote-getter as the at-large city councilor over the past decade). In fact, if I had to predict anything it would be that the next mayor of Duluth will be Ness, Bell or a re-elected Bergson. Stay tuned.

Jim Webb is awesome

BROWN HQ (July 16, 2007) -- I am declaring Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) my adopted senator. He gave a great speech after President Bush's last State of the Union address and gave a gutty performance on "Meet the Press" this past Sunday. Edwards-Webb? Obama-Webb? Either way some southern governor or Tim Pawlenty is going to get his a** kicked in the VP debate.

Win Twins!

BROWN HQ (July 16, 2007) -- Fresh off a four-game sweep of Oakland, the Twins play three with division leader Detroit starting Tuesday. With the late night bottle feedings and baby tending, I am watching more Twins games start to finish these days. We'll find out if our small market boys can get it done this week. All our boys will be old enough to go to a game when they open the new stadium in a couple years. That is one of several hopes that gets me through these long formula-smelling nights.

As the boondoggle turns...

BROWN HQ (July 16, 2007) -- There's lots going on these days, both in my house and in the world around us. Our surviving raising of twin baby boys and 2-year-old son is most important, but in the outside world I am also interested in the ongoing Excelsior Energy story. We the people are all waiting for the state PUC to rule on whether this unproven startup company will be granted a sweetheart deal to build an Iron Range power plant to sell electricity at rigged prices because of its status as an experimental coal gasification plant. The company announced today that it has agreements to upgrade the power grid in northern Minnesota if the PUC grants the power purchase agreement. In truth, this is just window dressing. It's all about the PUC's decision at this point. I'm looking at a public document showing Excelsior's 2004-2005 spending of an Iron Range Resources loan which includes $38,000 in Ikea furniture for two different Twin Cities suburb offices, $5,000 for the Range office (which is reasonable, but how come the crappy furniture gets sent north?) and a $5,000 trip to Italy, along with more than $100,000 -- the largest single expenditure -- to a consulting company that specializes in marketing and websites. No word on whether members of Excelsior's vast lobbying corps assembled the Ikea furniture, though that mental image amuses me.

Dudes. I totally would have made you a website for $89,900. I am already furnished!

Seriously, PUC. Kill this thing. It's a boondoggle.

AP headline from Yahoo News

BROWN HQ (July 15, 2007) -- Here is an AP headline from Yahoo.com:

"Robot air attack squadron bound for Iraq"

I think I speak for everyone when I say, "why have we waited so long?" If you have a robot air attack squadron, don't hold it back! Don't even tell me they haven't called Godzilla yet. He's probably just chilling under the ocean thinking that there ISN'T a global assault on democracy by Islamofascists going on. Call him! There is no surge quite like a 200 ton scaly tail to the FACE, brother!

Room for two

(This is my weekly Sunday column for the July 15, 2007 Hibbing Daily Tribune.)

On July 2, 2007, we welcomed twin boys into our world. Douglas and George join our son Henry in what now becomes a pretty big brood by modern standards. I used to look at those families – the ones with waves of sticky toddlers teeming out of shopping carts and restaurant booths – and wonder how that happened. Now I know.

My wife Christina and I have expected these guys for a long time. We found out early after a scare brought us to the hospital. On the ultrasound screen, where we desperately hoped to see one healthy baby, we saw two healthy babies. We entered a trance; overwhelmed with joy, trepidation and rough estimates of diaper prices (everything times two). But for all the months of waiting, the whole idea seemed conceptual (no pun intended), like an album cover design drawn on a bar napkin.

Now, after a couple months of bed rest, a tanker truck of ice cream and frequent requisitions from fast food restaurants, Doug and George are here. They were born a couple weeks early, but healthy, hungry and loud. I’ve had plenty of “wow” moments in my life, but no wow compares to holding these guys in the nursery and realizing that both would be coming home with us.

There are so many fears involved in parenting. These fears range from the big stuff, like health and safety, to the fear of somehow screwing up your kids by feeding them too many hot dogs or artificial sweetener. In red state households: “What if my kids don’t like sports?” In blue state households: “What if my kids lack whimsy and advanced test scores?” For me, the biggest fear with the twins was that I would mix them up. I’ve known lots of twins and invariably I think Bob is Bill and Bill is Bob. That’s fine when Bill works at the gas station and Bob is the mail carrier, but you can’t get away with that when the twins live across the hall and share your DNA.

On the big day, though, these fears melted away. There’s no mistaking Doug – who on his birthday looked a little like my dad but mostly like himself. And George resembles Henry a little, but a good look into his eyes shows you that he’s his own baby. Each has a unique personality, even if their activities are now limited to three or four predominantly biological tasks. I’m a writer, so it hit me that our boys are all new characters – vibrant, with virtues and flaws, but ultimately deep and distinct. I don’t know the men they’ll come to be yet, but I so look forward to the adventure of finding out.

I won’t sugar coat it. These first nights are totally kicking our butts. But even though I didn’t know it all those months ago, there is room for two more at our table and in our hearts. Most of our fears have proven unfounded, with the exception of diaper prices (These guys go through Huggies the way an old time newspaper reporter goes through unfiltered cigarettes). Doug and George, welcome to the Earth in general and our house in particular. You’re the sixth generation of Browns on the Iron Range and who knows what the future will bring. We’ll keep things interesting for you and I’m sure you’ll keep it interesting for us.

After all, we’re one of those families now: big, sticky and loud.

NOTE: There are hazards in having worked for the newspaper and now writing this column out of the office. The casual e-mail I sent to my e-mail address book announcing Doug and George’s birth was accidentally run as an official birth announcement in last Sunday’s newspaper. If the wording seemed a tad informal, just know that a proper announcement and pictures taken more than five minutes after their birth are on the way.

Brown on the air

BROWN HQ (July 14, 2007) -- There was a change to the schedule I forgot to post here. The crazy scout trip essay I talked about last week will be broadcast next Saturday on July 21 on "Between You and Me" with Heidi Holtan. This week's "BYM" essay is about what fame means on the Iron Range. It will be rebroadcast on Monday morning's KAXE morning program. In fact, many of these Saturday essays are rebroadcast the following Monday if you miss the Saturday debut. Tune in at 91.7 FM in northern Minnesota or online at www.kaxe.org.

In case you've forgotten, I write and record essays each week for this unique music and call-in show on KAXE, a large independent NPR affiliate radio station in northern Minnesota. I plan to release many of the essays in a book scheduled to come out in Summer 2008. The same book will feature many original works and several of my Hibbing Daily Tribune columns which are posted here each week.

Makin' steel?

BROWN HQ (July 13, 2007) -- I haven't blogged in a while because of the nonstop feeding and diaper changing going on in my world. I'm also behind on my columns and essays. But it's been an interesting week of news, so I'll chime in with a couple items this morning.

A Wednesday night meeting revealed that Minnesota Steel is VERY close to getting necessary permits to start building a mining and steel making operation near Nashwauk. This would be the first time steel was made on a large scale on the Mesabi Range. Naturally, there are environmental concerns, but an Indian steelmaker has signed on as financier of this project which is the largest hurdle.

An astute observer might wonder why I like the steel plant but not Excelsior Energy's proposed experimental coal gas power plant by Taconite. The short answer is market support. It does us no good to throw all our money at things that will only come back later to ask for even larger amounts of money. All the mines on the Range were built -- with few minor exceptions -- without government help. They were built because there was huge demand for the ore. The reason the steel plant is now so close to being built -- after almost three decades of nebulous deals -- is not the several million in loans and grants given by the state and Iron Range Resources (which, I admit, probably helped a little), but the fact that steel prices are good and the world needs lots of steel right now. If the steel market drops -- as one day it may -- we might see shutdowns or production cuts, but no amount of government money (certainly the amounts we can control locally) would fundamentally change those forces.

Some would say that we have a strong demand for energy, so we should support the experimental coal gas plant for the same reasons. The problem with this idea is that the power produced by this plant would cost a lot more than market rates and people would be forced to buy the power at these higher rates. Also, the power plants backers have not been 100 percent clear or honest with the people about how well their so-called innovative technology works. A third of their financing is from the federal government and, near as I can tell, most of their current operating expenses (lobbying, marketing and engineering) are coming from government loans and grants, all of which are backed by federal loan guarantees. Excelsior promises only about 100 permanent jobs, so there is a scenario out there where each of those jobs will have cost thousands of dollars, maybe even $100,000, to generate. I argue, again, that the people can do better with their public money. If the Excelsior plant is so great, they should be able to build it without all the back door deals. If it really is an experiment, to prove that the technology is viable and clean, they should experiment first on a small scale with the larger plant being built if and only if that first experiment succeeds. I'd vote for that. I am reminded of the biomass project underway in Hibbing and Virginia, where two public utilities are experimenting with burning plantation trees for city power supplies. If those experiments succeed, we could have a boon for northern Minnesota loggers and cleaner energy for public utilities. And that's great. Same thing if you can work the kinks out of coal gasification and carbon capturing. I am betting that major problems could occur, though, because none of the big power producers in Minnesota are biting on this technology yet -- even though they're dropping millions on wind power.

Anyway, I digress. I find that I need a stiff drink every time I talk too much about this so I'll stop now. It is, after all, only 11 a.m.

Quick, find a historian...

BROWN HQ (July 13, 2007) -- So President Bush says that his legacy in Iraq can only be judged by historians in the future. Then in the same breath he suggests, in almost a gentle whisper, that the whole mess is the fault of his field commander who didn't ask for more troops to start the war.

Once a chickenhawk, always a chickenhawk. I hope people in the military are suitably ticked off about this. This guy creates a culture that punishes -- literally -- anyone who argues with the notion that the administration is absolutely correct in invad