Fighting for the Falls
Local residents struggle to protect historic mill ruins
By Elizabeth McNamara | Online Only | May 24, 2011
For eleven years, Minneapolis residents have been fighting a proposal from the clean-energy company Crown Hydro to build a hydroelectric plant on the west bank of the Mississippi River. To build the plant--which could power as many as 2,000 households--the company needs permission from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to lease public park land in the St. Anthony Falls Historic District, home to ruins of the city's oldest water-powered mills.
"This is not a question of whether or not hydro power is good or bad," says Cynthia Kriha, a resident opposing the plant. "This is a land-use issue, and an issue about sense of place for the city. These ruins defined our early city, and now there are more residents [living in the Mill District] and there's less and less support for digging it up."
The park board has repeatedly denied Crown Hydro's request, citing concerns that the plant would diminish the flow of the falls and damage the early mill ruins along the riverbank. The board is also trying to facilitate the proposed expansion of Mill Ruins Park, which could reveal some of the features of the historic mills (such as a gatehouse and water tunnels) to better tell the city's milling story.
"[Mill Ruins Park] was a brilliant idea to not make the land into your regular park with grass and trees," says resident and activist Edna Brazaitis. "We want to focus on what's below ground, to see how water went through the canals before it ran through the saw and flour mills. But this [hydro] project would ruin people's ability to see what was there."
Crown Hydro has received a $5 million grant to construct its hydroelectric plant from Xcel's Renewable Energy Development Fund and has spent $1.5 million on turbines, which are currently in storage. If construction does not begin this year, it is unclear what will happen to the remaining $3.5 million.
To complicate matters, last April, the energy company turned to legislators to move the project forward. Bills were introduced in the state House and Senate to bypass the park board's authority. The legislation would exempt hydroelectric plants from "any permit, entitlement, license, easement, authorization, or consent of any kind from the city, a municipal board, or any other political subdivision."
The National Trust's Midwest office strongly opposed both bills. Earlier this month, Minnesota Program Officer Christina Morris issued a statement reading, "It is our opinion that this legislation will only harm Minnesota's natural resources, and it could have unintended and very negative consequences on effective local government regulatory processes."
The statement also said that, while the regional office strongly supports renewable energy production through alternative sources, it "[does] not support the destruction of our state's limited and nonrenewable cultural resources for the creation of renewable energy."
Last night at midnight, those fighting to save the falls were granted a reprieve after the state legislature adjourned before the bill was brought to the floor. Preservationists don't believe this is the end of the fight; the governor may still call for a special session. "Crown Hydro could just go away," says Morris, "but, given the history of this project, that seems unlikely."
"You can't look at this in the single dimension of renewable energy being a good thing," says Kriha. "There has been a lot of recent investment in the Mill District, and we're only at the beginning."
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