St. Louis County authorized negotiation and execution of a lease for a solar installation on the closed Hibbing landfill after developers and staff answered extensive questions about project scope, labor and state permitting.

The project: Administration and Director Dave Fink presented a negotiated lease with Eaton Renewables/Eden Renewables for a solar installation sized at roughly 15 megawatts DC (about 10 MW AC under Minnesota Power interconnection limits) on the closed Hibbing landfill. The proposed lease term discussed in the meeting is 35 years, with annual base lease payments tied to capacity and inflation adjustments and an additional distribution of tax‑credit proceeds to the city of Hibbing as required by statute.

Debate and changes: Commissioners pressed developers on whether the resolution’s language could obligate the county to larger future projects without additional board review. Commissioner Musa and others successfully proposed deleting the words “or larger” from the resolution, narrowing the board action to the Hibbing site as presented. Commissioners also raised process questions about project‑labor agreements (PLAs) and whether the county should specify particular unions. The developer and project consultant said they were committed to using local union labor and to negotiating a county project‑labor agreement consistent with county policy.

Developer statement: Thomas Cosby of Eden Renewables told the board the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) review had been moved forward and praised county staff coordination: “We were pleased with all the support we’ve had from county staff throughout the process,” he said.

Vote and conditions: After an amendment removing “or larger” and assurances from the developer about local union labor and willingness to revisit PLA language if needed, the board approved authorization to finalize the Hibbing lease. The board recorded one nay during the amendment roll call but ultimately approved the site‑specific lease.

Why it matters: The project would repurpose a landfill brownfield site for renewable energy production, create local construction and operating jobs and generate modest long‑term lease revenue for the county enterprise fund. The board’s debate highlighted tradeoffs between accelerating renewable siting and protecting local procurement and labor commitments.