Superior Gas Plant Plan Abandoned After Indigenous, Environmental Opposition

A rendering of the proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center in Superior, which utilities say would provide enough power for roughly half a million homes. Image courtesy of Minnesota Power. 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 co