TRIBAL FOCUS ON SEVERAL ACRES OF PUBLIC WETLANDS DOOMS HUBER OSB PROJECT IN MINNESOTA

“Once again, the state of Minnesota is giving the finger to good companies trying to create jobs here. Huber has been a phenomenal community partner everywhere they have operated, with a sterling environmental record. Huber was bringing hope to a community that needed some good news. It is disappointing the

Leech Lake Band—and now the court of appeals—would stand in the way of that.”

That’s how Minnesota State Senator Justin Eichorn (R-Grand Rapids) responded to a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision in early February that would have caused further delay in the construction of a $440 million OSB plant by Huber Engineered Woods in Cohasset, but instead immediately prompted Huber to pull out of the project and begin looking to another state for the development of its sixth OSB plant.

HEW President Brian Carlson states, “Due to delays that jeopardize our ability to meet product demand deadlines, we will pursue development of our sixth mill in another state.” Carlson says the company appreciates the strong support provided by a range of Minnesota constituents, including “state, county, city and local officials, government and private sector community development groups, and the residents of Itasca County, and that the Huber team looks forward to maintaining a constructive relationship in the state.”

HEW announced in June 2021 its plan additional job and growth opportunities for area logging and trucking operations. But in a ruling on an appeal from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe (its reservation is a mile west of the proposed plant) and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, the court of appeals said the Cohasset city planners’ earlier decision to only require an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) of the project, and not require a more detailed