Jun. 20—SUPERIOR — The partners in the Nemadji Trail Energy Center filed a claim against the city June 3 after they were denied public hearings to consider land-use changes at the site of the proposed 625-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant.

Claimants include South Shore Energy, a Wisconsin limited liability company organized to hold Minnesota Power’s ownership interest; Dairyland Power Cooperative of La Crosse, Wisconsin; Nemadji River Generation, a Wisconsin LLC organized to hold Bismarck, North Dakota-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s ownership interest; Allete Transmission Holdings Inc.; and Rendfield Land Company, a subsidiary of Allete that petitioned for a zoning change and discontinuation of platted, undeveloped alleys and streets within the project area near the Nemadji River.

According to the claim, the City Council deprived the claimants of due process, and its denial of the petitions was arbitrary and capricious, and lacked a reasonable basis in fact.

In April, Councilors Nicholas Ledin, Jenny Van Sickle, Garner Moffat and Lindsey Graskey voted against resolutions that would have set the public hearings required before the rezoning and discontinuation of alleys and streets could be considered.

Councilors Jack Sweeney, Brent Fennessey, Tylor Elm, Mike Herrick and Mark Johnson voted in favor of the resolutions, but the five votes fell short of the six needed to adopt the resolutions.

Councilor Ruth Ludwig, who opposed the project, did not attend the April 3 meeting when the council considered the resolutions despite not having a recommendation from the city’s Planning Commission.

The council’s inaction on April 3 effectively denied the claimants’ petitions to rezone the property that’s adjacent to a 500-acre crude oil terminal and high voltage transmission lines to a heavy-manufacturing district and discontinue use of streets and alleys platted more than 100 years ago that were never developed, according to the claim.

“The goal of the claim is to ask the city of Superior to reconsider its position on the Nemadji Trail Energy Center and create a partnership on this important project that is critical for regional electric grid reliability,” Dairyland Power, Minnesota Power and Basin Electric wrote in a prepared statement. While the filing asks for the city to grant rezoning and street vacations consistent with the 2020 Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity issued by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, it also preserves the project’s legal options after it has gone through a rigorous seven-year process to receive 14 state and federal regulatory approvals, they stated.

The claim was presented to the council as part of the Tuesday, June 18 agenda packet. Like all claims filed against the city, the matter was referred to the Liability Claims Committee.

Fennessey questioned the referral to a body that typically determines if the city is financially responsible for property damage or personal injury.

“Even if the Liability Claims Committee says ‘yes, city of Superior, you were wrong,’ the Liability Claims Committee has no jurisdiction over making that action right,” Fennessey said. “It’s beyond the scope of their influence.”

City Attorney Frog Prell said the committee would likely review the claim but would take no action on it. As an adviser to the committee, Prell said he sees the claim as an opportunity for the NTEC partners to protect their legal rights.

“Obviously, it’s a bit of an outlier and maybe a waste of process to put it on a claims committee agenda, but I know how to shepherd that through in such a manner that there is no confusion as to where the process lies,” Prell said.

Under state law, Prell said taking no action on the claim would be treated as a denial after 120 days.

Mayor Jim Paine said he or councilors could bring it up before the council, but he’s not inclined to do that because the council has already made a decision.

“Despite what’s in their claim, we followed the law,” Paine said. “We followed fair and lawful discretion. We considered the issues fairly. I don’t see any circumstances that have changed to bring it up again.”