PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – State officials are providing answers on where a $15 million grant stands that was to be put toward relocating Green Bay’s coal piles to the former Pulliam Power Plant site.
The status of the grant has been at the center of a seemingly endless tug-of-war in negotiations to move the piles.
The grant is nearly half of the approximately $33 million Brown County has gathered to expand port operations to the mouth of the Fox River at the Pulliam site. It has been viewed as at risk of being lost as the county and C. Reiss Company, the owner of the coal piles, haven’t been able to reach a lease agreement to start putting coal at the 37-acre property.
“The parties all need to just sit in a room and come to an agreement,” said Kathy Blumenfeld, the secretary of Wisconsin’s Department of Administration.
Wisconsin’s Department of Administration is the agency that awarded the $15 million grant three years ago, but hasn’t actually provided the funding yet.
Brown County leaders have claimed C. Reiss became nearly impossible to negotiate a fair lease with after hearing the grant was contingent on a deal to move the coal piles. That has led county officials to explore alternate uses for the Pulliam site. They have been talking with seven other companies interested in the potential port site, while maintaining negotiations with C. Reiss.
Blumenfeld was asked whether the grant is contingent on getting a deal done with C. Reiss.
“It’s contingent on getting a deal done,” said Blumenfeld. “There are a lot of intricacies to the grant but at the end of the day that is what you’d like to see happen.”
She further clarified on whether the deal needs to be with C. Reiss.
“We’d have to look at all the – again, it’s a complex agreement so we want the city and the county and C. Reiss to continue to work together to get that deal done,” said Blumenfeld.
Blumenfeld says it’s a situation where the state needs to see what happens before making a determination with the grant.
“We really want the grant. There’s a lot of conversations happening right now and we feel there is still some productive ways they can find agreement. We’re really optimistic that can happen,” she said
If that state doesn’t like the final outcome and pulls the grant, Blumenfeld says the money would need to be reutilized in a similar manner.
It’s possible the grant money could go to a different project in a different part of the state if the state decides to pull the money from the Pulliam project.
“We’d have to see,” said Blumenfeld. “We haven’t had that happen yet, so we’ll have to see how that plays out.”
Last week, it was revealed Green Bay officials are working with C. Reiss on an alternate site near the Pulliam property if a deal can’t be reached with the county. Blumenfeld says the state would have to see the details before deciding whether the grant money could be shifted to that plan.
She says no matter what happens, the money has to be utilized before the end of 2026.
The coal piles have sat on the same riverfront property for 125 years. Studies have shown the land could garner $150 million in new development.
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