Guest Opinion: We Stand by Our Stewardship of the Emily Mining Project

As president of the board of directors at Crow Wing Power, I take great pride in our member-

owned cooperative's performance as a reliable and safe provider of electric service. We also

manage a strong portfolio of business investments and subsidiaries to better serve our

members, including People's Security and the CWP Credit Union.

One of our investments, the Emily manganese/iron deposit, has received a lot of attention lately

in the local press, based on criticism of the project's progress from Bryan McCulloch, a Crow

Wing Power board member, and Steve Carlton, who maintains a royalty interest in the project.

The Emily manganese deposit is the richest known deposit of its kind in North America -

between four and 10 billion pounds of the mineral that is critical for steel production and

batteries, among other things. We are excited about this project and its long-term prospects.

Unfortunately, the majority of the cooperative board has concluded that McCulloch is failing to

serve the best interest of our 38,000 members in his oversight of this project. Further,

McCulloch and Carlton are making our negotiations with potential investors more difficult. This

project cannot move forward successfully if a board member ignores his responsibilities and an

anxious royalty owner pushes for action before we have an agreement with the right partner.

We are working diligently to complete a deal with a strong partner who brings a high level of

expertise and the resources to develop a mining operation that is profitable, safe and meets our

obligations to protect the environment.

The majority of our cooperative board members are determined to make sure this investment

produces the best long-term value for our 38,000 members. Further, we appreciate that Crow

Wing Power executives care enough about our members that they never pushed the Emily

project too quickly or recklessly, even though there was a royalty agreement that could have

benefitted them during the project's early stages.

The Crow Wing Power executives have relinquished those royalties, and we are optimistic that

we will reach an agreement with a new investment/mining partner in the coming months that

will help propel this project forward.

Let me assure our members that the majority of the board and the leadership team at Crow

Wing are going to do everything we can to make the best deal for our members, as we have

always done with our business investments. Our track record of success is very good.

Annually we submit a full and complete report of our financial condition and of our operations,

audited and certified by independent certified public accountants, to our lenders.

We are proudly member owned and serve at their pleasure. I encourage our members to contact me if they have any questions about the mining project or any other issue involving Crow Wing Power.

Bob Kangas,

President, Crow Wing Power Board of Directors