GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — After decades of trying to move them, the company that manages the coal piles along the Fox River in downtown Green Bay says they are ready to negotiate an agreement with top city and county leaders.
"Earlier this week, the state agency in charge of the $15 million grant to move the coal piles publicly stated that all parties need to 'sit in a room and come to an agreement.' C. Reiss completely agrees, and we've now accepted an invitation to meet with Brown County and the City of Green Bay to negotiate an agreement on moving the coal piles to the old Pulliam Power Plant site," the C. Reiss Coal Company said in a statement to our newsroom.
In an email, Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach and Board of Supervisors Chair Patrick Buckley said the county remains interested in working with the city to help move the coal piles.
“Last Wednesday, the Brown County Board of Supervisors formally rejected the C. Reiss Counteroffer to control the entire 37.5-acre Pulliam site for 100 years," Streckenbach and Buckley said in a joint statement.
"The County remains interested in working with the City of Green Bay in helping to relocate the coal piles," they added. "Along those lines, the City (through its Mayor) and the County (through its Executive and Board Chair) met last Friday to discuss how to best move forward. The City and County agreed at that meeting that the Alternate Site should be discussed further. A meeting date has not yet been finalized, but the County looks forward to the City finding a date in the coming weeks that is amenable to all three parties.”
The land near Mason Street has been used to offload coal from ships for more than a century.
City leaders have said they want to use the land for mixed-use developments.
Brown County has relied heavily on state and federal funding — totaling $30 million — to expand the Port at the Fox River's mouth, and relocate the coal company to the former Pulliam Power Plant site.
In December 2024, county leaders voted in favor of a lease agreement to move the coal piles from downtown to the former Pulliam site, but C. Reiss did not agree to the changes the board asked for.
At the time, the county board brought the lease down from 100 years to 30 years, plus a 10-year option. They asked that the lease rate increase by 2.5 percent or by the consumer price index each year, whichever is greater. C. Reiss CEO Keith Haselhoff said the coal company would see any changes to the lease agreement as a rejection of the deal.
Throughout the back-and-forth negotiations, the county has also been considering to explore other companies who may have interest in the Port expansion project.
