Legalectric

Kandiyohi Development is at it again, trying to ram through an incinerator in Rockford, Minnesota.  Here’s a prior post:

Kandiyohi moves to Rockford?

Apparently, their plans to site in in the City of Rockford crashed, so they went to the neighboring township.  Yesterday, they went down in flames in both Rockford Township and Wright County where they’re trying to locate this thing — both local governments, on hearing their pitch to be exempted from utility personal property taxes and asking for their blessing, said NO!  We’re not signing off on a utility personal property tax exemption!

The School Board is next…

Here’s the bill that they’re trying to get through the legislature, SF 703 and HF 845 that needs to be stopped pronto:

1.8    Subd. 90. Biomass electrical generation facility; personal property.
1.9    Notwithstanding subdivision 9, paragraph (a), attached machinery and other personal
1.10  property which is part of an electrical generation facility that meets the requirements of
1.11   this subdivision is exempt. At the time of construction, the facility must:
1.12     (1) have a generation capacity of less than 30 megawatts;
1.13     (2) be located within a township with a population of less than 7,000;
1.14     (3) be located on land within five miles of a distribution substation;
1.15     (4) be designed to utilize biomass as a primary fuel source;
1.16     (5) be owned by a limited liability company, limited liability partnership or
1.17   corporation, any of which must be registered in Minnesota; and
1.18     (6) have received by resolution the approval of the governing body of the county,
1.19   township, and school board in which the proposed facility is to be located for the
1.20   exemption of personal property under this subdivision.
1.21   Construction of the facility must be commenced before January 1, 2013. Property
1.22   eligible for this exemption does not include electric transmission lines and interconnections
1.23   or gas pipelines and interconnections appurtenant to the property or the facility.
1.24   EFFECTIVE DATE.This section is effective the day following final enactment.

Who to contact about this?  It’s been sent to the House Tax Committee and the Senate Energy Committee, so start there.

Authors to blame for this are:  Senators Koch, Dibble and Dille,  and Representatives Emmer, Dill and Rukavina.

Click here to contact them:

Senator Amy Koch

Senator Scott Dibble

Senator Steve Dille

Representative Tom Emmer

Representative David Dill

Representative Tom Rukavina

Call and email them today!

You’d think that Dill and Rukavina would have learned with that Laurentian biomass burner that violated its permit and had to be shut down, the MPCA had to rework the permit so that it could even run, and it has been having so many problems and is out of service so often that the ratepayers are FURIOUS!

Here’s the language we added to the Mesaba bill, now Minn. Stat. 272.02, Subd. 55, to require “payment in lieu of taxes” which would tank the project:

To qualify for an exemption under this subdivision, the owner of the electric generation facility must have an agreement with the host county, township or city, and school district, for payment in lieu of personal property taxes to the host county, township or city, and school district.

I think this is the one for the Invenergy plant in Cannon Falls, Minn. Stat. 272.02, Subd. 69:

To qualify under this subdivision, an agreement must be negotiated between the municipal power agency and the host city, for a payment in lieu of property taxes to the host city.

Kandiyohi burner rears its ugly head again, this time in Rockford, Minnesota. Their Midtown burner project went down in flames not even a year ago, and here they are again.

From a blurb on Current Issues on the City of Rockford site:

Proposed Industry – Biomass Plant

On October 7th the City Council and Planning Commission listened to a presentation from Kandiyohi. Kandiyohi is looking at constructing a wood burning biomass plant south of Highway 55 and west of County Road 32 that was recently annexed. The developer’s presented information about their operations which involves burning waste wood that will generate electricity through a steam process. The project will consist of the development of approximately 7 acres of land. The plant will be required to complete an environmental assessment and apply for an air quality permit. The group has been working together with Wright Hennepin Electric that is also located in the Rockford. Lane Wilson, from Wright Hennepin Electric was present at the meeting and stated that their company is very excited about the prospect of this new business and feels they can work well together to meet the future needs of electricity in the area.

Here’s the minutes from the meeting:

Workshop Meeting of Rockford City Council and Planning Commission

Here’s their powerpoint:

Kandiyohi Presentation – Rockford October 7 2008

… which makes me wonder…

They say that they’ll burn waste wood.

Did they tell the City of Rockford that waste wood produces emissions of formaldehyde, NOx and fine particulates?

Did they tell the City of Rockford that their failed Midtown Eco-burner project would spew nearly 1 million pounds of pollutants in the air?

Did they tell the City of Rockford that there’s enough wood to power the project? (see next section)

They say that Minnesota is one of the best places for biomass, and have a map showing biomass resources.

Did they tell the City of Rockford that there’s enough wood to power the project?

Did they tell the City of Rockford that the Green Institute’s study showed that there is not enough biomass to power a similar burner proposed for St. Paul’s Rock-Tenn facility, that there’s not sufficient wood to go around?

Green Institute Report: A Biomass Fuel Assessment

Did they explain what’s changed since the Green Institute report?

They say it employs established technology.

Did they tell the City of Rockford that the MPCA has only issued one woody biomass permit, for Laurentian (Hibbing and Virginia) and that that permit was violated, so extremely that the MPCA issued fines and reworked the permit?

LEGALECTRIC POST: Laurentian “biomass” Air Permit Draft (second time around)

LEGALECTRIC POST: “Biomass” violates air permit – fines likely

They say that it will replace fossil fuel and nuclear.

Did they tell the City of Rockford what fossil fuel or nuclear power plants would be shut down if theirs is built?

Does the power purchase agreement provide for shutdown of any fossil fuel or nuclear generation?

They say it will expand the City of Rockford’s tax base.

Did they tell the City of Rockford that for the Midtown burner they lobbied for and received an exemption from utility personal property tax?

Minn. Stat. 272.02, Subd. 82.
Biomass electric generation facility; personal property.

(a) Notwithstanding subdivision 9, clause (a), attached machinery and other personal property which is a part of an electric generation facility, including remote boilers that comprise part of the district heating system, generating up to 30 megawatts of installed capacity and that meets the requirements of this subdivision is exempt. At the time of construction, the facility must:

(1) be designed to utilize a minimum 90 percent waste biomass as a fuel;

(2) not be owned by a public utility as defined in section 216B.02, subdivision 4;

(3) be located within a city of the first class and have its primary location at a former garbage transfer station; and

(4) be designed to have capability to provide baseload energy and district heating.

(b) Construction of the facility must be commenced after January 1, 2004, and before January 1, 2008. Property eligible for this exemption does not include electric transmission lines and interconnections or gas pipelines and interconnections appurtenant to the property or the facility.

Did they tell the City of Rockford that their failed Midtown project would not have paid utility personal property tax to the county, city and school district because of this exemption?

Did they tell the City of Rockford that they would NOT seek an exemption from utility personal property tax for this project?

Did they commit to paying utility personal property tax to the county, city and school district?

They tout process steam and district heat potential.

Did they tell the City of Rockford of the infrastructure expense necessary to utilize this steam?

Did they tell the City of Rockford that the St. Paul District Heat plant had steam heat infrastructure in place for much of its St. Paul customer base?

They say there will be no odors.

Did they tell the City of Rockford the basis for that statement?

Did they tell the City of Rockford how many pounds of emissions are expected?

They say regarding the failed Midtown burner project that some in the neighborhood were anti-business and anti-growth.

Did they tell the City of Rockford the basis of the neighborhood’s objections?

LINK: Neighbors Against the Burner

LINK: Minneapolis Residents for Clean Air

Minneapolis Residents for Clean Air – Refutation of Kandiyohi claim that impact of burner equals just 24 cars

They say regarding the failed Midtown burner project that NIMBY caused some local politicians to flip-flop.

Did they tell the City of Rockford the factors upon which local politicians rejected the project?

They say regarding the failed Midtown burner project that Xcel Energy was difficult to negotiate with?

Did they tell the City of Rockford the material terms of their power purchase agreement proposal that Xcel rejected?

They say regarding the failed Midtown burner project that activists exaggerated emissions.

Did they tell the City of Rockford the specific emissions levels projected?

For Midtown Eco-Burner, per air permit application:

NOx 160 tons (320,000 lbs)
SO2 40 tons (80,000 lbs)
Ozone (O3) (not emitted directly)
CO 160 tons (320,000 lbs)
Lead 150 tons (also a “HAP”)
Particles 36 tons (72,000 lbs)
– PM 10 – 65 tons (130,000 lbs)
– PM 2.5

They say regarding the failed Midtown burner project that cumulative impacts were claimed even though the project had low emissions.

Did they tell the City of Rockford of the existing arsenic contamination and other impacts of prior industry suffered by the Phillips community?

Did the tell the City of Rockford of the efforts that led to legislation passed requiring that cumulative impacts be considered?

They say that emissions for this project would be much lower than for District Energy or Hibbing.

Did they tell the City of Rockford the basis for this claim?

Did they provide the City of Rockford the emissions modeling to back up this claim?

They claim multiple options for water use and discharge.

Did they tell the City of Rockford what their plans are?

Do they have plans for water use, cooling and treatment?

Did they disclose the cost of water and treatment if they use the city’s system?

Did they disclose impacts of on-site water intake and discharge?

They claim their project will reduce emissions that may cause climate change.

Did they explain to the City of Rockford how a new power plant with new emissions without a linked closing of any other facility would reduce emissions?

They say they have $75 million in private capital.

Did they explain to the City of Rockford why they have this capital now but did not have it for the Midtown project and relied on public grants and financing?

They say they have a financing package prepared by Piper Jaffray.

Did they provide a pro forma to the City of Rockford?

Did they provide any documentation of this financing package?

LINK: Kandiyohi Request to City of Mpls for Extenstion to Close – Statement that Piper Jaffray financing reference – real estate and financing closing did NOT occur

They claim “project team experience” on a number of projects.

Did they tell the City of Rockford what project partners have what experience?

Did they tell the City of Rockford that Kandiyohi has no experience in successful development, construction or operation of a power plant?

Did they tell the City of Rockford that Kandiyohi has experience only in its failed Midtown burner project?

This project is yet another pig in a poke…

Here’s some information from the last time around, so that the City of Rockford can compare with what they receive:

Midtown Air Permit application – note it took them 3 submissions to get one that the MPCA would accept

Air Permit – Part I

Air Permit – Part 2

Air Permit – Part 3

Air Permit – Part 4

MPCA Documents

Midtown Draft Air Permit

Midtown Technical Support Document

Neighbors Against the Burner & Other Org’s Documents

Petition for Environmental Assessment Worksheet

EAW – Affidavit of Muller in Support of Petition

Green Institute Comments in Support of EAW

David Morris – ILSR – Position on Kandiyohi Midtown & Timeline of Events

Jeff Cook Coyle (formerly Green Institute) letter to Legislators

Petition for Contested Case

Alan Muller Presentation

Muller – Saying NO! to permits for Kandiyohi\’s Midtown Burner

(Air emissions info on slide 22)

A win without justice… Kandiyohi’s Midtown Burner is dead — at the Phillips site. That’s a very good thing. But there’s bad news too — it appears a deal was struck and that it may rear its ugly head somewhere else in Minneapolis, SE Minneapolis to be precise. Kandiyohi better not even think about it. That’s one outcome that is not acceptable.

One aspect of the “victory” is legislation about an important issue, analysis of cumulative impacts of a project. This is a statewide issue, as evidenced in the MSI and PolyMet permitting on the Range. In this case, however, language requiring analysis of cumulative impacts of proposed facilities was crafted into language so narrow that only the Kandiyohi Midtown Burner would be affected. The quote from Rep. Karen Clark in the STrib said:

“We’re happy that it’s not going to be in the Phillips neighborhood,” said state Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, who helped pass the law requiring study of cumulative pollution in the area. “We’re not taking a position on where it should go.”

How about just saying NO! “Not taking a position on where it should go” but authoring legislation saying anywhere but here… What about impacts of the very real pollutants spewing from an incinerator ANYWHERE? What’s wrong with this picture? Another community in Minneapolis may have been targeted.

Here’s the language of the bill, now SF 3056, Sec. 34, or Chapter 357:

The agency may not issue a permit to a facility without analyzing and considering the cumulative levels and effects of past and current environmental pollution from all sources on the environment and residents of the geographic area within which the facility’s emissions are likely to be deposited, provided that the facility is located in a community in a city of the first class in Hennepin County that meets all of the following conditions:
(1) is within a half mile of a site designated by the federal government as an EPA superfund site due to residential arsenic contamination;
(2) a majority of the population are low-income persons of color and American
(3) a disproportionate percent of the children have childhood lead poisoning, asthma, or other environmentally related health problems;
(4) is located in a city that has experienced numerous air quality alert days of dangerous air quality for sensitive populations between February 2007 and February 2008; and
(5) is located near the junctions of several heavily trafficked state and county highways and two one-way streets which carry both truck and auto traffic.

And we know that Kandiyohi Development Partners will do just about anything to keep this afloat, but if, indeed, “the firm did suggest the South East Industrial Area between the Prospect Park and Como neighborhoods as one possible site,” get ready for another round!

I wonder what the SE Como Neighborhood Improvement Association thinks of this idea?

Here’s the STrib report:

No burner in Phillips neighborhood
The developer of a proposed wood-burning power plant says it gave up on the Minneapolis site in exchange for city help in locating another renewable energy facility.

By STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune

June 6, 2008

The developer of a proposed wood-burning power plant in the Phillips area of south Minneapolis announced Friday that it is dropping efforts to build it on a city-owned site.

Kandiyohi Development Partners said that it was taking that step in light of city promises to help find another site for an unspecified renewable energy facility.

The announcement was a victory for the activists from the Hiawatha-Lake area who had fought the plant on the grounds that the area already had too much pollution. It also recognized the barriers posed by recent legislation requiring added studies before a state permit could be issued for that site, as well as the city’s move to cancel its sale of the land.

The developer met Thursday with Council Members Gary Schiff and Scott Benson, but Schiff said no explicit commitment was made to help Kandiyohi find another site for producing power.

However, he said the firm did suggest the South East Industrial Area between the Prospect Park and Como neighborhoods as one possible site. Another generating facility has been proposed near there to supply power to the Rock-Tenn paper recycling facility in St. Paul.

Kandiyohi said that with more than $2 million invested in planning for the electrical and steam-producing generator, it deserved more clarity early in the project from the state and city, especially regarding environmental challenges in the Phillips area. Among the investors is Council Member Lisa Goodman, a friend of Kandiyohi’s principals.

“We’re happy that it’s not going to be in the Phillips neighborhood,” said state Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, who helped pass the law requiring study of cumulative pollution in the area. “We’re not taking a position on where it should go.”

Schiff said Kandiyohi expressed an interest in avoiding areas with the high childhood asthma rates that plague Phillips and other areas of high poverty.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438

Here’s an article with a quote that says to me that they were having trouble at the MPCA — from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal:

Friday, June 6, 2008 – 5:12 PM CDT

Kandiyohi axes plan for wood-fuel plant in South Minneapolis

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal – by Sam Black Staff Writer

Kandiyohi Development Partners has scrapped plans for a new $80 million energy facility in South Minneapolis, but it isn’t giving up on finding another location in the city.

In response to an RFP by the City of Minneapolis, Kandiyohi had pitched a plan to build a renewable energy facility that would be called Midtown Eco Energy at the site of a garbage transfer station in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis.

The facility would have reused a former city incinerator at Hiawatha Avenue and Lake Street that closed in the 1970s.

Today the Minneapolis-based firm pulled the plug on its plans due to “concerns raised by the Phillips community regarding the impacts of decades of environmental and land use policies of the City and the (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency) on air and land pollution,” Kandiyohi said in a statement.

The project had come under fire by some residents in the neighborhood and lost the support of some members of the city council in recent weeks as Kandiyohi approached a March 31 deadline to complete its purchase of city land.

The project became a political hot potato when it was reported that investors in the deal included former DFL activist Michael Krause and Kim Havey, a former city official who ran the city’s Empowerment Zone office. Minneapolis City Council Member Lisa Goodman is also an investor in Kandiyohi, although she didn’t vote on the project when it came before the city council in 2006.

Kandiyohi has already invested more than $2 million in the project, which would have burned clean wood wastes and some agricultural byproducts.

Kandiyohi plans to look for an alternative site for a renewable energy facility that would add “green collar” jobs and renewable energy to the city.

EEEEEEEEEE-HA! The Kandioyhi Midtown Eco-Crapper is DEAD!  Well, maybe not dead, but it’s got a stake, a big silver cross, stuck in its ugly slimy heart.

Hot off the press from Barbara Bridgeman, Executive Assistant to David Sparby, CEO & President of NSP-Minnesota (that’s him up there singing praises of his company), some real good and long awaited (dare I say expected?) news:

Northern States Power Company has ended negotiations with Midtown-Eco Energy, LLC, in connection with a proposed biomass plant in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis. NSP’s decision was based on a number of factors including its assessment of ongoing system portfolio needs.

It’s about time, but like they say, they have to “negotiate” with everyone, even Excelsior Energy, and Kandiyohi Development is no different.

And of course I sent a jubilant thank you note to Mr. Sparby. Poor guy had to joust with moi and Mr. Muller at the Red Wing Xcel lovefest a couple weeks ago, and we greatly appreciated his willingness to listen.

EEEEEEEEEE-HA! The Kandioyhi Midtown Eco-Crapper is DEAD!

There was the Comment to MPCA by Carl Nelson, Green Institute, laying out problems with the Kandiyohi Midtown Eco-Crapper:

Green Institute Comments to MPCA re: Kandiyohi Midtown

Shortly therefter, Carol Pass of East Phillips Improvement Coalition, renounced the organization’s prior support of the Kandiyohi Midtown Eco-Crapper.

The separation and opposition grows, and I’m finally getting around to posting a couple of letters from important past supporters of the project who are no longer, and who have voiced critical and specific concerns.  This letter is reprinted with express permission:

David Morris Letter to City of Mpls – Opposition to Kandiyohi – April 2008

And now there’s Jeff Cook Coyle, who used to be the Manager of the Phillips Community Energy Co-op, associated with Green Institute, which was a partner in the Midtown Eco-Crapper before Krause left the Green Institute, becoming Kandiyohi, with the Midtown Eco-Crapper in tow.  This email is reprinted with express permission:

Jeff Cook Coyle to legislators – opposing Kandiyohi – April 2008

Yes, I would say there’s a trend here!  The Midtown Eco-Crapper is going up in flames as a bad burner should!