Legalectric

Old siting map for Black Oak/Getty Wind Project

Heads up!  HF 3480 has been introduced and referred to the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee.  Contact committee members with your thoughts about this bill.

We’ve got major problems regarding wind generation:  Wind advocates got their legislation through a decade ago (216F ) to allow wind siting with exemption from environmental review, with the false presumption that there are no impacts.  Wind project promoters have often presented misleading and false information regarding their company, financing, projects, and impacts, and the industry will do ANYTHING to get wind projects sited.  It does not help that one of the primary lobbyists responsible for passage of Minn. Stat. 216F is Bill Grant, now Deputy Commissioner at Commerce in charge of all things “energy,” including siting of wind projects under 216F:

There needs to be legal and administrative recognition and definition of the impacts of wind turbines.  If Minnesota wants to increase wind generation, there must be respectful siting of wind.  Although solar is ramping up, wind generation is not going to disappear, so project proponents and regulators had best pay attention and address public interest, safety, and protection considerations.  It is the Public Utilities Commission’s job to regulate.  Get to work!  Do your job!

HF 3480 has been introduced to address long problematic wind noise issues, to mandate a rulemaking at MPCA to establish wind noise standards, and to mandate revision of wind setbacks in light of the new MPCA noise standards.

Here’s HF3480.0.  Check it out!

Here are my comments on it, very quick review:

HF 3480 Comments

Section 1 of the bill is too subjective, with no standards (the basic problem with 216F!) for amendment of an existing project permit.  The Commission needs the MPCA noise rules as a basis for a decision.

The one thing that just MUST be changed is the reference at 2.19 to “good cause.”  This notion of “good cause” was a big problem in the Goodhue Wind docket, where a hearing was held on whether there was “good cause,” and, well, it was a mess because it’s so arbitrary.

Also, legislatively mandated rulemaking hasn’t worked well.  Take a look at the mess with the mandated silica sand mining rulemaking!

Silica Sand Rulemaking — winding up!

Winding up?  It’s still languishing…

Silica Sand Rulemaking — Mtg. Thursday 8/28

Sandbagging Silica Sand Rulemaking – Meeting July 24

Bogus Silica Sand Rulemaking Advisory Panel

We need to learn from that mess…

Anyway, HF 3480 has been referred to the House Environment and Natural Resources committee.  It’s time to address wind noise problems and require environmental review for wind projects.  Contact committee members with your thoughts about this bill.