Legalectric

“If we were a bunch of liars, we’d have never got this project to where it is today.”

Tom Micheletti, Grand Rapids Herald Review, Nov. 20, 2006

OK, y’all, this is a test! Find the lies, misrepresentations, and balderdash in the Mesaba Messenger:

mesaba-messenger-november-2006-1.pdf

Please leave your findings in the comments below.

Need a hint?

• Consider the legal meaning of denial of a motion to dismiss!
• Explain how 10/25 rulings are big step forward!
• Explain impact of “Plan for Carbon Capture” on CO2 emissions!
• How many jobs for Range residents?
• Exactly how were the inputs for the UMD study verified?
• How many jobs? 1,000 in 2002, 107 in application, 143 in newsletter?
• When crucial pieces are so unreliable that a spare is needed, is it success?
• Is it good engineering to rely on gasifiers that are proven unreliable?
• Should “gas” be the secondary fuel noted on the DOE Agreement?
• Exactly what region has a 6,000MW need? (this should be easy for my regular readers).
• Exactly how many MW in the MISO queue for that same region when the CapX2020 report was written?
• Now many MW in the MISO queue for that same region NOW?

Excelsior states the following are myths (taken from the 3,781 word “Guest Column” in a Range paper), and ignore and misrepresent the facts:

Myth: The Mesaba Project will force wind energy off from the grid.

Fact: Read the MISO G519 study. “Misunderstand?” Right….

Myth: The Mesaba Project is an experimental project.

Fact: Read the DOE Notice of Intent, it’s a demonstration project, deemed too risky for private investment.

Myth: Energy from the Mesaba Project will be much more expensive than conventional technologies.

Fact: Excelsior’s presentation to the Metro Counties Energy Task Force says it’s $6,38. If we lose 25% with CO2 capture and another $7-14 billion for transport and sequestration, it’ll be what??? (as if $6.8 isn’t bad enough!)

Myth: The environmental advantages of Meaba’s IGCC technology over conventional coal plants may not be significant.

Fact: Read the testimony in this case! And note that Natural Resources Defense Council ($437,500), Clean Air Task Force ($787,500) and various chapters of the Sierra Club are funded by the Joyce Foundation to promote IGCC. Hey, you left out Clean Wisconsin and their $750,000, reported as $500,000 but we know better!

So, put on your thinking caps and find the errors in the Mesaba Messenger!

mesaba-messenger-november-2006-1.pdf

Extra credit if you can figure out what crucial newsletter staple is missing!!!

OOPS! The presentations that Excelsior made to the legislature in 2002 and that I’d posted a couple days ago were off, two Senate ones were posted rather than the House Regulated and Senate Energy versions. SO, they’re corrected below and here they are again, they’ve been the “Top 2” this week, so I guess I’d better get it right, eh? For your edification and enjoyment!

mcgp-ex-excelsiorlegislativepresentationsenate2002.pdf

mcgp-ex-excelsiorlegislativepresentationhouse2002.pdf

Pay particular attention to the promise of a brownfield site and utilization of existing infrastructure, the 1,000MW of wind, and the wind turbine factory!!! Amazing how it’s morphed, but who would know, because who was there? Other than Excelsior… and moi… and none of the other current Intervenors weighed in in 2002 or 2003!

…then you say you don’t, and then you do,
you’re undecided now, so what are you going to doooooo…

Yeah, it’s backwards, but that’s how absurd this Mesaba coal gasification case is!!! Obviously they’ve got a plan… SNORT…

We’ve been straightforward. If we were a bunch of liars we’d have never got this project to where it is today.

— Tom Micheletti, Grand Rapids Herald Review, Nov. 20, 2006.

Uh-huh…

Here’s the map that all the experts paid to study potential CO2 sequestration locations say the potential CO2 sequestration sites are — and look closely at Minnesota for the nearest potential CO2 sequestration location to Excelsior’s preferred site for Mesaba — at least 600 miles, eh? Pretty costly, eh? Cost prohibitive, obviously, eh?

So now what? Quick start bailing and where’s the bondo, we’re takin’ on water…

OK, put on your life preserver and seat belt and get out your barf bag… at the 11:59th hour, Excelsior submits a “Supplemental Response to MCGP’s First Interrogatories and Document Requests No. 21(#2), written by a not-long licensed ATTORNEY providing hearsay “evidence” about sequestration:

On November 13, 2006, Excelsior discussed potential caron sinks in the Upper Midwest with Julio Friedmann, the Associate Program Leader of the Carbon Management Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Harvey Thorleifson, Director of the Minnesota Geological Survey. Based on those discussions, Excelsior concludes that prospects do exist in Minnesota for geologic formations that may be appropriate for sequestration. At present, the geological understanding of these formations is limited and further study is necessary to determine their suitability for carbon sequestration…

…Because of the lack of oil and gas exploration in the area, the Midcontinent Rift in Minnesota has not been characterized to the degree of other identified and confirmed sinks. Excelsior is exploring ways to facilitate this research. However, until this occurs, the potential to sequester carbon in Minnesota can neither be confirmed nor denied.

Uh-huh, right… here’s their “map” produced Tuesday (note the quality):

There’s been some snorting and chortling about what that MidContinent Drift Formation resembles… and this gambit is about as effective!

Here’s the full Excelsior missive.
Excelsior Supplemental Response re: CO2 Sequestration

Let’s see, they’ve had how many highly paid big name witnesses submit testimony about sequestration??? Daniel Schrag, Douglas Cortez, Dick Stone, Ed Steadman and even Bob Evans is in the mix and suddenly this Precambrian basement, embedded in older Archean gneiss-migmatite terrane, Archean granite-greenstone terrane, Proterozoic cratonic cover, Early Proterozoic igneous comlex, Sioux Quartzite, Early Proterozoic quartzites and 1500-Myr-old Wolf River Batholith that composes the Midcontinent Rift System is a potential site for CO2 sequestration?

Oh, give me a fuckin’ break…

Just for yucks, let’s look at a real map, one that’s more legible than the Exelsior one:

Now for shits and giggles, let’s check out this map:

And this one of the MidContinent Rift around Lake Superior:

Yup, this possibility just suddenly appears… I wonder what Paul Witherspoon would think of this theory?

Douglas I. Overland, age 88, of Mpls, passed away Nov. 22, 2006. ARRANGEMENTS PENDING. Memorial service Thursday, Nov. 30 at Mayflower Community Congregtional Church, 106 E. Diamond Lake Rd, Mpls

We’ll be doing a memorial service on Thursday, probably in the afternoon, at Mayflower UCC in Minneapolis so that David can get back up here, details in the STrib and I’ll post it here.

Lately I’ve needed a two wheeler to get my mail at the Post Office, yesterday I got a big box, one of those white files with handles (I love it when it comes prefiled!) for the Big Stone case, Direct Testimony of somebody or other, I’ve got that safely seatbelted in Krie’s seat. And there’s Sierra Club’s threat of a suit against Big Stone I for violations of its permit:

Sierra Club demands Big Stone plant cut pollution

And the phone rang, off on another track, more later…