Legalectric

A few weeks ago I’d published notice of the “hearings” for comment on the request to withdraw leasing and a 20 year moratorium — there was a moratorium, but in 2017, the previous administration withdrew that moratorium, that previous administration also renewed the Twin Metals leases. WTAF?!?! So this moratorium request is to go back to where they were, to reinstitute the moratorium, to address the environmental issues they’d started on, and to take a 20 year pause on leasing for extractive exploration. This does not affect existing leases, only new ones.

BLM & USFS Comment Period on Withdrawal of Leasing for Mineral Exploration December 21st, 2021

Comments are due January 19, 2022:

And press release from BLM:

Biden Administration Takes Action to Complete Study of Boundary Waters Area Watershed

They’re hosting zoomies over three days. Yesterday was the first. You supposedly have to register to get the link, though I sent Alan my link and it worked for him. I was #67 for commenting, #67 of 173 who’d requested time to comment, and I did get to comment after nearly THREE HOURS of waiting, and I was one of the last! They shut down the meeting at 4 p.m., leaving about 100 people without an opportunity to comment.

Here are the next two meeting dates, Saturday and Tuesday, and a link to “register” and ask for time to comment — maybe you’ll “win” the lottery as I did? I think odds are better at Treasure Island.

Register for the Meeting on Saturday, January 15, 2022, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., CST at https://blm.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_q9OWw5P3TSuvACoQ2o6gnQ

Register for the Meeting on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., CST at https://blm.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_rs2ueUYaQ-CoRO25s2bLqA

When you register, you’ll get a link to zoom right away, and then you’re notified whether you’ve been selected to make a comment 3 days before the meeting.

Send comments by January 19, 2022 to F. David Radford, Deputy State Director of Geospatial Services, BLM Eastern States Office, RE: Superior National Forest Withdrawal Application, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041, OR via email to BLM_ES_Lands@blm.gov (in subject line, “Superior Nat’l Forest Withdrawal Application). Comments need to be made in the record, blathering on anti-social media does NOT count.

Documents thus far that I could find:

Scoping

• 12-07-2021 2021-22958 BLM Federal Register Notice 10-21-2021 (PDF 204kb)
• 12-07-2021 Superior NF Mineral Withdrawal Request Letter 2021-09-28 (PDF 194kb)
• 12-07-2021 Superior National Forest Withdrawal Application 2021-09-28 (PDF 392kb)
• 12-07-2021 Appendix A Land List 2021-09-16 (PDF 134kb)
• 12-07-2021 Withdrawal Regulation 43 CFR 2300 (PDF 220kb)
• 12-07-2021 Appendix B Withdrawal Area Map 2021-09-16 (PDF 1379kb)
• 12-13-2021 2021-27036 BLM Federal Register Notice 12-14-2021 (PDF 192kb)
• 12-15-2021Scoping Letter 12-15-2021 (PDF 141kb)

This came up again today, and studies popped up — if there are important ones not here, please let me know in the comments (with a link!!):

Note how this one sets it up: “Wind farms’ operating companies have increased their interest in noise impact due to resistance from people settling in the proximity of new projects.: See study:

This one is interesting because it specifies use of ISO 18406 (2017) (percussive pile driving), and not ISO 9613-2. Keep a lookout in these studies for ISO methodology, because as we saw with Freeborn Wind, GI/GO — gotta use the right measurement methods and criteria. So check out this article from Acoustics Today:

Every other year, there’s a “Biennial Transmission Projects Report” filed with the state (funny how that works), and here’s the most recent one:

2021 Biennial Transmission Projects Report

And then Comments are due on it… voila!

And the Dept. of Commerce Comments are delightful:

Particularly this part:

I’m cleaning the office, trying to move into 2021 with less reliance on paper and more on electronics. That could be asking for trouble, but the piles and piles I’ve got here, decades of utility work, it’s going to topple the house. So I’m continuing my practice of scanning or finding on-line many of these reports and posting them here so I can find them, and others can too.

Years ago, circa 1999, maybe 2000, during the Arrowhead transmission contested case in either Minnesota, working out of a garage and staying in a tent, or Wisconsin, a two month long hearing from hell, rooming with Cassidy, one of two German Shepherds where we were staying…

… I received a “brown paper envelope” copy of “The Bonneville Report,” a report that was issued by Bonneville Power Administration and very shortly thereafter, it was disappeared, and it later returned. The copy I received was a later version, circa 1996. I present to you World Organization of Landowner Freedom’s Exhibit A:

And here’s a 1989 version:

And here’s another great one that shouldn’t be forgotten, particularly as Xcel’s Benson, in rate case testimony about transmission, notes rehab of the King-Eau Claire-Arpin transmission line:

Northern MAPP/Northwestern Ontario Disturbance June 25, 1998

And…

And an interesting report, wherein Xcel forecasts peak demand:

And as they start the shift to “economic” need:

And for those ready to shut down Prairie Island Nuclear Generation Plant:

And anyone remember when “Wind on the Wires” was a program of the Izaak Walton League? This was in 2001, the beginning of the machinations and set up for the big transmission build-out, the SW Minn 345kV line was the first out the gate, and gave Xcel/NSP the start it needed. And below, read the minutes, this transmission that we’re all paying big bucks for is the impact of the enviro sell-out.

Note the part about the “settlement agreement,” for that SW Minn 345kV line!

And here, introducing “Wind on the Wires,” an Izaaak Walton grant program, “identifying the highest priority transmission upgrades and working with utilities, state and federal regulators, and local communities for their completion.” Thanks a lot:

And a LOT of old Arrowhead info, contracts, costs, even application!

And from the “Wisconsin Western Interface Alternatives” (still looking for online), this precursor of CapX 2020 and MISO’s MVP Portfolio below – which ones HAVEN’T they built?

Saving and posting for posterity…

NSP/Xcel Energy’s Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant is just 13.4 miles away through our bluffs, and more like 9 as the crow flies. And don’t forget about Monticello, same GE reactor as Fukushima Di’iachi, upriver, also on the Mississippi.

FYI, the NRC’s page for:

Prairie Island Enforcement Actions (it’s been a while, is that a good thing?)