Legalectric

Last night the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) staff that’s working on the Xcel Energy and USG air permits, both of which expired long ago (Xcel in 2009!), came down to Red Wing to explain some about air permitting and some specifics on each of these plants. The idea is to get folks familiar with the process, what’s at issue, what’s being emitted over our city.

THANK YOU, MPCA, FOR SHOWING UP!

The powerpoint from last night should arrive and I’ll post it right here when it does. Here it is!!

MPCA staff working on these projects include:

Weidemann, Lisa (She/Her/Hers) (MPCA)(Community Affairs) <Lisa.Weidemann@state.mn.us>, Campbell, Benton (He/Him/His) (MPCA)(on USG permit) <Benton.Campbell@state.mn.us>, Behrendt, Andrea (MPCA)(on Xcel permit) <Andrea.Behrendt@state.mn.us>, Fossum, Rachel (She/Her/Hers) (MPCA) <Rachel.Fossum@state.mn.us>, Volkmeier, Toni (She/Her/Hers) (MPCA)(Supervisor Air Quality Permits Unit 3)<toni.volkmeier@state.mn.us>, Satzke, David (MPCA) <David.Satzke@state.mn.us>, Brooks, Ned (MPCA)(Environmental Justice) <ned.brooks@state.mn.us

Who cares about air permits? Well, those of us who breathe should! How can we have the cleanest air possible in Red Wing? And for that, we need to keep up on emissions and air permits. The Xcel Energy garbage burner permit expired in 2009, and the company filed a timely renewal application, so it’s been grandfathered in and has been cruising along on those bootstraps for the last 15 years.

Incineration… burning garbage, “biomass,” whatever, it’s burning, it’s generating CO2 and some really hazardous emissions, no matter the source. It is NOT clean, and under Minnesota law, it is NOT renewable.

I’ve learned much about this from Alan Muller. One of Alan’s areas of expertise is incineration and air emissions, something he’s been working on for decades, and it’s a lot more technical than the transmission lines I usually work on. Here’s Alan at a Washington County Board meeting, where they were voting to approve an agreement to send their garbage our way (GARBAGE made for a busy day!!!):

Washington County? Why? Well Washington County and Ramsey County send their garbage to Xcel’s Red Wing garbage burner — OUR garbage is a small percentage of what’s burned!

Over the years, it’s become apparent that for some reason, some MPCA staff don’t seem to appreciate Muller. I’ve been to the MPCA with him to do a file review or two, he’s worked against the HERC throughput expansion, Rock-Tenn burner, and all the iterations of the Midtown burner proposed for East Phillips, Rockford, and Rockford Township.

When running Green Delaware, he got through legislation in Delaware prohibiting incinerators near people. Alan’s education about incineration began when working as a consultant for DuPont, marketing incinerators worldwide, with trips to Russia, China, etc. He knows what he’s talking about, the technical details, and methinks that’s what unnerves bureaucrats and technocrats! Anyway, it’s important to know the details.

Last night at the MPCA meeting, Alan addressed some details, including the lead emissions from the Red Wing garbage burner. The MPCA staff present were not familiar with that(!), and wanted specifics, and I’ve found it. First, I found the reference on Alan’s webpage – he had a printout of this chart:

I had also sent a letter to Linda Flanders, our County Commissioner, with that MPCA link (see, Red Wing City Council, it’s not just YOU we’re holding accountable!):

And there’s that MPCA link on Alan’s page and in a footnote of my letter above. Click on the link and get this:

Oh, great, thanks MPCA. So from there I go to Wayback and get the page heading and then … BLANK. So I go ,further back and the furthest back is in 2014, and from there, the page has been redirected, and I’m sent to an MPCA page, but…

The MPCA has eliminated their https://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/data/eda-air-quality-searches/eda-air-quality-search-point-source-data.html page! If you search “point source data” there is a link to a map where you can search Minnesota via a number of categories. For Goodhue County, Xcel’s garbage burner is first to show up, with this info, but NOT all the info that was previously disclosed:

For example, the MPCA does not disclose the amount of lead spewed into our air! That’s one of the most important details, as lead has severe impact on those who breathe, particularly children where it measurably lowers IQ. Here is the MPCA chart from last night, similar as above, different format, that was shown last night:

And the most important part of the meeting last night — public participation is what it’s all about, and for decades, I’ve been working on this. They had this handout, which is very similar to those I hand out at the doors of transmission road show meetings and hearings, laying out the steps of the review process:

That’s my writing there, “PERMIT” because think about the word… issuing a permit, as with land-use and any other kind of “permit,” go to the root of the word — it’s all about “permitting” certain activities, uses, and under what circumstances it will be permitted. PERMIT! That’s what it’s all about.

As above, when writing your comments, you need to be specific. The paragraph below from a Notice, similar to the one they’ll send out for us:

RIGHT NOW — Shoot an email to Lisa.Weidemann@state.mn.us, Community Affairs, and to the engineer on the project, Andrea.Behrendt@state.mn.us, to get on the email list for notice when the Draft Permit is issued and public comment opens up. Receiving that notice is important because it specifies the length of the comment period and the deadline for comments, and it also offers advice on what to say in a comment. For example, to get a public hearing, one must REQUEST it, and state why. Here’s the paragraph explaining that from a recent Notice for Mayo in Rochester – it’s roughly a form, and the one for Xcel’s garbage burner will look much like this:

To request a Public Informational Meeting (important so people can learn about what’s at issue, the REAL story) here’s how, from the Notice:

So when you write a comment, if you, friends, neighbors have questions, request a public meeting! MPCA Staff then considers it, weighs the reasons — a meeting is NOT a given! That’s part of why I’m so glad MPCA did come down here in advance.

And then there’s also the Contested Case option, essentially a trial about factual issues related to the air permit. Again, as with the public meeting, you must ASK FOR IT, and give specifics on why it’s necessary, which requires FACTS at issue, and in the request, you must state specific facts that require correction, addition, etc. (FYI, I don’t know of any request for a Contested Case that has been granted, and on behalf of clients, I’ve asked for a few.).

Once the Draft Permit is released, the Notice will state the comment deadline, and will have directions on where to send comments, an email and/or the MPCA site’s comment page or even by snail-mail.

I don’t know how much sense this made for folks not used to this, and unfortunately, the front row on the left was Xcel Energy employees, and there were not that many regular folks in the room, but I’m glad word got out and some reps from local groups attended. There were a few questions from other than Alan and I, and that was good.

Maybe we should have a comment writing session after the Draft Permit and Notice for Comment comes out?!?! Will publish the Draft Permit and Notice for Comment here!

Minnesota’s Rep. Ilhan Omar has introduced the Zero Waste Act. Something similar had been introduced by Rep. Keith Ellison back in 2017.

Rep. Omar noted the incineration struggles in Minneapolis, including the Midtown burner, proposed in my old neighborhood, Prestigious East Phillips. From the press conference, linked:

“Waste is toxic. Landfills were responsible for 103 million metric tons of carbon equivalent emitted as of 2011, or 18 percent of all methane emissions,” Omar said. “Waste is also an environmental justice issue. Nearly 80% of incinerators are placed in low-income areas or near communities of color and indigenous lands including North Minneapolis and the Phillips neighborhood in Minnesota’s 5th District.”

Prior posts on the Midtown burner, run out of Phillips, then City of Rockford, then Rockford Township:

Legalectric posts – Midtown Burner

Some have said that the Renewable Development Fund is sacred.  WRONG.  The Renewable Development Fund is profane, not sacred, all the way from its origins to its uses.  It’s now under scrutiny at Minnesota legislature, and institutional memory is nowhere to be found in this discussion.  See HF 235 and SF 214.

The Renewable Development Fund (RDF) came into being in the 1994 Prairie Island bill, and was to be a per cask compensation fund for the Prairie Island Indian Community for storage of nuclear waste next door and extension of Prairie Island nuclear plant life.  That compensation was turned into the RDF in a late night deal by “environmental” groups lobbying, of which Bill Grant (now Deputy Commissioner, Dept. of Commerce, formerly and then Izaak Walton League) was an integral part, Michael Noble (ME3, now “Fresh Energy”), and George Crocker (North American Water Office) too.  Prairie Island Indian Community was supposed to get priority in grants, but that never happened.  The RDF was administered by 3 from Xcel, plus Bill Grant, and one other “environmental” rep.  The composition of the group giving out the grants has changed, and there is now someone from PI on it, but that’s recent. (Full Disclosure: I represented Florence Twp. fighting the “in Goodhue County” alternate site mandate for nuclear waste and the Township worked very mindful of, and often in tandem with, PIIC, where it fiercely refused to acquiesce to Xcel and say “STICK IT THERE” to PIIC.  The working relationship continues and PIIC is now largest private  landowner in Florence Twp.).

1994 Prairie Island bill — Ch. 641, MN Session Laws (https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/?year=1994&type=0&doctype=Chapter&id=641).

The RDF was a material term of the 2003 Prairie Island bill, where as part of the deal millions of RDF money was to go to the Excelsior Energy Mesaba Project.  Bill Grant was primary again, and when the Mesaba Project was stricken in one House session, a red-faced Tom Micheletti came flying down the hall yelling at Grant “We had a deal, we had a deal!” That deal was later added back in, and Micheletti’s Excelsior Energy coal gasification plant, Mesaba Project, was added to the factors to keep PI open.  “Environmental groups” got massive grants to promote coal gasification.  Micheletti got $10-12 million from RDF for Mesaba (and lots more from IRRB and DOE) and other regulator perks in the 2003 law, like exemption from CoN, and a mandated PPA with Xcel.  (Full Disclosure: I represented MNcoalgasplant.com against Mesaba Project, and with CAMP and help from Xcel, we got the details of coal gasification, that project was killed, and the info killed others nationwide, but Mesaba still has a site permit in Taconite from PUC valid until 2019!)

2003 Prairie Island bill – Ch. 11, MN Session Laws (https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/?year=2003&type=1&doctype=Chapter&id=11) 

On Monday, January 23, the Red Wing City Council voted to accept a $2 million grant from RDF to install a garbage grinder, a project they’ve been lobbying for for years, where they’ll take in garbage from the whole county, grind it up, and burn it in Xcel’s garbage burner here, its air permit expired in 2009!  GARBAGE!!!  DOH!  GARBAGE is not clean, it’s toxic!  The purpose of all this is to keep the incinerators open and burning.  (Full Disclosure:  I have been representing clients being screwed by Xcel’s plan for “ash mining” in their incinerator ash landfill in Red Wing, part of which includes a plan to build a Red Wing laydown yard and crusher on a site half of which is designated Water Tower Burial Mounds — yeah, really. That’s been exposed:

My partner, Alan Muller, is an incineration expert and has worked with groups to stop RockTenn; Midtown Burner in Phillips, Rockford City and Township; HERC uprate, etc.  See the Tyler Hills Neighbors Comments: Comment Extension for Lab USA EAW & Xcel & Lab USA Solid Waste)

The RDF has been a slush fund for deals enabling nuclear, promoting coal gasification, and greasing the skids for scams of great financial and environmental magnitude and impact.  It should be shut down and turned over to Prairie Island Indian Community as originally intended.

… and lungs and heart.  This map from AirNow.gov via NPR shows the wide ranging impacts:

See Smoke From Wildfires Threatens Health in the West from NPR yesterday.  Back when we had RED air quality warnings in Minnesota, a couple of months ago now, I was feeling it.  But the last week or so, I’ve been waking up totally stuffed, headache, and it takes about an hour and a half to get my schnozz cleared out.  We have no German Shepherds, and even though little one-coated Sadie does shed, and even though I nuzzled a cat day before yesterday, that’s not enough to cause this.  Could it be seasonal allergies, which are admittedly worse with age (OH MY DOG, no German Sheperds is bad enough, but just breathing?)?  I’m not convinced.  This headache and being stuffed up isn’t my typical response, which tends to be runny eyes, sandpaper nose and sniffles.  It’s got to be the fires.

Meanwhile, I know a few folks who live out there, and in addition to having to evacuate and be on alert, others with relatives heading out to fight the fires, there are more subtle affects, where it’s showing up unbidden in photography jobs, an added interference with chemo for cancer, and a hazard for COPDers.

Here’s the chart of emissions for the Midtown Burner, from Saying NO to Midtown Burner Permits prepared by Alan Muller based on the Midtown Burner proposed air permit for the roughly 38MW biomass plant that was to burn “clean” trees in a much smaller amount than these wildfires across the west:

So if these are the numbers for the small biomass burner, what are the emissions for these wildfires?  Is anyone doing testing in the plumes for what people are exposed to?  There’s the emissions as above of things like formaldehyde that come from “clean” trees, the tremendous Particulate Matter, but what about all the other things too that are burned in these fires, like plastics, tires, creosote and penta poles?  I’m not finding anything, and it seems this is something that should be done by the Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, etc., state environmental agencies.  There should be active warnings to people to wear masks outdoors, and indoors to filter the air.  We have a HEPA filter for every room, but we’re not normal.  The impacts of breathing this air will be felt immediately by some people, but there’s a high likelihood that impacts are cumulative and/or take time to develop.  Protection now is crucial.

Clark County is headed down the wrong path… burning “biomass” in the wrong-headed notion that it’s G-R-E-E-N, with little regard for the toxic emissions that will spew from this plant, and it’s “carbon neutral” NOT!  Recently, somebody from Clark County was searching for “Rockford MN biomass” and ended up on my site, which is a good thing, because then at least they might get some reality about what’s proposed.

They’re looking at a district heating project similar to the Midtown Burner (Midtown Eco-Crapper) proposed for Phillips, in Minneapolis, and thankfully it was run out of town, developers then tried for the City of Rockford, MN, and it was run out of town, and then the township of Rockford, and it’s history there too!

As with the Midtown burner, this Vancouver biomass plant is proposed for the middle of Vancouver — the worst place possible for projects like this that will spew emissions!

Spew emissions?  HUH?  Well DUH, and here’s Alan Muller’s presentation on the Midtown burner:

Saying NO! to permits for Midtown Eco-Energy

What do the Clark County biomass project promoters say?

But Candee Hatch, an air quality consultant with Lake Oswego-based Bridgewater Group who was a consultant on the study, said opposition to such a facility is likely colored by what older, dirtier biomass plants looked like.

“Technology-wise, these facilities are not like they used to be 20 years ago, and a lot of the perception about what wood-burning is comes from what we used to do,” she said. “Those facilities don’t look like that anymore.”

Oh, please…  show us your emissions, Candee!!!

Here are some specifics about annual emissions from a recent similar biomass district heat project:

… and the Clark Count proposal?  Here’s some info:

Clark County District Heating (biomass project) page

Here’s the fuel study, where they claim to have enough fuel:

Fuel Study – January 2011

What’s missing is specifics on emissions — come on, folks, out with it!!!

And an article from The Oregonian:

Clark County commissioners give downtown Vancouver biomass plant a green light

Published: Wednesday, April 20, 2011, 2:28 PM

By Elliot Njus, The Oregonian

The Oregonian

Clark CountyThis concept drawing shows the site of a proposed downtown biomass plant from the intersection of West 13th Street and Ingalls Street facing southeast. The building at left is the Clark County Public Service Center.

Clark County will move ahead with its plan for a wood-burning heating and cooling plant in downtown Vancouver by seeking a private-sector partner and land-use permits from the city.

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