Legalectric

Another long day… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

We’ll be having a phone conference about Xcel Energy/GRE’s request to withdraw their Certificate of Need and the Administrative Law Judge will probably certify it to the Public Utilities Commission, meaning he will forward it to the Commission to make a decision.

Filings, in order of appearance:

Xcel/GRE Hollydale Withdrawal Petition

WPNA Letter

BarryFamily_Comments_Withdrawal

WPNA Comment

BarryFamily_ReplyComments_Withdrawal

Now, on to the conference call…

This case just came down yesterday:

Klayman v. Obama

If you’re at all interested in “certain intelligence-gathering practices by the United States government relating to the wholesale collection of the phone record metadata of all U.S. citizens,” than you MUST read this.  And if you’re not interested, well, you should be.  So READ THIS!

The transcript from last week’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting-not-hearing regarding the Nuclear Waste Confidence GEIS and Rulemaking (click HERE for that NRC page) is out:

Transcript_ML13344B149

Comments are being solicited on the proposed rule (at the very end of the Federal Register notice below) and the Generic Environmental Impact Statement:

Nuclear Waste Confidence Rule_Proposed

Nuclear Waste GEIS

Once more with feeling, comments are due soon, so get cracking!  Send comments by December 20, 2013:

• Email comments to: Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you do not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact us at 301–415–1677.

And check out these ditties that I put into the record.  My nuclear stuff is all over at the other house, and it’s been so long that I can’t remember all that I’ve forgotten, so much about casks, and it’s really offensive that nearly 20 years later we’re still having to dredge up all the info about how it’s just not reasonable to think we can store it safely for any length of time, much less 100 years on-site, in “temporary” storage, or tens of thousands of years…

Premature Degradation of Spent Fuel Storage Cask Structures and Components from Environmental Moisture

INEL “unloads” TN-24P – stuck

Creep & Crud of Nuclear Waste Storage

Above is the state of silica sand mining in Minnesota.   Below are the Minnesota Environmental Quality
Board’s “hot off the press” this morning Draft Standards and Criteria:

Tools for Local Govt draft DECEMBER 13_2013

I like the framing of it as “Tools for Local Govt” because it’s clearer that this is something that requires an “opt in” and is not state regulation.  It’s huge, 168 pages, and we’ve only got until 1p on December 18, when the EQB’s silica sand mining subcommittee will be reviewing these draft Standards & Criteria.

Comments: silicasand.eqb@state.mn.us

Comments by snail mail:  Jeff Smyser, Environmental Quality Board, 520 Lafayette Road North, St. Paul, MN 55155-4194

Get to it!!!  And then, show up at the EQB subcommittee meeting (MEETING AGENDA):