Legalectric

But we knew that…

PJM State of the Market Report 3Q 2012

Here’s the part I’m most interested, demand is DOWN, from the intro, summarizing p. 23 of the report linked above:

The PJM system peak load for the first nine months of 2012 was 154,344
MW, which was 3,672 MW, or 2.3 percent, lower than the PJM peak
load for the first nine months of 2011.  The DEOK Transmission Zone
accounted for 5,360 MW in the peak hour of the first nine months of
2012. The peak load in 2012 excluding the DEOK Transmission Zone was
148,984 MW, a decrease of 9,032 MW, or 5.7 percent, from the peak load
for the first nine months 2011. (See page 23)

2.3%, 5.7%, DUH!  Demand is DOWN!  Here’s the specifics:

I love it when that happens…

OH MY!  Quite a fracas…

Citizens have also criticized the county because the information in the EAWs was so similar to the information submitted by the mine applicants’ consultant. Johanna Rupprecht of the Land Stewardship Project said the county’s role in the EAW preparation, as outlined in EQB guidelines, showed the county had more work to do on the documents. She said the county was supposed to conduct independent review and analysis of the information submitted by the applicants, and that any “conclusions” about environmental impacts should come from the county, not the mine applicants. “The language in there is what the [mine] proposers wrote,” she said. “That’s not how that is supposed to work. The RGU is responsible for that independent analysis. Essentially, I think it was an issue of the county not exercising enough independent judgement.”

That’s not too surprising.  I remember over in Freeborn County on the Bent Tree wind project, the yahoo doing the environmental review CUT & PASTED the Application and called it environmental review.  The only thing different was the cover sheet.  NO, I DON’T THINK SO!

The problem though is that local governments don’t have the expertise, staff, or budget to handle full blown environmental review on a technical and new issue.  Funding is needed NOW!

Here’s the full article from Winona Post:

County bungled frac sand environmental studies

And here are the primary documents via the Winona County website:

Name	Size
archive.pst	1305510 KB
Dabelstein CUP Resubmittal 09-21-2012.pdf	9351 KB
EAW – Dabelstein FINAL 10-4-12.pdf	13880 KB
EAW – Yoder FINAL 10-4-12.pdf	17740 KB
Yoder CUP Resubmittal 09-21-2012.pdf	25615 KB

Love that billboard!

Today, Goodhue Wind Truth’s Complaint to the PUC about the Goodhue Wind Project f/k/a __________ (I forget… so many names…).  It took a while, it took some digging, and here it is:

Complaint to PUC – Goodhue Wind Truth

The short version?  Revoke the permit.  Check out the exhibits backing up the narrative.

Got that?  NO hockey sticks in the hotel!

Yesterday, both meetings, in Hermantown and in Grand Rapids, were well attended.  The Hermantown municipal building is new, nothing like that was there last time I was in town, it’s been a while.  Very nice building, wonder if Minnesota Power’s Arrowhead transmission line had anything to do with that?

Here are copies of what I’ve been handing out:

Handout – November GNTL Meetings

Notice Plan Comment Form – click to download editable form

Notice Plan Comments are due November 19, 2012, and Reply Comments due December 10, 2012.  Send to burl.haar@state.mn.us, with “Great Northern Notice Plan Comments – Docket 12-1163” in subject line.

Minnesota Power’s Notice Plan for Great Northern Transmission Line

I’ve been looking for the studies that support this line, made some progress, but not enough, MISO has a page on the Northern Area Study.  Here’s the kind of map I find interesting, one that shows the flows and areas where they want more, from 20120921 Northern Area Study Transmission Design:

Here are the docs listed (hey MISO, don’t bother deleting them, I’ve got them saved…):

Northern Area Study TRG
	NAS_LDE_Congestion_09212012
	NAS_IntcInterfaceFlows_NASUn_CA_09282012
	NAS_IncInterfaceFlows_NASUn_SS_09282012
	NAS_IncInterfaceFlows_EastUn_SS_09282012
	NAS_IncInterfaceFlows_EastUN_CA_09282012
	NAS_HDE_Congestion_09212012
	NAS_BAU_Congestion_09212012
	20121102 Northern Area Study TRG Agenda
	20121102 Northern Area Study Presentation
	20120921 Northern Area Study Transmission Design
	20120921 Northern Area Study Presentation
	20120921 Northern Area Study FULL RESULTS
	20120921 Northern Area Study Economic Factors
	20120921 Northern Area Study Agenda
	20120801 Northern Area Study Scope
	20120711 Northern Area Study Presentation Scope Follow-up
	20120607 Northern Area Study TRG Presentation
	20120607 Northern Area Study TRG Agenda