How’d that happen?
May 5th, 2012
This is THE weekend in SE Minnesota!
It’s the 100 mile garage sale!!!!
They say rain or shine, but we pretty much got rained out this afternoon, even the mini-donut stand near Lake City shut down. We waited it out a bit and then headed home, the van only half full. And found this — looks like I brought Monica’s St. Louis wild weather back home:
OH MY! It could have been a lot worse. The good news is that it missed the house and missed the car that parks there on the street, not by much, there’s a hunk of wood stuck in the grill, but no dents, nada. WHEW! Didn’t hit the house! WHEW!!
It’s an old tree, it’s twin right across the street, and they’re HUGE, at least 50 feet tall, maybe more. We don’t want to lose them. Alan had called the city about trimming it, it needs a little maintenance. The one across the street is in worse shape, missing large limbs, and now it seems this one is trying to catch up. What’s strange is that nowhere else did we see any trees down. Oh, except for the darker maple that lost a couple of small branches probably when the big one came down.
Now where’s that chain saw???
Cupit’s retired… now what?
May 2nd, 2012
Bob Cupit, Energy Facilities Supervisor, is retiring from the Public Utilities Commission today… leaving me to wonder how… rephrase… he CAN’T be replaced… so what will happen now at the PUC?
Bob Cupit and Mike Casper are tied for “Most Influential” in subtle and not so subtle direction that helped get me to where I am today. I began wrangling with him at the very end of 1994 in Nuclear Waste Daze, so it’s been a long time, and as Bret Ekness said, “a long strange trip.”
From my perspective, Bob has always provided a voice of sanity in a process that isn’t working, and I hate to see him leave because I can’t imagine them finding someone who recognizes or attempts to fix the problems that he had on his plate.
Here’s the PUC Staff Organizational Chart, soon to have a big hole.
The most difficult thing I’ve encountered in dealing with the Commission, other than some obviously utterly dreadful “decisions,” is that siting and routing is now handled by the Dept. of Commerce, which has no charge to protect the environment, and which is not representing the public interest. The “work” by Commerce has been dreadful, process has been perverted, DEIS and EIS consistently leave out important information, and the public and the environment is left in the lurch. Over and over and over again, they’re bumbling along, or intentionally screwing it up (Which is it? I think it’s BOTH.). They’re doing the “staff” work on these permits and then present it to the Commission, presenting only part of the story, and leaving the Commission exposed, making decisions on inadequate or inaccurate information, without “the rest of the story.” I could go on and on (and I do elsewhere in this blog and at www.nocapx2020.info, search for more).
Years ago, when things were not going well, Kristen Eide-Tollefsen and I repeatedly riffed on obvious problems at public meetings and Cupit regularly responded with a measured lecture on the importance of all the aspects of permitting, the Certificate of Need, the Siting/Routing permit, and Environmental Review, that it was a three legged stool. As an editorial comment, at one point, we presented him with a gold-painted strap-on one-legged milk stool.
Yes, the system was NOT working then… and for other reasons, it’s NOT working now.
Despite that, Kristen and I knew that as he retired, we had to give him one with THREE legs. However, I had to give a disclaimer, that this is NOT to say that the system is working, because it isn’t.
Kate O’Connell, manager of energy regulation and planning for the Minnesota Department of Commerce (oh, I didn’t know that!), who worked in tandem with Bob, made comments from her “on the ground” perspective, heartfelt — and I wasn’t taking notes, so sorry, no specifics… but for sure over and over noted he will be missed.
Even LeRoy Kooppendrayer, former Commissioner and House Rep., and brother of current Commissioner and former Senator Betsy Wergin, came back to say goodbye:
Bill Grant, formerly of the Waltons, and now the Deputy Commissioner in charge of Energy Facilities Permitting, was there but thankfully didn’t get up to say anything — I’d forgotten to bring rotten tomatoes.
And the “Not Ready For Rate Base Singers” were on hand:
The room was packed, Bob said he was “overwhelmed” and so it appeared… and I am too… it’s a sad day for Minnesota, we’re losing too many MB’s of collective/institutional memory that we can’t replace.
St. Louis had some weather!
April 30th, 2012
Taken by Monica Schmuck, hail found in her back yard Saturday evening
This weekend was BaronFest, a gathering of German Shepherds in St. Louis. Saturday, sitting around the table, I noticed clouds, and it was drizzling a bit, and I commented on it, Monica, hostest with the mostest, pointed out “southwest” from the yard and my directions were off. But an hour later as I went towards the hotel, southwest was dark green and the wind picked up. I quick fired off a text and by the time I got about half a mile down the road, BIG thunks were hitting the car, couldn’t see, and moi, who never stops, joined a couple other cars under the I-70 bridge. The wind picked up even more and the sirens went off. I could barely see beyond the bridge, and soon it was full underneath. This is the place where the tornado hit one year ago. Above is the result, below too:
WOW!
From wall to wall German Shepherds to wall to wall ice balls… Monica might need a new roof, but otherwise damage in Maryland Heights wasn’t too bad. But closer to downtown, the beer tent at Kilroy’s was another matter:
St. Louis tent collapse raises safety questions:
Back to Monica’s neighborhood:
Everyone was safe, dogs too, but most pups were terrified.
Tomorrow – wind appellate arguments
April 24th, 2012
Tomorrow is the day — oral arguments of the appeal of the Public Utility Commission’s Order granting AWA Goodhue a permit.
Arguments are scheduled for 11:15 a.m. in Room 100 at the Minnesota Judicial Center, 25 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul.
I don’t have electronic copies of the Public Utilities Commission and AWA Goodhue briefs, here’s what I do have:
Coalition for Sensible Siting – Initial Brief
There’s a lot at stake here, primarily local control — whether a county can regulate a wind project. Under the Power Plant Siting Act (PPSA), local governments are typically pre-empted from regulating utility projects, except in a few narrow cases, for example power plants and transmission where the project applicant chooses local review having met the criteria set forth in Minn. Stat. 216E.05. Another way local governments have a say in regulating utility infrastructure is through a legislative tax exemption under Minn. Stat. 272.02 and Host Fee Agreement in lieu of Utility Personal Property Tax, where the legislative mandate and the Host Fee Agreement can include non-tax material terms. Neither of these options are available to wind projects or local governments wishing to regulate wind projects.
HOWEVER, the legislature did pass this gem — note “shall” in the language:
And this is what this appeal is about – whether the Public Utilities Commission had good cause not to apply the standards, because where they do not have good cause, they SHALL apply the county standards.
We’ll see how it goes tomorrow…
Oh, Summer… part II
April 18th, 2012
Did I mention that it’s been a year since Summer’s “Gotcha Day?” And what a year…
Our dear “hospice” NOT doggy, Summer, ate her leash in February, and back then, I predicted we’d see it in April. It was a hemp leash, an inch wide but pretty soft, pliable, and I think that’s what’s saved her… so far. Some of it has come through the dog, and I figured it would take a long time because the Wubba tails she ate before she ate the leash, before we knew it was SUMMER and not chewy Little Sadie, before we knew to keep things away from her, that Wubba took months to come out, and only two of three Wubba tails so far that I know of.
Here it is, April, and damned if I didn’t guess that one right! Remember the fiercely rainy night a few days ago? She wouldn’t go out, prissy thing that she is, so I went the other way, through the garage to get an umbrella, and by the time we got to the side door, rain had let up, and YES, she went out. Next day, Alan’s in the yard and notices the output — A FOOT OF LEASH — complete with two knots! And some unidentifiable plastic to boot!
How much is still left in aforementioned dog? Yesterday in the car at an ATC meeting, I found her happily laying on the floor chewing on a towel. I do believe the towel was ripped in half before, hence designated a “dog towel,” but… SUMMER!!!
