Legalectric

Alan’s been working on an election day missive, and I’ve been NOT working on, avoiding, an election day post.  What’s to say?  There’s only one thing to say: GET OUT AND VOTE!

Alan’s from Delaware, and there they have Christine “Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state” O’Donnell, what an embarrassment, how can she show her face in public, much less run for office, and worse, that people voted for her ?!?!?!?! Listen to this, one that I, particularly as an “officer of the court” sworn to uphold the constitution, had to chuckle over:

In Minnesota, there’s a gubernatorial election goin’ on… Tim “Green Chameleon” Pawlenty is on the way out. There’s Tom Emmer, right up there with O’Donnell, there’s Horner polling at very low two digits, and there’s Mark Dayton, odds on winner.  The good news is that neither Kelliher or Entenza are on the ballot.  More good news is that Dayton does want to act on the tax drain on the middle and lower classes and equalize percentages for those with higher income.  Yeah, ’bout time… Sometimes he looks like my little bro’ and sometimes he acts like him — so that can go both ways… What really bothers me is that he quit while a Senator, so what’s to say he’ll do the job?

He seems to have good taste in dogs:

But Kady and Sadie are too young to vote, and would probably cancel each other out anyway.

I’m a Tea-Partier:

“They are socialists.” “They are fascists.” EH?!?!?!?! I WANT MY FREE CAR! A couple of weeks ago a chiropractor I know in the cities said that “Obama is the anti-christ.” HUH? Someone I know who is using Medicare was ranting about “Obamacare” and forcing people to get health care from the government. SAY WHAT?!?! Today someone asked me, discussing a company siting utility infrastructure in their face, said “”don’t they care about people?” Well, no, they don’t. CORPORATIONS DON’T CARE! Why, it’s not even in the equation … sigh… the requirement of a corporation acting in the public interest in exchange for limited liability as a corporation went by the wayside a LONG, LONG time ago.

This came over the wire earlier from Eric Francis, and says it pretty well, what’s got me scratching and shaking my head, the way people are mouthing scripts heard with no understanding of the implications, and taking it a step further and voting against their interests. I can barely stand to think about it… if I do I start on my own rants… don’t even want to wrap my head around it, so I’m taking the easy way out, here’s how Eric Francis puts it:

It is amazing to hear people who collect and depend on Medicare speak against Medicare; to hear poor people support candidates who would eliminate the minimum wage, cut Social Security or give it to a totally unregulated Wall Street, and then complain about over-regulation. It’s beyond my comprehension to understand why any woman would vote for a candidate who wants to make a woman exercising her reproductive rights into a crime. Why would anyone want to repeal a law that protects people from insurance companies banning them if their child has a pre-existing condition? But, it seems that many do. And they may have no clue what they’re against.

This all may sound like an argument not to vote — but actually I’m here to remind you to make some time to vote Tuesday. I know it’s a small gesture, and we need to participate in our constitutional republic every day of the year. But Tuesday is an especially good day. The kinds of problems our country, and our world, are facing call for our attention and involvement.

Go vote. Then get involved. It’s getting too weird in here…

Last week, Lesie Glustrom, a cohort via “No New Coal Plants,” was featured in a big spread in her home state:

The last word is action

by Nathan Rice – High Country News

Name: Leslie Glustrom
Age: 55
Vocation: Mother of two, founding member of the nonprofit group Clean Energy Action
Past Jobs: Biochemist, science teacher, science writer
Favorite activity on her half-day weekends: “Being in the woods alone, talking to the trees.”
Favorite sport: Ice hockey
Thoughts on coal: “I’m a climate change activist who is worried that we don’t have enough coal. That’s an ironic place to be.”

Few people get excited about public utility meetings. But at the Tri-State Rural Electric Co-op in Westminster, Colo., on a spring night, Leslie Glustrom is squirming in her seat. Eager to address the Tri-State executives, she scribbles notes about obscure energy data, her brown hair short above broad shoulders.

“Tri-State is sitting on top of world-class wind and solar resources,” Glustrom says. The co-op powers rural electric utilities in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nebraska — “the Saudi Arabia of wind and solar,” she says, gesturing emphatically. Glustrom, a clean energy advocate, believes it’s Tri-State’s duty to exploit those resources.

In the circular boardroom, about 40 advocates and industry representatives in business attire mingle under fluorescent lights, munching donuts and drinking coffee. Glustrom offers firm handshakes but abstains from refreshments. “I want to maintain my independence,” she explains. Tri-State’s managers sit behind a row of microphones, lending a diplomatic air to the co-op’s first attempt at officially inviting the public to comment on its planning process.
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Thanks to a little birdie…

Looks to me like Gro Wind, LLC is doing the same thing in Scott County that they’re doing in Scott County.

They have four projects totalling 6MW on the Rice County Planning Commission agenda for November 4, 2010, one of them for the  Otting property at the north edge of Rice County on Co Rd 46:

And in Scott County, they have two more, two 1MW projects, and one of them is on the November 8, 2010, agenda for the Otting property just on the other side of the county boundary:

From the Planning Commission packet:

Gro Wind – Planning Commission Packet

In the application, they note that this is the SECOND turbine Gro Wind has applied for in Scott County, with the other one immediately to the northwest (see site map below):

And they’re not counting the one just to the SOUTH on Otting property that is in Rice County and is before the Rice County Planning Commission on November 4th, as above.

The Gro Wind turbine on Otting property in RICE County is 1 MW, the other 5 in Rice County are 1MW each, totalling 6MW, and the two in Scott County are ????  The November 8 Hearing one is 1MW Nordic Windpower, and their “Hidden Springs” site one is ??? probably the same, I’ll check the Scott County site for this.

POINT?

IT’S ALL CONNECTED!!!!

They aren’t following the state statutes, there’s no Minn. Stat. 216F.011 “Size Determination” from the state, and there’s no Minn. Stat. 216F.012 “Size Election” notice to the state.

Here’s their site plan, showing the “Hidden Springs” one, and from the looks of it, it’s about 1/2 mile from the other, maybe a little more:

As you know, Goodhue County passed a Wind Ordinance earlier this month:

Goodhue County Wind Ordinance

And on Monday, Wabasha’s Planning Commission reviewed its own Wind Ordinance (sorry about the format of this, but it’s how it is on their site):

DRAFT Wind Ordinance – Wabasha County

And now, on to Rice County.  There’s a project proposed in Rice County… well, it’s a revisitation of a project started in Dakota County and which went over like a lead balloon:

Greenvale Wind Farm – Sparks Energy & Medin Energy – Project Docket

This was an 11MW project, and the main objection was that the wind farm was proposed for Dakota County, a pretty populated area, and the project was quickly withdrawn:

Withdrawal Letter – Sparks & Medin – August 31, 2010

And now it’s BAAAAAAAAAACK!

Rice County Planning Commission Agenda – Nov 4 2010

Here are the specifics:

The same people who proposed that Greenvale Wind project, Anna Schmalzbauer and Leone Medin, a mother/daugher duo, are the ones behind the proposed “five” projects in Rice County, which totals the same MWs as the Greenvale project — they’re all on the agenda at the same time, all to be built the same time, one is under “Spring Creek, LLC” which is a Jeff Paulson creation (that alone should raise eyebrows and trigger scrutiny) and four are “Gro Wind, LLC” with cookie cutter cut and paste “applications” with only minor changes, like the parcel location.  And this time… filed separately.  The Gro Wind cookie-cutter cut and paste applications, all filed “separately,” total over 5MW.

Any wind project proposed must apply to the state for a “Size Determination” under Minn. Stat. 216F.011.  The state then proceeds to determine the size of the project, taking into account projects in geographic proximity, the timing, the project developer, the financing, the power purchase agreements, to determine whether it’s one project, many separate ones, and how many MW, and essentially the state then issues its “Size Determination” and tells the developer where to go!  The County has jurisdiction over those projects under 5MW, and from 5-20MW the developer can choose to go to the county, and 20MW and over goes to the Public Utilities Commission.  In the 5-20MW range, the developer can choose to go to the county for a siting permit, BUT when they do, they need to notify the state that that is what they’re doing, notify them of their “Size Election” when they make the application!  Minn. Stat. 216F.012.

Schmalzbauer and Medin, Spring Creek and Gro Wind, didn’t get a “Size Determination” and didn’t notify the state of a “Size Election.”  They did NEITHER.

It looked fishy when I saw it, so I emailed the County staff and Deb Pile, EFP, MOES, Dept. of Commerce asking for some documentation that the applicants had followed the law.  And nope, didn’t do it, and worse, the county didn’t know that is what they should do!  Direct from Deb Pile, EFP, MOES, Dept. of Commerce:

Dear Ms. Overland,

Thank you for bringing  these Rice County projects to my attention. The Office of Energy Security has not evaluated these projects or made a size determination pursuant to Minn. Stat. 216F.011.  I have discussed the situation with the county and anticipate receiving further information about the projects from the applicants shortly.

Sincerely,

Deborah Pile

Oh my… that is a problem.  So … there goes Overland… and I sent this this morning for the Planning Commission:

Letter to County Staff – for Planning Commission

Exhibit A – email re: Gro Wind application

Exhibit B – Greenvale Wind Withdrawal Letter – August 31, 2010

Exhibit C – DRAFT Wabash County Wind Ordinance

Exhibit D – Goodhue County WECS Ordinance

Exhibit E – Recommended Wind Noise Ordinance – Rick James, INCE

Exhibit F – MISO Queue – Rice County Wind Projects (Excel spreadsheet)

Exhibit G – Public Health Impacts of Wind Turbines – Mn Dept of Health

Exhibit H – Direct Testimony of Rick James – Goodhue Wind Docket 08-1233

Exhibit I – Additional Testimony of Rick James – Goodhue Wind Docket 08-1233

Exhibit J – Nordic Windpower – History (web page)

Exhibit K – FAA list of airports in Rice County

Now it’s wait and see…

The Goodhue Wind Truth crew is off to Stearns County today in search of an improved wind siting ordinance.

Last night there was a meeting of the Wabasha County Planning Commission on the new Wabasha County Wind Ordinance proposed:

DRAFT Wind Ordinance – Wabasha County

You’ll see some of it is similar to the new Ordinance in Goodhue County:

Goodhue County Wind Ordinance

More as I find out about it — couldn’t get to the meeting last night because another proposed wind project further west needed attention.