Legalectric

I’ve heard he’s at Xcel, which given Pawlenty and WOW would not be that much of a change, but can it really be?

Yes, it is true, Mike Bull now works at Xcel Energy, confirmed by two independent sources and then confirmed by Mikey himself!  All I can say is, “Oh… my…” and shake my head in amazement.

I preferred speculating about what he might be doing:

Maybe he’s trying to get Pawlenty’s energy program on track?

Maybe he’s on maternity leave?

Maybe he’s at MISO with cohort Ed Garvey?

Maybe he’s high-tailed it to Costa Rica where they’ve got sensible energy policy?

Maybe he’s in the klink for corruption?

Maybe he’s at Commerce again trying to fix that hopeless Dogforsaken mess?

Maybe he’s out east to knock some “sense” into those transmission negative-nellies?

Maybe he’s in a cabin in the mountains writing the scandalous tell-all?

Maybe he’s at Briggs & Morgan selling/redeeming his soul?

Maybe he’s home house-training their new puppy?

Working for WOW made no sense at all, but now what?

Xcel????  Into the bowels of the devil itself, hard to get worse than WOW but … oh… my… this is worse…

… pass the barf bag…

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, with Discovery to and fro with PSE&G.  Here’s the results:

PSE&G-response1 to BPU Discovery

This is their response to the BPU Discovery.  Although Ken Sheehan at BPU had said we could proceed with Discovery before we were parties, we’d sent the blanket request for others’ requests to avoid duplication and find out where we were at, but they ignored it, and even BPU would not forward their requests… so we sat in the dark until after our intervention was formally granted.  I asked again, and lo and behold, that same day, BPU turned over their requests and PSE&G turned over their respones to BPU Discovery.  Many of the responses aren’t, so I imagine there’ll be some wrangling about that.

Here’s what we’ve sent to them so far:

STL-Discovery-Herling-1

STL-Discovery-McGlynn1

STL-Discovery-Crouch1-corrected

STL-Discovery-Millies1

STL-Discovery-Bailey1

STL-Discovery-King1

The Discovery deadline for the Direct Testimony has been extended to June 5th.

Prehearing Order – May 14, 2009

Are we having fun yet?

The Chisago natural gas plant, dubbed “Sunrise River Energy,” finally made the news in Minnesota.   Could it be any larger?  “What do we need this for,” you may ask.  It’s simple, we DON’T, it’s for export.  Note their threat to move to Wisconsin if they don’t get what they want, and Rep. Kalin and Sen. Olseen buy into that and cave, giving them an exemption without letting the local governments who would lose tax revenue a heads up about it.   Here’s the whole thing from the STrib — sorry it took so long to post this, I’ve been on the road and mired in moving stuff:

855-megawatt power plant planned

A bill now before Gov. Tim Pawlenty would provide tax breaks for the $300 million gas-fired plant in Chisago County.

By MATT McKINNEY, Star Tribune

Last update: May 13, 2009 – 9:30 PM

One of the largest power plants in the state would rise in the township of Lent in Chisago County via a bill that on Wednesday went before Gov. Tim Pawlenty for his signature.

The $300 million Sunrise River Energy station, an 855-megawatt natural gas-fired plant, would open by 2013 pending regulatory approvals, according to the company that would build it, LS Power, a private utility with offices in New Jersey and Missouri.
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Yes, what’s new, but here it is again, so let’s take a look at their 2008 Annual Report and their 2008 Financial Report:

PJM 2008 ANNUAL & FINANCIAL REPORT LINK

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaa!  One for the home team!!!!

First it was NYISO and ISO-New England:

Feb 4 2009 NYISO & ISO-NE Letter to JCSP

Then it was New York’s Deputy Secretary of Energy testifying before Senate Energy Committee:

DeCortis Testimony- March 26, 2009

And now the Governors from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states have stood up against the insane Midwest transmission plans — transmission plans like CapX 2020, JCSP/MTEP, Green Power Express, and the unnamed group announced on April 3rd, starting in North Dakota, banding southern Minnesota, and shooting out into Wisconsin.

Here’s their letter:

East Coast Govs Transmission Letter

It’s blurry, so click the letter and read the whole thing.  An eye opener for the Midwest, those who don’t recognize that there’s a big world out there and it’s not all about Midwest wind.  Folks, you have a marketing problem, your target market says NO!  What about NO can’t you understand?