Legalectric

I’m BAAAAACK! Have had that awful sinus stuff turning into bronchitis, never again will I spread straw around after weeding the garden without wearing a mask. It’s been THREE WEEKS, really hard to get anything done, so I’ve not been doing anything, and I’m still hacking and wheezing, but have had 3 days now with only one episode of coughing up a lung in the middle of the night, so finally getting some sleep. That said, I’ve had camping reservations since last winter, so off we went with the Wawona 6 with its roomy vestibule “office!”

Spent the better part of a week at Clubhouse Campground, in the Chippewa National Forest, and it’s a great spot. Fishing reigns, and boats of all sorts, pontoons, kayaks, canoes, in addition to the big fishing boats pulled by big pickups (and big travel trailers to match). There were few during the week, maybe 4-5 sites occupied in each of the north and south loops. It’s cheap, and with the senior pass, 1/2 price! Reservations and more info: Clubhouse Campground.

I had wanted to go up there for years, and at long last, so off we went. Why? Here we are, sitting at Clubhouse Lake, looking east to the other side, at the huge chunk of land my father used to own, lots of lakeshore and quite a ways back into the woods.

From the info I got after my mother died, the land is highlighted on Itasca County map, with “Sold 1955?” written in — close, because my father brought a tree from the land and planted it in our backyard, house bought in 1955. I just can’t get over that he sold that land!!!!

We had a direct path from our campsite, #14, down to the lake on the other side of the loop:

The story is that the guy who owned the land just to the north, which “My Lake Road” went through to access my father’s property, would not allow access. Don’t know if there was an easement, or if that was a public road — now it is open to the many parcels along the shore (the plot was divided up decades ago, I think it was then “Lot 9” and has since been split up, and it’s hard to tell, his parcel may have extended all the way to that bold line to the east:

We went down Clubhouse Lake Road to My Lake Road and to the end of the road:

It’s in Itasca County, where I spent a lot of time circa 2005-2010 during the fight against the Excelsior Energy Mesaba Project. Like Freeborn County, it’s a home away from home. We checked out the North Star campground, also in Chippewa Nat’l Forest, just south of Marcell on 38, which also has lakeshore sites, and there are so many more campgrounds in the forest:

Camping in Chippewa National Forest

We also went to many of the sites on the “Edge of the Wilderness” trail, which really isn’t much — this is the “Scenic Overlook” SNORT!

The “Lost Forty” was worthwhile, 40 acres of trees that clear cutting missed due to survey error, so the old growth remains. More picnic tables, please!! A while back a youtube had appeared about it, can’t seem to find that one, but here’s another:

Back in the Mesaba Project daze, I’d learned that the Joyce Estate was up there, really odd considering that the Joyce Foundation was a massive funder of coal gasification promotion. The proposed site for the Mesaba Project was about 10 miles as the crow files from the Joyce Estate. What on earth were they thinking??

I wasn’t up for a long hike, any exertion sets me coughing and wheezing, so we’ll get there another time.

I’ve been working on digging info about Xcel Energy’s proposal in May of a big honkin’ xmsn line from “Lyon County” to Sherco substation, wanted so they can retain transmission interconnection rights.

And today, this, from the MISO “July 26, 2022 Executive Update” appears in the inbox, the dream of MISO and Xcel... errrrr… “Grid North Partners” right?

Here’s the MISO Planning Committee meeting handout for May 20, 2022 meeting:

MTEP21 LRTP SUBSTANTIVE COMMENTS – Addendum Appendix F
Planning Advisory Committee
Summary of Review and Advice to Advisory Committee and Board of Directors
MISO Transmission Expansion Plan (MTEP21) Addendum Appendix F

20220527 PAC Item 02a MTEP21 LRTP Report and Feedback Review PresentationPublished 05/25/2022

20220527 PAC Item 02b BALLOT MTEP21 LRTP Tranche 1 AddendumPublished 05/27/2022

20220527 PAC Item 02b MOTION MTEP21 LRTP Tranche 1 AddendumPublished 05/20/2022

20220527 PAC Item 03 CTA Update PresentationPublished 05/20/2022

20220527 PAC Item 03 Tariff Redlines for Upgrade FilingPublished 05/20/2022

For background, check out MTEP 21 (MTEP = MISO Transmission EXPANSION Plan, no secret the intent):

Good grief…

In the STrib:

Utilities plan to spend $2.2B on new power line projects in Minnesota

From the article:

The largest project approved for Minnesota would be a $970 million, 150-mile power line from the Iron Range to Benton County in the central part of the state. Duluth-based Minnesota Power and Maple Grove-based Great River Energy would team up to build and own that line.

“This project is the next step to support resiliency and reliability in the northern part of the state,” said Josh Skelton, Minnesota Power’s chief operating officer. “It brings more ability to bring on more renewable energy resources.”

MISO also approved a $689 million power line from north of Mankato east into Wisconsin and a $574 million line that would run from Big Stone, S.D., to Alexandria and then jog southeast.

Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy would build and own $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion worth of the Upper Midwest projects approved Monday by MISO.

These investments would be separate from the $500 million that Xcel has proposed for a line from Becker to near Marshall in Lyon County, Minn.

Yet another example of GI/GO noise monitoring, following the GI/GO noise modeling, notice of the discrepancies between modeled noise expected and the actual noise found in the post-construction noise modeling.

It doesn’t want to embed, so here’s the link:

https://minnesotapuc.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1737&meta_id=205848

The noise study for Freeborn Wind at issue, Parts 1 and 2:

And Commerce-EERA “analysis” of it, with the emphasis on “anal” eh?

There was a lot of talk about the Minnesota noise standards (which are admittedly NOT designed to address wind noise), Minn. R. 7030.0040:

And not until quite late in the discussion did they even bring up the 47 dB(A) limits imposed by the “Special Condition” deal that Commission did with Freeborn:

Note that when there are levels above 47 dB(A), “the Permittee shall work with the Department of Commerce to develop a plan to minimize and mitigate turbine-only noise impacts.” Where does the landowner/resident/human “receptor” fit in? Zero consideration, evidence shows. GRRRRRRR.

Muskego educators stopped from teaching book about WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans

… and…

Wis. school board members dismissed book about Japanese American incarceration as being ‘unbalanced,’ parents say

Are you incensed about this overreach? Here’s a Petition to the School District:

Petition for the Approval of When the Emperor Was Divine

Looking for info on Japanese Internment? Here are a couple Legalectric posts from when we visited Manzanar and Minidoka National Historic Sites:

Manzanar – Information on Japanese American Internment

February 27th, 2017

75 years ago – America’s Shameful Japanese Internment

February 18th, 2017

A MUST visit — Minidoka National Historic Site

June 1st, 2022

Is that sort of like the “working hard” v. “hardly working” conundrum?

Last week was almost a pre-COVID “back to normal” with a trip to Freeborn County to meet with two clients, new pipeline and long-time wind. I so miss being on the road, miss trucking, and miss travel out and about to meet with folks. Timing worked so well, it was a good opportunity to take out the trailer and continue to debate about whether it’s time for the trailer to go on to new owners (oh, that mpg hurts!), to debate whether a tent is really workable. And the debate is over. Now to clean it out and sell… sigh…

The Freeborn Wind project is up at the PUC next Thursday, July 7, to address the noise studies, not that they’ll do anything — seems the primary goal is to duck and cover, not deal with noisy turbines.

And the pipeline is going to be a recurring issue. There’s the “little” line going in under Northern Natural Gas’ FERC blanket authority (seems cost/size of project determines whether NNG applies to FERC); there’s the Ventura North E-Line, part of NNG’s Northern Lights 2023 Expansion applied for at FERC earlier this year; and supposedly this month, the “Albert Lea” project. We’ll see how this goes. I know there’s natural gas storage under the Prehn home along Hwy 13, below Hwy. 60, north of Waseca, and DOH, that gas has to get there somehow. And there’s the east/west gas transmission line along Hwy. 14, through my client’s yard in Kasson (and TOO MANY others). But check the map — I didn’t know that there are this many lines.

More to follow…