Legalectric

Both Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Sen. Norm Coleman are quoted saying the bridge had been inspected and was fine, no problems… but that’s not what the DOT’s bridge inspection reports said…
Daily Kos has links to the bridge reports HERE.

STrib graphic of bridge.

From the New York Times:

Bridge collapse kills at least 7

August 2, 2007

By LIBBY SANDER and SUSAN SAULNY

An Interstate highway bridge in downtown Minneapolis loaded with rush-hour traffic dropped more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River last night, sending at least 50 vehicles and passengers into the water.

Chief Jim Clack of the Minneapolis Fire Department said at least 7 people were killed and more than 60 were injured. The Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported that 9 were dead, 20 were missing and 60 were injured.

Chief Clack said that most of the rescues were made within an hour of the collapse and that 22 of the city’s 26 fire engines responded to the scene. Fire departments from surrounding communities also responded.

“This is a catastrophe of historic proportions for Minnesota,” Gov. Tim Pawlenty said at a news conference about three hours after the collapse.

The eight-lane bridge on Interstate 35W, the main north-south route through Minneapolis, was being repaired at the time, and a witness told MSNBC that he had heard a jackhammer being used on the roadway just before the collapse about 6 p.m. Witnesses said the bridge, which was built in 1967, collapsed in three sections. One section of the bridge lay flat in the river, with cars parked on the rolling pavement.

The collapsed bridge, which was about 1,000 feet long, had been supported by a steel truss structure. Repairs were being made to the bridge’s concrete deck, guard rails and lights, state officials said.

The construction work was being done by Progressive Contractors Inc. of St. Michael, Minn. Tom Sloan, the company’s vice president for bridges, told KARE 11 television that 18 workers were on the bridge at the time of the collapse and by about 10 p.m. 17 of them had been accounted for.

Divers and rescue boats continued to search the river and the twisted wreckage of the bridge as darkness set in and rain began to fall. The Star Tribune said some people were seen floundering in the river, calling for help. The search efforts were suspended about midnight and will resume at daylight.

Leah R. Fulin, 16, of Minneapolis, had just crossed the bridge and was on the Washington Avenue exit when it collapsed behind her.

“Most of the cars that were on the bridge went into the river,” she said. “There was a whole bunch of smoke when concrete breaks like that. There were people screaming.”

Janet Stately was returning from Duluth, Minn., and had decided to take an adjacent bridge to avoid traffic when the collapse occurred.

“I heard an awful noise and saw what looked to me like a piece of the freeway just going down flat,” Ms. Stately said. Then she said she saw the road collapse into a V and cars rolling into the river. “I clearly recall horns honking. I was screaming. We were trying to call 911 on our cellphones.”

Television stations showed a school bus on one section of the collapsed slab, but the back door was open and no passengers were visible. Red Cross officials said 60 children were taken off the bus, 10 of whom had injuries that were treated at city hospitals. A column of smoke curled up from a tractor-trailer near the bus.

“I saw a lot of crying,” Courtney Johnson of the Red Cross told CNN. “Some of the older children were comforting the younger children.” The children were 4 to 12 or 13 years in age, Ms. Johnson estimated.

Berndt Toivonen, 51, of Minneapolis, told The Star Tribune he had been on his way home from a painting job when the bridge collapsed beneath his car.

“The bridge started to buckle,” Mr. Toivonen said. “It went up and it came down. I thought I was going to die.” He was uninjured, but he said people around him, some injured, were screaming in their cars. He told MSNBC that he helped some other people off the bridge.

Dr. Joseph Clinton, chief of emergency medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center, said six patients at the hospital had critical injuries and 22 had injuries that were not considered life threatening. There was one drowning fatality, Dr. Clinton said.

“This is a very busy bridge,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, whose home is nearby. “It’s really right in the heart of the city,” Ms. Klobuchar told CNN. “Thousands of commuters use this bridge every day.”

According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the flow on the eight lanes of I-35W crossing the river was supposed to be restricted beginning Tuesday night for the northbound lanes and at 8 last night, about two hours after the collapse, for the southbound lanes. The reason stated on the agency’s Web site was “overlay work,” which refers to roadway resurfacing.

A 2001 evaluation of the bridge, prepared for the state transportation department by the University of Minnesota Civil Engineering Department, reported that there were preliminary signs of fatigue on the steel truss section under the roadway but no cracking.

It said there was no need for the transportation department to replace the bridge because of fatigue cracking.

Governor Pawlenty said the bridge had an unusual design and was inspected in 2005 and 2006. No structural deficiencies were detected, he said.

Senator Norm Coleman, Republican of Minnesota, told CNN that the bridge had received a “clean bill of health” three years ago. Mr. Coleman said the work on the bridge was a resurfacing project, not uncommon in Minnesota in the summer.

The Minnesota Twins, who play home games in the Metrodome not far from the site of the bridge collapse, had a moment of silence before their game Wednesday night. Team officials decided to play Wednesday’s game after public safety officials decided that sending 20,000 to 25,000 people back into traffic could hinder rescue efforts, the Twins’ president, Dave St. Peter, told The Associated Press. Today’s game against the Kansas City Royals has been postponed, along with a groundbreaking ceremony for a new baseball stadium, according to the Twins Web site.

Cellphones in the area were disrupted after the collapse, possibly because antennas were overloaded with calls. As the toll of the injured and missing rose, a woman who was near the scene of the collapse called a cable network desperate for information: “If Janna or Paul hear grandma’s voice, please call home,” she begged.

The National Transportation Safety Board will send a team of investigators, a spokesman, Ted Lopatkiewicz, said. The board chairman, Mark Rosenker, will accompany the investigators, Mr. Lopatkiewicz said.

Pat Borzi, Jason Skog and Carla Baranauckas contributed reporting.

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Out of time — a Motion to crank out then off to the PUC…

So late on Thursday afternoon, there’s a filing in the inbox from the “Department of Commerce” with none other than Pawlenty-appointed Deputy Commissioner touting the Mesaba Project, despite the expert analysis of his own Dept. of Commerce!!!  We fired off an objection and Minnesota Power fired off an objection, YES!!!

Garvey’s July 27 Toady-Rah-Rah Letter

What’s wrong with this picture? Here’s the Gov’s boy sending this letter directly to the Commissioners! Had I done that, they’d probably shoot me! The record closed MONTHS AGO, and he’s got no business leaning on the Commissioners directly, I don’t care who he owes what, I don’t care if Pawlenty owes Excelsior — though I do care what exactly Pawlenty owes them and why!!!

Here are the objections filed thus far:

MCGP – Motion to Strike Commerce “Comment”

 Minnesota Power letter of objection

I hope everyone will read the Staff Briefing Papers:

Staff Briefing Papers for July 31 & Aug 2

Here’s the Twin West Chamber toadying for Excelsior:

Twin West toadying letter for Excelsior

And join us for tomorrow’s festivities at the PUC:

Excelsior’s Mesaba Project

Oral Argument – Tuesday July 31, 2007 @ 9:30 a.m.

Deliberations – Thursday, August 2, 2007 @ 9:30

Public Utilities Commission

121 – 7th Place East, St. Paul

Large Hearing Room, 3rd Floor

Odd word, “deliberation.” Whatever the result, this will be INTERESTING!!!

Come on down!!!

Oh, there they go again, ass over teakettle, overboard in a desperate attempt to change the tide.  When will Excelsior Energy get the message that this IGCC Mesaba Project is NOT going to fly?  Coal Gasification Not Welcome Here!!!

Today, I’ve filed a formal Complaint against Excelsior for their impermissible, improper, and utterly implausible-that-they-would-d0-something-so-asinine on the eve of the Mother of All Oral Arguments!

Here’s our Complaint:

MCGP – Complaint re: Excelsior Energy ex parte contact

 LINK TO EX PARTE STATUTE
 LINK TO EX PARTE RULE

They’re always pushing it, stretching every rule, but this one just can’t slide…

Lots happening with Excelsior Energy’s Mesaba Project as it inches toward its long-awaited demise. First up — Excelsior Energy’s ex parte contact! It’s pretty basic, and the rules in Minnesota are pretty specific, but remember, we’re talking about Excelsior here…

First email:

>>> “Leanne Stanley” <LeanneS@excelsiorenergy.com> 7/26/2007 10:42 AM >>>

Hello everyone – as you know, our hearing before the Public Utilities Commission is next Tuesday, July 31.

We’ve been working hard to prepare, and as you’ve seen by our recent announcements, the Project itself is shaping up quickly. We have passed a lot of milestones this summer, including getting our transmission interconnection agreement signed so our output will be deliverable throughout MISO, getting site control of our second site, kicking off the final phase of engineering before construction starts, and nearing the date our joint state/federal EIS will be published. But, now is crunch time – you have been so helpful and supportive in the past, but I would like to ask you to do one more thing before the hearing – please email the PUC Commissioners and express your support for the Mesaba Project. Just a few sentences in your own words would be extremely helpful. Here are the email addresses for the Commissioners: Please reference The Mesaba Energy Project PPA Docket No. 05-1993

(Excelsior linked PUC Commissioner’s emails here — REDACTED BY CAO!)

Please do not hesitate to contact Pat Micheletti at 651-214-5184 or me at 218-245-1205 if you have any further questions. As always, thank you so much for your continuing support!

Leanne Stanley
Public Affairs Representative

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Second email — oh, I bet you wish you could:

>>> “Leanne Stanley” <LeanneS@excelsiorenergy.com> 7/26/2007 11:00 AM >>>

Leanne Stanley would like to recall the message, “UPCOMING PUC HEARING – COULD YOU SEND AN EMAIL FOR US?”.

=====================
Third email — aaaahhh, the joys of the internet:

>>> “Leanne Stanley” <LeanneS@excelsiorenergy.com> 7/26/2007 12:10 PM >>>

Hi –

Please disregard the email you received from me earlier today. It was sent in error. Please do not send any emails to any of the people listed in my earlier email request. I apologize for any inconvenience caused by my earlier message.

Thank you,

Leanne Stanley
Public Affairs Representative

==================================
The statute and rule are pretty clear on prohibitions of ex parte communications. Here’s the statute, which also lays out the Complaint process:

216A.037 EX PARTE COMMUNICATIONS; CODE OF CONDUCT; RULES.

Subdivision 1. Ex parte communications prohibitions; rules. (a) The commission shall
adopt rules under chapter 14 prescribing permissible and impermissible ex parte communications. The ex parte rules may prohibit only ex parte communications, directly or indirectly, between a commissioner and a participant under the commission’s rules of practice and procedure relating to:

1) a material issue during a pending contested case proceeding…

Here’s the rule:

7845.7200 PROHIBITED EX PARTE COMMUNICATIONS.

Subpart 1. Communications with commissioners. An ex parte communication, either direct or indirect, must not be made or attempted to be made between a commissioner and a party concerning:

A. a material issue during a pending contested case proceeding, from the date the matter is referred to the Office of Administrative Hearings until the commission issues its final order and the time to petition for reconsideration expires, or until the commission issues a final order responding to the petition for reconsideration, whichever is later…

Something tells me Leanne’s in a bit of a pickle…

Meanwhile, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal has named Julie Jorgensen as a “Woman to Watch.”  Don’t worry, Julie, we be watchin’.

Here they are again, toadies on parade!  Somebody pass the barf bag!  I’m listening to the “Great Plains Briefing” about their European junket, old news that they’re respinning on the eve of both mailing of notices for the CapX2020 transmission lines to transport new ND and SD coal, AND on the eve of the Excelsior Energy Mesaba Project oral arguments and deliberations.

Toadies all…

Are you ready for this — Beth Soholt, Wind on the Wires via Izaak Walton League (Wind on the Wires is a grant, not an organization!), said that CLEAN COAL TECHNOLOGY IS MARRIED WITH WIND!!!  And she actually said that because we know wind is happening, WE’VE GOT TO WORK ON COAL!!!   WE’VE GOT TO WORK ON COAL!!!  Once more with feeling, WE’VE GOT TO WORK ON COAL!!!  And of course “WE NEED TRANSMISSION” is the other mantra.

Mike Gregerson was, of course, toadying for IGCC as “Great Plains Institute”… but he’s been on the Exclesior Energy payroll, getting our hard earned tax dollars via the IRR… so that’s expected.

But the end was the kicker, here’s Commissioner Gary Hanson of the SD PUC bending over for IGCC, looking for “regulatory certainty,” which is agency-speak for “we must hand them everything they want.”  His “suggestions?”  He wants to eliminate the “least cost” test (part of what killed the Mesaba Project) and base it on “in the public interest, reasonable and necessary, and for economic development.”  Really… read it on p. 37.  As if that wasn’t enough, he advocates for pre-approval of pre-construction and construction investments for generation and transmission.  Gagging yet??? How’s this… he’s also advocating for “enhanced rate of return on investment.”  AAAAAAAAGH!

Here’s the PowerPoint, utterly disgusting:

Lessons Learned and Opportunities for South Dakota and the Region

SLIDE 39: Major support for Coal Gasification Work Group from the Joyce Foundation.

=======================

Northern Plains-Midwest Coal Technology and Climate Policy
Delegation to Europe Briefing
1:30 p.m. (Central Time), Thursday, July 26
Room 412, State Capitol, Pierre, S.D.

AGENDA
1:30 p.m.    Welcome
Gary Hanson, Vice Chairman, S.D. Public Utilities Commission

1:40 p.m.    Presentation of delegation program, key findings, priorities and next steps for South Dakota and the region
Betsy Engelking, Manager, Resource Planning and Bidding,
Xcel Energy
David Hadley, Vice President for State Regulatory Relations,
Midwest Independent System Operator
Beth Soholt, Executive Director, Wind on the Wires
Mike Gregerson, Consultant, Great Plains Institute

2:30 p.m.    Closing remarks — PUC Vice Chairman Hanson

2:40 p.m.    Q&A — Audience and Presenters