Legalectric

Xcel’s application for the Chisago transmission line is at the PUC, wtih the Certificate of Need and Siting dockets mixed into one.  They’re trying to ram it through unexamined, setting up a Advisory  Task Force with virtually no notice and having three meetings crammed into an eight day period — that’s not sufficient time for anyone to get the application, review it, and comment coherently.  So we’ve filed a Motion for an extension to have a reasonable amount of time, rather than this farce they’ve instituted.  Sure, they don’t want an effective Task Force like the last time, heaven forbid that local governments and the public should have an opportunity to participate in a meaningful way.

Lindstrom Motion for Extension

Expanding Horizons – 1997 Chisago Task Force Report

Expanding Horizons – Appendices

And with that report and appendices, you can see how it should be done.

CLICK HERE for Xcel’s Chisago transmission site.

For the dockets, go to www.puc.state.mn.us and then “eDockets” and then “Search Documents” and then search for dockets 04-1176 and 06-1667 .

Yesterday’s PSC meeting was a bit much — it lasted until 6:30 p.m., but the good news is that the non-utility intervenors, who had been lumped together in an inexplicable Order by the RFP hearing examiner (Order HERE — well, it will be when the inaccessible PSC site is back up and running) were finally granted intervention separately as full parties in the RFP docket. WHEW! A start.

But late the night before the hearing, NRG filed documents “under seal.” Apparently they threatened to sue the PSC — don’t they have any manners? If they want to sue, just do it!!! Then we can get to the “merits” which of course are non-existent. Release the info, DUH!

Until they get around to releasing their info, until the PSC orders it or, as Muller suggested, the PSC throws out the NRG proposal because of their (un)reasonable attitude, consider the emissions info from the Excelsior docket:

 MPCA Comments

MPCA – Final

And then there’s that little matter of cost — here it is from the Excelsior docket, the Amit testimony — assume NRG is similar unless proven otherwise:

Get pissy all you want, NRG, but WE KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT IGCC!  We know the emissions profile sucks and we know the cost is outrageous, and we don’t want to pay for it!

NRG says it will sue to hide emissions data

By AARON NATHANS, The News Journal

Posted Wednesday, March 21, 2007

NRG Energy said it will sue to block the disclosure of emissions data and other information contained in its bid to the state to build a new power plant.

On Tuesday night, after a five-hour meeting, the Public Service Commission voted to release portions of NRG’s bid, including the emissions data, within five business days. NRG has vowed to try to find a court that will halt the disclosures.

“We will pursue an appeal on this matter,” said NRG attorney Michael Houghton. “We will act quickly.”

The commission agreed with a staff recommendation to keep financial details private.

At Tuesday’s meeting, NRG made a last-minute bid to keep additional portions of its bid secret, and succeeded in several areas. The commission agreed to keep secret detailed staffing plans for the proposed plant.

Alan Muller of Green Delaware argued at the meeting that the plans should be released because the company has used job creation as one of its selling points.

The commission also agreed to keep private a PowerPoint presentation from an NRG supplier and contract language between NRG and a supplier, which NRG argued were protected by a confidentiality agreement.

The commission agreed to keep private two sections of the bid relating to the price of its proposed product, despite commission staffer James Geddes’ description of them as “rather generic.”

Most commission members hadn’t read an NRG memo filed under seal Monday by the time the meeting started. They took a 45-minute recess to review the memo, then went into a rare closed session to confer with staffers. The News Journal raised an objection to the closed session, claiming it was not supported under the state’s open meetings law.

NRG is proposing a 600-megawatt coal plant for its Indian River facility. The plant would use technology that turns coal into synthesis gas, allowing for some toxins to be removed.

The proposal is one of three to supply energy to Delmarva Power to help meet the state’s long-term energy needs. The other bidders are Bluewater Wind, which wants to put up an offshore wind farm, and Conectiv, which wants to build a natural gas plant. Both have released their emissions data.

NRG officials say they should be exempt from releasing emissions data and other information because their technology is so new in the United States that releasing it would give competitors an unfair advantage. If the company revealed its suppliers, “we’re standing here with our pockets open, ready to be fleeced,” said Caroline Angoorly, the company’s regional senior vice president.

But Muller said more disclosure is better.

“NRG appears to be a company with a lot to hide,” Muller said. “If their bid could stand up to scrutiny, why do they seem so determined to conceal the main underlying facts?”

A state consultant has said Conectiv’s bid best meets the criteria the state set out for the bidders. Bluewater Wind came in second, and NRG last.

Delmarva says it would prefer not to contract with any of the bidders, believing it could keep prices stable with a combination of conservation and competitive buying on the open market.

The commission made its order Tuesday after receiving a Freedom of Information Act request from The News Journal and others. Its order covers all three companies; NRG had blacked out the most information.
Copyright ©2007, The News Journal

… so if you think I’ve dropped off the planet, naaaaaaaah, you should be so lucky!  The 10-20 minute server switch that Cannon Communications scheduled for Monday morning (ummmm, why not 3 a.m. on Sunday?) is now going on 48 hours and I’m about to blow a gasket.

All over the U.S., they’re trying to keep the facts of IGCC from the public. Why? DUH, because if the facts were known, IGCC would be dead.

Well, surprise, surprise, it’s PUBLIC INFORMATION!!! Nearly all of the Minnesota information is public, and despite this very public collection of IGCC information, Delaware, Indiana and Florida are keeping essential facts from the public.

But wait… it gets worse… some thing the public has no interest in the information, that the public has no business in these proceedings, that the public is not a stakeholder.

Can you believe it??? From the Delaware Public Service Commission Staff:

… although the public is a beneficiary of the work performed by Commission Staff in its attempt to release as much information as possible, the public is not a stakeholder in the Commission’s, and other agencies’, determination as to whether such work should be adopted.

Hiding the facts in Delaware:

DAG Memo on Confidentiality 2-12-07
NRG on Confidentiality 2-16-07

Staff Memo on Confidentiality 2-23-07

NRG Response on Confidentiality 2-26-07

Staff Memo on Confidentiality 3-13-07

Hiding the facts in Indiana:

Edwardsport – Joint Motion – Confidentiality

IURC Order – Confidentiality

Hiding the facts in Minnesota:

250017260protective-order-1.DOC

Order on Motion to Enforce Protective Order

Hiding the facts in Florida:

FPL’s Motion for Protective Order 3-12-07

For all of you who want to know what’s what in coal gasification, go to www.mncoalgasplant.com and start digging. The Minnesota PUC filings are there, and are also available at www.puc.state.mn.us, go to “eDockets” and then to “Search Documents” and then search for 05-1993.  This docket is the first one to come down the pike, and the costs are so high and the environmental performance so low that it will fall on its own.  And this is the information that must get out — this information tanks any IGCC proposal.

If you have any concerns about what this all means, see:

Testimony of Steve Jenkins – Florida Glades Power Plant

Steve Jenkins has spent a career promoting IGCC, and he explains it all — he knows the problems and testifies about them at great lengths.  But folks, it’s really not that complicated. Message: IGCC can’t stand the light of day.