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 .

Yup, more heat, less sag, that’s something we all need, the industry fix for “50’s vintage conductors” and maybe it’s better than bag balm! With Capx2020 coming up, and with the Chisago line underway, I’ve got transmission on the brain, and you know they can’t build coal without transmission.

Back in the SW MN 345kV case, the “it’s for wind” NOT line, I’d subpoeaned 3M about its new conductor, probably spring of 2002, because Xcel was planning a high capacity line and I knew this ACCR composite conductor was coming down the pike. Both 3M and Xcel said they weren’t going to use it, and Xcel entered exhibits and testified about it — nope, they were NOT going to use it. Instead, they were going to use a high capacity ACSS:

ACSS – 345kV bundled 954 = 2085MVA

So now how about these CzpX2020 lines “from the coal fields” through Minnesota to Wicsonsin and points east?

Will the 2085MVA ACSS be enough or do they want even more to put even more coal on the wires? And there’s the cost to consider, so probably not — they haven’t got a market… but then again, there’s always the Minnesota ratepayers to pay for their bulk power wholesale transactions!

South Dakota has been looking at this market issue, because they’re realizing that they want to build all this coal and they want to build all this transmission, that pesky Minnesota is in the way, but more importantly, they get that there is no market and that they have to look at creating a market. They get that there’s plenty of electricity and I hope they’re getting that it’s not realistic to think that Wisconsin or Illinois would buy their electricity when there’s plenty right at home and without all that added transmission service and construction cost:

South Dakota Energy Infrastructure Authority – Energy Study 2007

SDEIA Electric Industry Interviews Report December 2006

So they get it — there’s a bit of a market problem. Hence the COALition – there’s Wind on the Wires and AWEA and their unsavory promotion of National Transmission Corridor through Minnesota, there’s RE-AMP and they’re working on “finding a way forward for coal.” Check p. 11 of this Executive Summary:

RE-AMP Executive Summary

Good idea… let’s bail out the coal industry… real good idea…

But they cannot do it without transmission. And we all know that CapX2020 really isn’t needed, but for this coal for export scheme — and that’s why they want to be excepted from providing the typical need data with their application:

Xcel/CapX2020 Request for Exemption

Comments on their outrageous “the rules don’t apply to US” assertions are due March 19, 2007 .

PUC Extension of Comment Period to March 19

The Comment period has been extended because Xcel/CapX2020 refuses to use the service list and serve parties on it and they were caught. Again. How dare they!!! How many times do I have to remind them? And what’s next, sue them about it — yeah, real effective use of time. But somebody with additional clout gave them what for and, WHEW, it’s extended.

Now about these high-capacity conductors…

Mike Casper has died.  I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without his influence, nuclear waste, transmission lines, power plants, all those crazy trips up to Chisago and those awful hours long “coalition” meetings got me firmly entrenched.  I’m so grateful to have had his guidance and direction and coaching and encouragement, he and Nancy were so supportive as I headed off on this electrical path.

This just came in from Joel Weisberg:

To friends and colleagues of Mike Casper,

It is my sad duty to inform you that Mike died on January 27, 2007 in  Northfield from complications related to dementia.  He caught  pneumonia about ten days before he passed away, and his family and  local friends surrounded him at his bedside through his last days.

Let me take this opportunity to remind you of some of the highlights  of Mike’s life. Thanks to Daniel Casper for providing the document  from which most of this was drawn.

Along with being a Professor of Physics at Carleton College,  Mike  was a tireless political activist.  He was a leading figure in the  peace movement for decades. Among his many projects, he helped to  mobilize the scientific community in opposition to an anti-ballistic  missile system, served as executive director of the Minnesota Nuclear  Weapons Freeze Campaign, and, with the help of his wife, Nancy, ran  the Nuclear War Graphics Project.  He helped to found the APS  Congressional Science Fellows Program which brings scientists to work  with Congressional representatives, a program that was so successful  that many other scientific societies went on to copy it.  He was one  of the cofounders of the American Physical Society’s Forum on Physics  and Society, where these kinds of issues are studied and debated. He  also cofounded a program at Carleton called Science, Technology, and  Public Policy, and as part of that program, Mike supervised annual  technology policy projects in which he and a group of students  studied a problem and then developed policy solutions. Over two  decades, Mike and his students tackled issues ranging from  alternative energy to HIV/AIDS policy.  In a fitting legacy to Mike  and the other founders, the STPP Program itself continues to  thrive  at Carleton under the name Environment and Technology Studies.  Personally, I most deeply admire Mike for his work on science in the  public interest, and for taking that work to the towns and streets  rather than leaving it irrelevantly in the ivory tower.

While at Carleton, Mike developed a lifelong partnership with faculty  colleague Paul Wellstone, the late Minnesota senator. The two became  intimately involved with the 1970s struggles of western Minnesota  farmers to oppose a high voltage power line. In 1978, Mike ran for  lieutenant governor in the DFL primary with Alice Tripp, whose  campaign for governor grew out of the anti-powerline movement. Casper  and Wellstone later chronicled the story of the powerline struggle in  the book Powerline: The First Battle of America’s Energy War  (University of Massachusetts Press, 1981). Mike was a key strategist  in Paul’s 1990 U.S. Senate campaign and went to Washington as Paul’s  policy advisor, an experience that informed what would be Mike’s final  book, Lost in Washington: Finding the Way Back to Democracy in  America (University of Massachusetts Press, 2000.

Mike is survived by his wife, Nancy; sons Daniel (Linda), Benjamin  (Marisela), and Michael (Beth) Casper, Jay and Aaron (Cecy) Syverson,  daughter Kaarin Madigan, and five grandchildren. He was preceded in  death by parents Barry and Florence Casper and brother Jonathan Casper.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, February 18, 2007,  at Carleton College’s Skinner Memorial Chapel. A reception will  follow in the Severance Great Hall.  Should you wish to attend, I  would be glad to assist in finding you accommodations with a local  family or at a local hotel.  In lieu of flowers, please direct  memorial gifts to the Mike Casper Memorial Fund at Carleton College,  Gift Accounting Office, One North College Street, Northfield, Minnesota, 55057.

If you feel so moved, I am sure that Mike’s family would appreciate  any messages you would like to send.  Daniel Casper can be reached at  dcasper8[at]hotmail.com.

Sincerely,
Joel Weisberg, Mike’s friend and colleague in the physics department

I’m still utterly bummed out about Hatch, and the session is looming. But a lot of folks I know will now grace those halls, and it is going to be different, kick ass instead of an ass-kicking, though I’ll try to find some reason to harrass Steve Sviggum before he resigns (wonder who he’s been grooming down there). Here’s one of the biggest losers:

Some of the winners:

I’m thrilled Tom Anzelc got in for House 3A. He was in the middle of Prairie Island I, and at the Progressive DFL Caucus a while back we went toe to toe in a delightfully heated exchange, until he figured out I know the score on that 1994 bill, well, I had to hit him over the head with that. I trust he’ll do well in the SOB because he has the backbone to stand up for regular people.

Further south, in Chisago, Jeremy Kalin beat Pete Nelson in House 17B. Jeremy is a progressive community activist who was part of Concerned River Valley Citizens on the Chisago Transmission Line, and he’s probably the first potter in the legislature!

David Bly won by 57 votes, and from the inbox, “SERIOUSLY!!! Bly won!” and “How did that happen?” and “I didn’t see that one coming…” And Doug Jones’ reaction would be choice! Ray lost a LOT of votes in Northfield, and Bly didn’t lose as many (but didn’t do as well as Peterson), and a strange thing happened in Northfield W-2 P-2. Here’s Bly and Edwards in 2004:

Here at home, Sandy Wollschlager took 28A, an open seat vacated by Republican Jerry Dempsey. I got several mailboxes full of HRCC Independent Expenditure flyesr, like the flip-flop flyer, another mispreresenting her service on the School Board, and Iocco has the nerve to claim SHE was running a negative campaign — show me the evidence Gary, because the floor of my porch is littered with HRCC crap and nothing like that from the DFL! Here she is election night, on the phone with the Republican… errr… Beagle, yeah, that’s it… learning that Gary Iocco had conceded (and not all that long after we’d been confident enough for the first toast to the winner and the first bottle of champagne blew open!).

Further south in House 31B, Ken Tschumper,a LeCrescent dairy farmer, gave Greg Davids a long overdue Tschumping! Here he is with his father and his favorite cow:

Here’s another winner that night, Jim Carlson of SD 38, who ran hard and benefitted from Andrew Borene’s crash and burn in SD41 and withdrew in disgrace (and the DFL sends out sample ballots with Borene’s name? Whatever were they thinking?) because Jim inherited Borene’s campaign worker and Senate support. Not long ago, he’d invited me to speak at a powerlunchbunch in St. Paul about energy issues and of course the Red Wing background checks, where Pat hollered “Senator Carlson!” and Jim was oblivious — get used to it SENATOR CARLSON!

Lots of wins, a change in direction is assured.. but… Hatch’s loss is going to hurt a long time. Kenya is still whining, and Krie is on the lookout for Republican Whores!

Letter: Will Xcel deal preserve our fair share?

Carol Overland, Red Wing, The Republican Eagle

Published Saturday, November 11, 2006

To the Editor:

Decades ago, NSP built the Prairie Island plant, and it was welcomed in large part because of the economic benefits.

Tax revenue for this plant has been slashed by over 60 percent in the last decade. What happened to that deal?

There’s a new utility personal property tax deal between Xcel, Goodhue County and Red Wing. Is this a good thing? I’ve represented clients who’ve successfully preserved their tax base. I’ve also represented parties regarding NSP/Xcel deals because my clients suffered consequences, i.e., the “stick it to Goodhue County” nuclear waste in Florence Township, the Chisago transmission line redesigned at twice the capacity originally proposed, the TRANSLink deal and its codification as the 2005 Transmission bill which brings three 345kV transmission lines to Red Wing. I’m skeptical of any deal.

Utility personal property tax is an arcane tax paid by all utilities owning infrastructure to all local governments across the state. All jurisdictions are affected by the 60-percent tax rate cuts.

These cuts were a peripheral issue in the campaign: Candidates were asked about the dwindling tax base, but not what they would do to restore revenue. Only one spoke about her successful experience in negotiating with the utility. Potential solutions range from influencing the Department of Revenue rule change; stepped restoration of utility tax rates; production tax on all generation; elimination of blanket exemptions coupled with a Host Fee Agreement. Local governments must act in concert. Will they?

That’s my concern. This community has been held hostage by a “good neighbor” utility which showed its appreciation for the 1994 lobbying effort “to protect the tax base” by gutting that base as local governments cower. What’s encouraging is that there’s recognition that it’s time to protect our interests. What’s Xcel going to do if challenged, take its nuclear plant and go?

Those working on this deal have pledged to act to protect the tax base and made strenuous assurances that this deal is premised on legislative change. This deal is “a floor, not a ceiling” to preserve the status quo while legislative efforts go forward. That’s reasonable to restore the diminishing tax base, whether legislatively, administratively, or legally, is to enforce the original premise. We’ve got to support local government in its fight to preserve our fair share.

Carol Overland
Red Wing