Legalectric

Yes! Progress! Kay Kuhlman brought up tomorrow’s Biennial Transmission Plan meeting at the City Council meeting, and said that it would be covered by City staff! A small thing, but I’ so thrilled that they’re paying attention. I heard from Atina Diffley, Gardens of Eagan, about it today too, and I’ve got my “Buy the Farm” flyers all printed (well, they’re really leftovers, but what the hey…).

Here’s the schedule:

Transmission Plan? What transmission plan? Oh, what seems now a coon’s age ago, the state had a burr under its saddle, planted there by a few folks I know, present company included, and so the legislature got serious about transmission planning, even mandated it. Part of the idea was not to end up with bogus projects like the Arrowhead Project, or Chisago Project, which were utility dreams but not needed for any local service and instead wanted for bulk power transfers, market transactions, unregulated sales for fun and profit. Here’s Minn. Stat. 216B.2425, mandating the “State Transmission Plan.” I was on the rulemaking committee for that, and it was torturous. But the bottom line was that this was to lend some sense of planning to transmission… silly me…

Here we are, with the biggest transmission projects ever, three giant lines crossing the state, 200,000 landowners affected, and they’re not even shown on the notice maps for the Transmission Plan Meetings. I’ve emailed and called Al Mitchell, the “it guy” for the Minnesota Transmission Owners, but he wasn’t around, so I’ve even called poor Bob Cupit, knowing that the state can’t afford the luxury of caller ID. Oh, this is hilarious, look what turns up googling Cupit:

Gotta find one of these, he’s probably gotten over that one-legged strap-on milk stool we got him a decade ago!

So come on down to Rochester, and find out what one-legged milk stools have to do with transmission planning, and ask them what the hell “CapX” means anyway, and why their lines are not on the maps! Maybe you can get a decent answer.

And DON’T forget that Big Stone II, BSII, is tied into the SW Minnesota line coming over to PI, and then shooting out to Wisconsin via Prairie Island, Red Wing, and LaX… heard that was quite the topic out in Granite Falls week before last, let’s keep it that way! DUH, it’s all connected — and don’t pretend that it’s not!

Here’s the schedule. For more info go to the Minnesota Transmission Owners site at www.minnelectrans.com or contact MTO’s Al Mitchell at amitchell@lindquist.com or the State’s Bob Cupit, bob.cupit@state.mn.us

For the CapX2020 lines, the blue ones and red ones on the maps below, go to the CapX2020 Project page, and then click on the project of interest under “Description.”
Now here’s where we get into the problem. Check out the SW Minnesota Zone, “my” district (how can I limit it so when the state is my oyster??)

SE MN Notice: southeast-zone-notice.pdf

What’s wrong with this? Look at the map:

Nevermind, DON’T!! They sent me THREE, I gave away two, and who knows where it went, I GIVE UP, I CANNOT FIND MY COPY FOR THE LIFE OF ME. So allow me to describe it — it’s a cheezy map, with no proposed transmission lines or corridors drawn, only these funny light dashed lines around some cities, no lines drawn at all…

So what are they planning? LOOK!!!

And on that happy note, we’re having another cycle of Biennial Transmission Plan meeitngs, and I hope you’re all paying attention and passing this notice along to everyone who lives near these blue lines on the map above. Or the red lines on this map below (it shows the Big Stone II line connecting into the SW Minnesota line over to Prairie island):

Notice that there’s a line going into Red Wing from the SW, and then from Red Wing (Prairie Island) it goes straight south. CapX2020 calls it “two lines,” one in and one out, and this is just Phase I. In Phase II, there’s another coming into Red Wing from the North, the Chisago sub, and down to Prairie Island. Three lines — no other community has three lines in the CapX2020 “Vision.”

Here’s the SW Zone map from the Transmission Plan meeting packet, covering the same area as the above map (found after 45 minutes of searching — in the recycling — too many papers):

Here’s a version you can zoom or print: sw-zone.pdf

Who cares about the Biennial Transmission Plan meetings? For starters, any of the 200,00 landowners that the Dept. of Commerce says will be affected by these transmission lines. How about the local governments these lines are going through? How about the legislators whose constituents are affected? These lines have been approaching for years now, but the Notice Plans were approved for the CapX2020 lines and we’re now approaching aplication time.

Why care about the Biennial Transmission Plan meetings? Because they’re planning utility infrastructure, and utility infrastructure is very expensive and lasts a long time, 50 years or so. We are at a juncture where we will either invest billions of dollars in central-station infrastructure, large plants a long way from load, OR, we can invest these same dollars in renewable and sustainable energy. Time to choose, because once we start building these central station coal plants and transmission lines, they won’t be abandoned, mothballed. Do we want to take that road? Not on my watch! And on yours???

Transmission Planning Meeting – SE Minnesota Zone:

Tuesday, October 24 from 3-7 p.m.

International Center

7333 Airport View Dr. S.W.

Rochester

For more information:

Al Mitchell – amitchell@lindquist.com

Be there, or be square — that means you, City of Red Wing and Goodhue County! I see you’re on the email list, and hope to see you there!

I would say that the barn door is open, and the horses are long gone, but with this 2005 Xmsn bill, it’s a lot worse than that. The ripple effects of that bill’s amendments to utility regulatory statutes is immense.
Today is the first prehearing conference on the siting side of Excelsior/Mesaba.

Here’s another impact of that awful bill. In Excelsior/Mesaba, where there has been no determination of need, where we used to be able to argue that in the siting stage they should look at need, well, no more. This statute, as it was before the change, was what made the Chisago fight winnable, and it should have been applied in Arrowhead, but they wouldn’t take it on (the language was not prohibitory, not mandatory, but agency could take on need if it wanted to). We could have used this to oppose Mesaba, the option was there when the Prairie Island/Mesaba bill was passed. Now it’s gone. There’s no looking at need, no option at all.

THANKS!

THIS IS THE CONTINUING LEGACY OF THE 2005 TRANSMISSION OMNIBUS BILL FROM HELL.

Here’s that one little part with a large impact:

Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 116C.53,
subdivision 2, is amended to read:
Subd. 2. [JURISDICTION.] The board commission is hereby
given the authority to provide for site and route selection for
large electric power facilities. The board commission shall
issue permits for large electric power facilities in a timely
fashion. When the Public Utilities Commission has determined
the and in a manner consistent with the overall determination of
need for the project under section 216B.243 or 216B.2425,.
Questions of need, including size, type, and timing; alternative
system configurations; and voltage are not within the board’s
siting and routing authority and must not be included in the
scope of environmental review conducted under sections 116C.51
to 116C.69.

Here’s the link, again: 2005 Regular Session Chapter 97, SF1368

And of course we all know who’s not at the table in Mesaba, in Capx2020, that speaks volumes…

Thanks…

.

Transmission happens… that’s the big lesson of the 2005 Transmission Omnibus Bill from Hell. This bill gave utilities everything they ever wanted in a transmission bill, carte blanche, enough to make any property owner blanch. And you’d better get ready, because transmission is coming to a field and town near you! Skeptics say “Oh, right” but hey, I’ve got THREE lines coming to Red Wing, THREE, and TWO in “Phase I” of the CapX2020 plan. Phase I list HERE! And to get an idea what’s in store, here’s the full REPORT.

This big long list of projects comin’ to town is on my brain because Notice Plans have been issued for three of them, two of them coming to Red Wing, one in and one out, and the other is the Chisago Project, and I represented CRVC in the latter part of their struggle against that line.

I was talking with Bob Cupit, Energy Pooh-Bah at Commerce, and he mentioned that the CapX2020 folks had told him that 200,000 landowners would be affected by all these transmission projects around the state. 200,000! And Bob’s not one to exaggerate!

200,000 landowners. I’m thinking of having 200,000 thank you notes printed out for those 200,000 landowners to send George Crocker, North American Water Office, and Bill Grant , Izaak Walton League, to thank them for this bill that they pushed through. The 2005 Transmission Omnibus Bill from Hell was ushered through the legislature as “a deal, a package deal, and it’s a good deal,” and they would not alter it. So now this is the price, 200,000 landowners with transmission over their land. Thank you, George! Thank you, Bill! This is your legacy. For me, I’m likely to get some work out of it, because who else knows anything about transmission, but the magnitude of this turns my stomach. Much as I love my work, there is nothing worse than having clients losing their homes, their land, and now that the 2005 Transmission Omnibus Bill from Hell went through, it’s awfully hard to stop a transmission line. When utilities can claim “regional” need, and no longer have to prove the line is to serve local load, there’s not a lot to fight about! Thanks, George! Thanks, Bill! This is your legacy and you will have to live with what you’ve done — and I’m not about to let anyone forget the roots of all these transmission lines and eminent domain proceedings in our energy future.

If you want to salvage your souls, you’ve got to renounced the “deal, a package deal, and it’s a good deal” and do what it takes to undo the 2005 Transmission Omnibus Bill from Hell. And your TRANSLink deal, where you bargained away the public interest and gave TRANSLink (Xcel, etc.) all they wanted, and the material terms of which became the 2005 Transmission Omnibus Bill from Hell, renounce it. Renounce the TRANSLink deal and the 2005 transmission deal. Disclose whatever it was you got, give it back, give it all back! Get to work! And in the meantime, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do to 200,000 landowners. And do your constituents know what you’ve done?

As I talk with my Chisago Project folks, it’s clear to us that it’s not the same fight. The rules, the criteria, have changed, and we’re going to have to find a whole ‘nother approach. Maybe a good place to start would be the earlier deal between NSP and the City of Taylors Falls and the City of St. Croix Falls (that deal that George was stumping for at the Festival Theater, urging CRVC to adopt it, hmmmmmmmm…). If just alluding to that deal was enough to spur former Mayor Lundgren (now felon) of St. Croix Falls to order me arrested at a public meeting, it’s worth some digging…

200,000 landowners — transmission coming soon to a field and town near you!

Yes, it’s here. Yes, transmission is coming, three lines in the Red Wing area, and here are the first two:

1) SW Minnesota to “Hampton Corner” or Prairie Island
The first is the one from SW Minnesota to “southeastern Twin Cities,” and the Notice Plan has been filed.
To find info on this, go to the PUC site, www.puc.state.mn.us, and click on eDockets and enter the docket number “06-857.”

Notice Plan Comments were probably due at the end of the month, but you can send Reply Comments, QUICK, NOW, to:

Dr. Burl Haar burl.haar@state.mn.us

PUC, 121 E 7th St., Suite 350, St. Paul, MN 55101-2147

2) “Twin Cities” to Rochester to LaCrosse

The second one affecting the Red Wing Area was called “Prairie Island to Rochester to LaCrosse” and now it’s called “Twin Cities” to Rochester to LaCrosse. We’ll see what that means, and from the maps, it’s anybody’s guess.

There’s no PUC docket number. What I received was the Notice Plan, and comments are due at the PUC by 4:30 p.m. on July 21, 2006.

To get copy of Notice Plan and a lot of cute but confusing maps (aren’t transmission lines all connected??? Very strange) and one that has the 345kV line going right through the Prairie Island Administration Building. Right, good plan there… and that map has TWO lines doing a scenic tour of the reservation. Why???

Anyway, to get a copy of the Notice Plan call Xcel, Mary Martinka (612) 330-6737.

I checked Xcel’s Transmission site and neither of these are listed.

3) Chisago Project

Just for yucks, here’s the other one I got in the mail, the Chisago Project is being revived. Don’t they get it’s brain dead? ME3 used to have the archives, but that’s all gone now… sob… and that Chisago substation is connected to the third one coming to Red Wing, the Chisago-Red Rock-Prairie Island line.

Have we had enough of transmission for today?