Excelsior does one hell of a job

December 11th, 2006

It’s amazing how any company can get such great incorrect, misleading, inaccurate press coverage, all over the state, with just one little AP article (and a little help from Bill Hanna, see previous post). This AP article had three material facts wrong in one paragraph — where the heck did that information come from?? How about some basic fact checking?

Here’s the paragraph — find the errors:

The $1.2 billion Hoyt Lakes project by Excelsior, a partnership of former Northern States Power Co. executives, calls for using a clean-burning technology for making electricity from coal in a process called coal gasification.

Plus this article leads us to believe that it’s all for Excelsior! Fat chance…

To its great credit, AP handled it professionally and are on it — it’s not a small thing when, on the week before the PUC cost docket public hearings, the entire state is told that the plant costs a little over half of what it really costs!
Once more with feeling, THERE WILL BE A TEST:

COST:
DOE Financial Assistance Agreement $2.155 billion
DOE Notice of Intent $1.97 billion October 2005

HOYT LAKES:
Oh please.. just google “Excelsior” and “Taconite”

Former Northern States Power...
Julie Jorgensen CV (see NSP anywhere?)

So now, when you hear these cost estimates for the Mesaba project, point at the source and say, “Hey, you’re a billion dollars off!” Aaaaaah, but what’s a billion here, a billion there…

Here’s a partial list of the articles from a google search:

Energy project kept on track
Mesabi Daily News, MN – 20 hours ago
By BILL HANNA. So just what does the congressional language fix to last yearâ??s energy bill mean to the Excelsior Energy Inc. coal …

Congress passes tax benefit for coal gassification plant

West Central Tribune, MN – Dec 9, 2006
By CHRIS WILLIAMS AP Writer. AP – Saturday, December 09, 2006. An company with plans to build a clean-burning coal power plant on …

Senate passes tax relief for Iron Range gassification plant
Pioneer Press, MN – Dec 9, 2006
AP. UNDATED – An company with plans to build a high-tech power plant on the Iron Range could benefit from one of the final acts of …

Congress passes tax benefit for coal gassification plant

Winona Daily News, MN – Dec 10, 2006
By AP. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) â?? An company with plans to build a clean-burning coal power plant on the Iron Range could get tens of millions …

Congress passes tax benefit for coal gassification plant
LaCrosse Tribune, WI – Dec 10, 2006
By AP. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) â?? An company with plans to build a clean-burning coal power plant on the Iron Range could get tens of millions …

Senate Passes Tax Relief For Iron Range Plant
WCCO, MN – Dec 9, 2006
(AP) An company with plans to build a clean-burning coal power plant on the Iron Range could get tens of millions of dollars in tax credits from one of the …

Senate passes tax relief for Iron Range gassification plant

West Central Tribune, MN – Dec 9, 2006
AP – Saturday, December 09, 2006. An company with plans to build a high-tech power plant on the Iron Range could benefit from one …

Senate passes tax relief for Iron Range gassification plant
In-Forum (subscription), ND – Dec 9, 2006
AP – Saturday, December 09, 2006. An company with plans to build a high-tech power plant on the Iron Range could benefit from one …

Brainerd Dispatch too, the AP article, but the search didn’t pick it up.

Others? There must be but who knows…

One Response to “Excelsior does one hell of a job”

  1. Julie Risser Says:

    Bill Hanna’s slacker journalism will no doubt become more prevalent as newspapers continue to make huge cuts to staffing. It is certainly timely that today at the St. Paul Pioneer Press black balloons were released – one balloon for each of the employees recently cut from the payrolls. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/12/11/pipresscuts/

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