Legalectric

Mike Bull’s on the road again … the 14th in Grand Rapids, the 15th in Edina (info below). He’s put together an odd show for Grand Rapids, hosted by IDEC. Peter McDermott, IDEC President, is an Excelsior cheerleader who doesn’t seem to be following the PPA proceeding and doesn’t have an understanding of what’s in the record. The IDEC Energy Forum in 2004 featured Tom Micheletti as Keynote Speaker!!! Usually it’s the leigslators from the area, but here, he’s got a crew where each has a tie to Excelsior’s Mesaba Project, and odder, the Chair of the Public Utilities Commission that is to make a decision on the Excelsior PPA in a couple of months! Bill Grant states we must “accelerate development of IGCC with carbon capture and storage; pair IGCC with wind to overcome barriers to transmission”demonstrating he also isn’t following the cost info of Mesaba or the DOE’s position that sequestration ain’t happening (CLICK HERE for Bill Grant presentation, p. 17). Then there’s Mike Jones, part of PCOR/EERC, which is the recipient of the $21 million Excelsior got from the DOE to “research” sequestration and it looks like pretty expensive reinvention of the wheel that the folks at Lawrence Livermore are working on, and PCOR is doing a CAP & TRADE video — with DOE funds — that’s not capture and sequestration of CO2! Very strange…

Invitation to Community Forum

ELECTRICITY 2020

Hosted by Itasca Economic Development Corporation

Wednesday, February 14th
9:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Sawmill Inn – Grand Rapids

lectricity is a basic need of local, regional and national interest. IEDC is hosting this electricity 2020 forum to provide the opportunity for everyone to become better educated and have open dialogue on the topic.

Forum speakers will be:

Mike Bull, Assistant Commissioner, Renewable Energy and Advanced Technologies, Minnesota Department of Commerce. He will share the Department of Commerce’s perspective on wind as a generation resource and the Governor’s Next Generation Energy Initiative. (25% by 2025). (stolen from Ray’s blog) Prior to his current position, Mike was Senior Policy Advisor for environment and natural resource issues for Governor Tim Pawlenty. He has also worked on energy, telecommunications and environmental protection issues in key policy positions for the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch, the Minnesota Department of Commerce and both bodies of the Minnesota State Legislature. He holds graduate degrees in Law and Public Policy, both from the University of Minnesota.

Bill Grant, Associate Executive Director, The Izaak Walton League- Midwest Office. Bill Grant will cover conservation and climate-friendly power supply.

Mike Jones – Senior Research Advisor, Energy & Environmental Research Center, University of North Dakota. Mike Jones is scheduled to speak about the availability of coal as a future resource and the current and emerging technologies regarding emission controls and coal utilization.

LeRoy Koppendrayer, Chairman of Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The program will conclude with a key-note address by LeRoy Koppendrayer on the future of power supply for Minnesotans. Koppendrayer has this CV posted on the PUC site: Republican, Vermillion State Junior College; Course work at Anoka Vocational Technical Institute; Dunwoody Institute, Minneapolis; 1990 elected to Minnesota State Legislature and served through 1998, served as Assistant House Minority Leader and House Republican Whip; 1986-91 self-employed international agriculture consultant, lived in Indonesia for three years, also worked in South America, Africa, Jamaica, Phillippines and former U.S.S.R. Countries; 1974-86 dairy farmer; 1969 – 1974 manager, Fingerhut Corp. in Princeton, Alexandria, Sauk Center and Mora, MN; 1960-69 heavy equipment operator, truck driver, Reserve Mining Company; currently serves on the following committees for the National Association Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC); Liaison, NARUC International Relations Committee; NARUC Regulatory Advisory Committee to the Institute of Public Utilities; NARUC Committee on Electricity and Subcommittee on Strategic Issues. Chair, Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition; serves on the Board of the Organization of Midwest States which oversees the Midwest electricity grid; appointed Commissioner January 6, 1998; appointed Chairman January 6, 2003; Reappointed January 26, 2004, term expires January 4, 2010.

There will be an opportunity for questions and answers following the presentations.

The forum is open to the public and will include lunch at a cost of $10 per person.

Reservations are required.
Please call IEDC at 326-9411 to RSVP your attendance.

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And the next day, February 15th in Edina:

Legislating Energy Issues

Mike Bull

Assistant Commissioner, Renewable Energy and Advanced Technologies, Minnesota Department of Commerce

and

Rep. Maria Ruud (Dist. 42A)

Vice Chair, House Energy Finance and Policy Committee

Thurs, Feb 15 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Edina Comm Ctr Door 2, Room 350
Edina Community Center, 5701 Normandale Rd, Edina

google map here

Energy issues course through the legislature renewable electricity standards, lobal warming, emissions trading… What re these issues and what is their status
locally and statewide? Get the answers and earn how to take action on energy legislation. Community Ed Adult Enrichment pdf
Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Edina.

No charge, but please preregister: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER