Legalectric

Oh, I’m in trouble now — Tom Micheletti says he won’t talk to me anymore, that’s after he threatened to drag me into the hockey rink and high stick my jaw into the next county! Pat’s still pouting because I wouldn’t risk breaking my camera at the first meeting… And there’s no dining room set or new deck chairs waiting here, but I’ll check the poopdeck again in the daylight. Looks like there’s no deal… sigh…

Hoyt Lakes was disappointing, very few folks showed up compared to Taconite. I’d guess it’s because it’s far less controversial in Hoyt Lakes, a Hoyt Lakes facility was what they’d bargained for, and instead Excelsior says Taconite. What will it take to get a legislative requirement that it be on a brownfield site with infrastructure?

Rosie Loeffler, Duluth Clean Water Action, was there and made her verbal EIS Scoping Comments for the record, though I missed what she said because I was in the midst of another altercation in the foyer, this time with Tommy Rukavina, who is delightfully honest and pigheaded, and we had a few feisty words about … well, never mind… David Tomassoni, on the other hand, needed me to settle an issue with Ron Dicklich — Ron’s struck out and I’ve got a hat trick — this time he couldn’t remember when the Mesaba bill was passed! Plus he was all screwed up on Personal Property Tax and wanted to convince me, Tommy too, that Utility Personal Property Tax was eliminated in 2001 — here, Ron, read the Primer! Do your homework! And if you have questions, ask Mikey, he wrote it! If Personal Property Tax ist zu ende, what exactly were we doing with the Waseca power plant last session? Generation for Volt Dolts is another must read before you trot out any of those “freezing in the dark in an incubator without a job” sob stories.

On the way to Hoyt Lakes, I stopped by Big Diamond Lake to get a feel for the area. I found a view where I could see across the lake to the other side, where the train track would be — 4-5 round trips of 115 car train for the 8,000 tons of coal the plant would use, EACH DAY. So imagine sitting on the deck here and watching and listening to 1.5 miles of train 10 times daily.

Imagine if this were your home. The bait and switch nature of this project is just not right — it’s time to hold them accountable.

On the way over to Hoyt Lakes, it was an amazing fall day. I couldn’t resist — had to stop and turn around — this is what Northern Minnesota is all about:

But these guys have another idea for the Range:

Tomorrow, when I can see straight, I’ll have the details on their proposal that were revealed in these meetings — it’s still sketchy, and it’s subject to change, but it’s more than we’ve ever had before.