Legalectric

Greetings from Iowa! Today, before the Polk County District Court, we should learn whether Cedar Falls Utilities is one step closer to its Waterloo! They’re building a 161kV transmission lie, no, it’s not a typo, they say that this line has a “33MW” capacity. MidAmerican is a partner in this line, but they were not a co-applicant, there was no discussion of who was paying for this line, and it seems to me that the 33MW is the Cedar Falls share of the capacity, and the rest is MidAmerican, but as it sits, Cedar Falls Utilities ratepayers will foot the bill for the entire thing. No inquiry by the Iowa Utilities Board whatsoever, no notice of the “33MW” claim, a claim that, when I tell engineers, they smirk and snort.

Sen. Tom Saxhaug, “author of SF2570”

So anyway, Wednesday before the Senate Energy Committee, Sen. Tom Saxhaug immediately amended his SF2570, which grants Mesaba power plant a personal property tax exemption. Good thing too, because just the day before, the Itasca County Board, having learned of Saxhaug’s bill, and NOT from him, voted to approve the exemption conditioned upon approval of the local governments that would forgo revenue, and a Host Fee Agreement, which should compensate local governments for their costs and hassle of dealing with the plant.

Rep. Loren Solberg, “author” of companion bill HF3020

It’s the same story in the House, but if Rep. Loren Solberg’s paying attention, he’ll correct it before it gets to committee.

We know the identity of the real author of these bills. My question is: Just who is Saxhaug and Solberg representing? If like Sen. Dick Day and Rep. Connie Ruth, they’re willing to pull out millions of dollars annually of revenue from local governments, their constituent local governments, without even the courtesy of notifying them before hand, much less getting their approval… HOW DARE THEY! SHAME ON THEM. Isn’t it time to throw them out of office? Actually, it’s not a question, it’s a statement! November is coming up, and this better be a campaign issue. There’s work to be done in District 3.

Rep. Loren Solberg will be on KAXE on Monday morning at 7:15 a.m. You can listen on-line!