Legalectric

David Morris died!?!?!?!

June 21st, 2025

David Morris: 50 Years of Pioneering Work and Impact

Here’s a few youtubes to give you an idea of what David Morris was all about:

This is Part 1 of 11 parts, but the sound is hard to listen to:

I’ll never forget his day after day after day after day of testimony before the Senate Energy Committee circa ?? 1998 ?? on the problems with “highest and best use” of turkey shit and burning chicken shit as “biomass,” on and on and on as Chair Novak stalled to avoid dealing with the Prairie Island nuclear waste. Not that they paid attention to the turkey shit emissions, they only wanted to stall, and Morris did a tremendous job on the gross details. Utterly hilarious in a policy-nerd sort of way.

He was so supportive of the work I was doing, helped me keep focused, and keep on keeping’ on in those intense and never-ending transmission and nuclear dockets.

Here’s one example, my favorite and a fun one at that: When too many were claiming about transmission, “IT’S FOR WIND, IT’S FOR WIND,” a “writing by committee filing” from an informal group that he put together, a delightful transmission plan meant to stump the Public Utilities Commission. The purpose was to show that we don’t need no stinkin’ BIG transmission — that wind can be put on-line using a low voltage system — with support from a wide range of characters:

Buffalo Ridge Transmission Plan

Without David Morris’ guidance, no way would this have gained the traction it did, including Work Group input, a rulemaking, and additional meetings and extension of public comment about certification of transmission projects through the Biennial Transmission Plan (though the Commission’s point, I’m sure, was to assure that nothing like this was ever submitted again).

And as to the Buffalo Ridge Transmission Plan, stump them it did — took them a while to figure out a way to toss it in the circular file. And oh, they went through contortions — what they had to say was, from snippets from the Order (in full below):