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I would say that the barn door is open, and the horses are long gone, but with this 2005 Xmsn bill, it’s a lot worse than that. The ripple effects of that bill’s amendments to utility regulatory statutes is immense.
Today is the first prehearing conference on the siting side of Excelsior/Mesaba.

Here’s another impact of that awful bill. In Excelsior/Mesaba, where there has been no determination of need, where we used to be able to argue that in the siting stage they should look at need, well, no more. This statute, as it was before the change, was what made the Chisago fight winnable, and it should have been applied in Arrowhead, but they wouldn’t take it on (the language was not prohibitory, not mandatory, but agency could take on need if it wanted to). We could have used this to oppose Mesaba, the option was there when the Prairie Island/Mesaba bill was passed. Now it’s gone. There’s no looking at need, no option at all.

THANKS!

THIS IS THE CONTINUING LEGACY OF THE 2005 TRANSMISSION OMNIBUS BILL FROM HELL.

Here’s that one little part with a large impact:

Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 116C.53,
subdivision 2, is amended to read:
Subd. 2. [JURISDICTION.] The board commission is hereby
given the authority to provide for site and route selection for
large electric power facilities. The board commission shall
issue permits for large electric power facilities in a timely
fashion. When the Public Utilities Commission has determined
the
and in a manner consistent with the overall determination of
need for the project under section 216B.243 or 216B.2425,.
Questions of need, including size, type, and timing; alternative
system configurations; and voltage are not within the board’s
siting and routing authority and
must not be included in the
scope of environmental review conducted under sections 116C.51
to 116C.69.

Here’s the link, again: 2005 Regular Session Chapter 97, SF1368

And of course we all know who’s not at the table in Mesaba, in Capx2020, that speaks volumes…

Thanks…

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