It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

The Power Plant Siting Act annual hearing, a la Minn. Stat. 216I.15, is the time to let the Public Utilities Commission know what works and what does not work in the Commission’s siting of power plants, transmission, wind, solar, and even pipelines!

Here’s the problem — all they have to do per the statute is “advise the public of the permits issued by the commission in the past year.” What happens after that, well, it goes to the PUC but that’s about it. It is a good time to vent, and get on the record all the horrible things that have happened over the year, and the historical trends, such as elimination of the Advisory Task Force.

Here’s the decades old law providing for Advisory Task Forces:

And this session, after the Public Utilities Commission and their OAH ALJs were denying, denying, denying after so many Advisory Task Force Petitions over so many years — simply repealed, eliminated:

It’s GONE! And eliminating the reference of Task Forces as an aspect of public participation:

Ja, we “Public Participants” get the PUC’s message loud and clear:

Public participation via the Public Utilities Commission? Remember the Report of the Office of the Legislative Auditor?

Public Utilities Commission’s Public Participation Processes – OLA-Report

Fat lot of good that did. Instead of improving public participation, we hear the Commission Chair saying, “What can we do to make this faster for you?” and “What can we do to speed this permitting up?” and that whole “streamlining” effort, which is really STEAMROLLING. Fast tracking permitting, denial of interventions, failure to have project proponents witnesses at hearings for questioning…

PUC Strategic Plan

Here are the reports from the last 20 years — often they hold it on my birthday, but not this year. You can see that year after year, it’s the same issues:

2000 Summary of Proceedings

2000 Report EQB

2001 Summary of Proceedings

2001 Report EQB

2002 Summary of Proceedings

2002 Report to EQB

2003 Summary of Proceedings

2003 Report to EQB

2004 Summary of Proceedings

2004 Report to EQB

2005 Report to PUC

2006 Report to PUC – Docket 06-1733

2007 Report to PUC – Docket 07-1579

2008 Report to PUC – Docket 08-1426

2009 Report to PUC – Docket 09-1351

2010 Report to PUC – Docket 10-222

2011 Report to PUC – Docket 11-324

2012 Report to PUC – Docket 12-360

2013 Report to PUC – Docket 13-965

2014 Summary Report– Docket 14-887

2015 Summary Report – Docket 15-785

2016 Summary Report – Docket 16-18

2017 Summary Report – Docket 17-18

2018 Summary Report – Docket 18-18

2019 Summary Report_Docket 19-18

Summary Report – Docket 20-18

2021 Summary Report – Docket 21-18

2022-Summary-Report_Docket 22-18

And last year’s Report from the 2023 hearing, held on December 20, 2023:

UPDATE: 2024 PPSA Report:

There’s a trend… And here we go, on Tuesday, another year of banging heads against the wall.

We said goodbye to our Sadie yesterday, and I’m loading all my photos of her for Alan, and, well, 3 hours remaining to fill up the thumb drive. So I’m going through them… sigh… 14 years is a long time together.

That’s our Little Sadie above, her first winter with us, December 2010, near her birthday. You can see the greyhound in her, but the shih tzu not so much:

I met her at Dog Days of Stockholm, August 14, 2010, when I’d volunteered at the shelter to take a dog down and show her off. I was initially offered a little poof-dog, and no way. I traded that one for Sadie. She did her magic with me, riding down to Stockholm with her chin on my shoulder the whole way — such a sweetie. Much later, I learned that she was after the crumbs on my shirt… oh well. I did show her off, talked her up, but no luck. I’d learned a little of her story, she’d been found as a stray in March, 2010, and had been in the shelter since. Only nine months old and 6 months of that in the shelter during her most crucial developmental time. She needed a home STAT, and I couldn’t resist, even though she was not a German Shepherd.

Sadie came home with me for the weekend to test her out with Kady, and it went OK, though she was overwhelmed I think (horrible photo, old camera). And she was so small, particularly compared to our sheps, but she as still a baby, and became knows as our “medium pup.”

We agreed she was a good fit and Alan signed on the bottom line, wrote a check, and she was ours. Little did we know what life with a nine month old puppy was like.

THIS was the essence of Sadie — here she is “playing tennis” with Kady:

Kady was not too impressed, note the eye roll:

Sadie was always on the move until around 3 years old. She chewed everything in sight, including 2 pairs of Alan’s Rayban glasses, a phone, hair brushes, shoes, a library book, and the little bitch counter-surfed a holiday dessert to the floor, a GINGER CHEEZECAKE! Ate almost all of it, and did not get sick. That theft was serious…

And she chewed on and unrolled hundreds of rolls of toilet paper, no matter how they were loaded:

All the sheps were older when we adoped them. Kady was probably 7, and she and Sadie basically got along, but Sadie was for sure a bit too much for her. I don’t think there were any bloody spats, but for sure a few snarls and snarks. Then we adopted Summer, our “hospice” dog, who at 12 was rescued from a Gary, IN shelter. We drove to Wisconsin and loaded her up, this time, it was Sadie who was not too impressed and she may have wanted us to take Summer back. That tongue says it all:

And yet Sadie was very afraid of Steiner, they were never close:

After Summer and Kady died in 2014, we got the pop up camper, and Sadie LOVED camping. Though she could have jumped right through the rear screen, she was content inside, learned to be less reactive, and understood that all those dogs being walked on the site loop belonged there:

The easiest way to get her joyfully bouncing around was to ask her “Do you want to go CAMPING?!?!”

That first year, we went out west to the Black Hills and Hell Creek State Park on the Ft. Peck reservoir, and back through Ft. Stevens State Park in North Dakota and Scenic State Park in northern Minnesota.

In 2017, we went on a long trip along the UP and whew, did it rain:, but as long as she was headed somewhere in the van, she was happy:

Sadie enjoyed camp-hosting in the hybrid “office” at Myre-Big Island, despite the heavy rain:

We spent a lot of time at Myre-Big Island through the years when I was representing Association of Freeborn County Landowners, which I think she found rather boring:

We also picnicked often at Frontenac, staring at Wisconsin’s West Bank:

Spring 2022 we went out west, to Devil’s Tower and Craters of the Moon and places in between:

This spring, before camp hosting, I went to New Mexico, and she was as utterly freaked out by the 60 mph winds as I was. Here in the calm before the storm:

We bailed and caught our breath in hotel in Wichita!

Sadie, Alan, and I camp-hosted through the entire month May this year, yes all month, and she enjoyed being outdoors so much, and of course, she was also so happy to be snoozing in the tent. Here she is supervising clean-up after an intense storm that took out our screen tent, one of many storms that month:

Though we were camp-hosting at Frontenac, she spent some of that time back and forth to Red Wing with Alan.

Did I mention that Sadie loved our new kitties? Oh, right, that’s probably because she didn’t, really. Election day 2016, neighbors across the street posted cats to give away, and I grabbed the cat carrier and grabbed two cats, Maggie and Thor. They each fit in my hand, that small. They were in a cage or a week to adjust, and then freedom. Turned out that the torty female loved Sadie, and was her emotional support animal when it was storming. Thor and Sadie had little to do with each other until the last month or so, when I think Thor sensed Sadie was fading, and he spent a lot of time snuggled with her.

Similarly, when Kady was fading with doggy dementia, though she and Sadie were not close, Sadie comforted Kady, as if she knew.

When Alan was hospitalized with leukemia, she missed him as much as he missed her, so I organized a picnic outside the door, and they both were so happy to see each other. This is my all time favorite photo of her — just look at her smile:

Some time after that, she started going downhill. Her driver-rear knee went out, it was twisting as she walked, and she had trouble on the stairs. She also started peeing randomly, without any notice, no bark, nothing. At that point, she had started on pee pills, and her dosage was increased, but we were often up sometime between 2-4 a.m. to take her out. She still enjoyed going for rides, picnics, and we didn’t camp much due to leukemia, just once in July 2023. She mostly laid around then, which was perfect because Alan was still in the middle of treatment.

Then in June, we went around the south side of Lake Superior to Ontario. She was pretty much stuffed into a packed car, and went along for the ride. She spent most of the time in the tent, snoozing.

The last few months, maybe 6 months, both knees were giving out, her Meloxicam dose was increased, but that’s just blocking pain, there was nothing we could really do. She was coughing now and then and panting all the time, congestive heart failure. She’d also slowed down eating, so we were bribing her with special treats, real lamb hearts, and I even baked her a turkey last week. Then, this last week, she pretty much stopped eating and was emitting with no notice, out of control and really gross, and just laying around, no spark at all. Alan noted later that he thought she’d looked at him eye to eye and told him “I’m done.”

We both spent all day yesterday sitting with her as we waited for word from the vet, and then time to go in — what a long, painful wait that was. Now we’re left with memories of her, and so many photos to remind us of those 14 years we were all together. 3.3gb — so many photos that I had to let it run all night! And after that another 4 hours copying photos of her from all the travel files. AAACK! Fond memories for those two days of consolidating. Here they are, waiting, with Thor comforting our grrrrrrl:

We’re missing our doggy. Fourteen years and one week she was with us, and every time we do anything at all, we’re looking for her. All these photos are comforting, remembering what a good long time we did have with her, that she went everywhere with us, almost, except airplanes and trains. She was a high mileage grrrrrrrl, with us for 14 years and one week. Sadie was the best grrrrrrrrrrrl.

Acute Promyleocytic Leukemia sucks, but as sucky things go, this hasn’t been so bad.

Today we had another confab with the Leukemia “fellow,” Dr. Premji, this one in person down in Rochester. She’s very cool, and we’re impressed. Alan’s been getting the best of care imaginable. He’s in the final “cycle” which will be winding up near month’s end. WHAT A RELIEF!!!

We got a look at what’s next, after finishing this EIGHT MONTH LONG round of daily treatment. It’s on a rotating basis back and forth between one cycle with 2 weeks of IV arsenic (arsenic on weekdays) and oral ATRA everyday and then 2 weeks of arsenic only (on weekdays); and the other cycle of 2 weeks of oral ATRA only and then 2 weeks off both. Eight alternating cycles, beginning in July after his June 23rd discharge, and at long last, the last infusion is February 27. TWENTY FIVE DAYS TO GO!

After treatment ends, Dr. Premji said it would be a few months until Alan’s immune system builds up after this extreme treatment, so probably June, but with COVID running rampant again, it’s a good time to be masking and isolating.

Platelets always go down a bit during an arsenic cycle, so no worries, they’ll bounce back! And what an improvement after that initial level of NINE (9) on admission. That rather freaked the doctors out! He’s been in remission since some time in that first blue spike “induction” phase ended, technically in remission on discharge June 23. Outpatient, it’s the “consolidation” phase (no idea why it’s called that), and it’s soon completed.

We’re still waiting on this month’s PML/RARa, should be back in a few days, but here’s verification of the good news, the nasty cells are down to ZERO and have been since early on:

After our March visit, he’ll be scheduled for a visit every 3 months. She said he’s been doing exceptionally well, far better than most, with almost no side effects, mindful that this is not chemo. It’s “treatment,” and always the APL treatment side effects of this are less, not at all debilitating or even uncomfortable, just some weird stuff, occasional headaches, skin falling off!!! We’ve only had one real bump in the road, pneumonia in October, with quick recovery. WHEW!

And after getting back from Rochester, another arsenic infusion today in Red Wing… Can’t wait until we’re done with these Rochester treks, and constant appointments here too, though now at least we know where we’re going in the Rochester tunnels, elevators, and we have quite a few “get out of jail free” cards for the parking lot. Red Wing always takes a long time to get the infusions going, but at least he can get them done here, that helps a lot.

Alan said he’d like another picnic at the Gonda building entrance…

He had to see his doggy, and Mayo wouldn’t let Sadie in, so when weather was good, we had an Indian feast at the door — veggie korma and palak paneer, pakora with lots of coriander chutney, and garlic naan of course. Frankly, that month-plus in the hospital was a rough time I’d rather not relive!

Yup, I’m counting the days until this is OVER! Last arsenic dose, arsenic and ATRA treatment ENDS on February 27th. Another bone marrow biopsy a week later, and meet for our “exit interview” after that.

TWENTY FIVE DAYS TO GO!!!

Who cares about the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s eDockets system? We all should care! It’s the best way to keep up with what’s going on in the docket, what others are filing, what issues are being raised, what’s the status, and to track all NOTICES, which will tell you of hearings, comment windows, orders, and pay particular attention to those from PUC, CAH (Court of Administrative Hearings), PUC’s environmental side, and DER (Commerce – the economic side). Also look for comments from individuals and note their concerns.

How to get to eDockets?

GO HERE!!! https://mn.gov/puc/edockets/

Then click on this:

You’ll get to this screen — type in the docket, and use a hyphen as in the example:

Next, for example: At “Docket number” box, just enter the number, i.e., 22-131, and hit search (when there are multiple dockets, a Certificate of Need AND a Transmission Line Routing docket, be sure to check both dockets, one at a time). This works for any docket, like the 800MW RFP docket, E002/CN-23-212, plug in year “23-212” and there you go! Spend some time playing with it to get acquainted, it’ll become second nature soon.

When you get to the docket, as below, click on the far left blue link (it’s a document ID number) in a row to get that filing described in that row. Practice. Do it a few times, and it’ll be quick and easy! If inactive for a while, it will boot you out and you get to start over.

Also, “subscribing” is important to keep up to date on what’s being filed. When there are multiple dockets, be sure to subscribe to them all!

To subscribe, when you get to the docket, look at top of screen, drop down from “eService” and click on Subscriptions:

Follow the directions, and you’re subscribed. You’ll receive notice of filings in the docket, so you’ll always know what’s going on.

When you get emails about the docket, it will have the docket number, and as they come in, pay particular attention to Notices, as there will be dates that are important, meeting/hearing dates, deadlines for comment, etc.

Now, get to it. LOTS of reading, and as you go, you’ll get familiar with it and the process. IT WILL GET EASIER!!

Now for the fun part — FILING IN eDOCKETS! Why file in eDockets? When you file in eDockets, you know what you’ve submitted has been received and is part of the record, and so others can know what your concerns are — it’s SO important to know you’re not alone in this! They’re noted separately in eDockets so it’s easier to find, not buried in a PUC filing of a handful, or hundreds, of comments.

To file, first you have to register. In that first eDockets screen go to upper right corner:

Scroll down to the “Register” link and follow the directions.

Do a test drive after you’ve registered. At “Sign In,” this time sign in, and follow the directions.

As you go through this, note there’s a “HELP” tab at the top, and YES, they are HELPFUL!

WHEN THERE ARE MULTIPLE DOCKETS, BE SURE TO FILE IN BOTH!

Once you take the time to sign up, and get familiar with it, you’ll see how easy it is to keep up with what’s going on, and how easy it is to eFile — and to file last minute!! So easy, I’d be lost but for eDockets and eFiling, you have no idea how awful it was to make paper copies of all filings, and mail them to everyone, whew, it was beyond difficult, and so expensive. Now, it’s a “work from home” easy-peasy process, the best ever change in PUC process, and pretty much everywhere across the country, in administrative proceedings like this, and in most every court system too. Participating, practice, was so much harder so incredibly time consuming before.

If you want to learn how to navigate the PUC’s eDockets system:

MN PUC – How To eDockets

I’m working on an overview of “need” for the “MN Energy CONnection” transmission project, Xcel’s latest effort of shifting costs of preserving “valuable interconnection rights” at the Sherco coal plants’ substation. They’ve come up with a plan to run a radial line, yes, RADIAL, from Lyon County up to Sherco, 160-180 miles, AT A COST OF $1.14 BILLION! It’s a brilliant idea, gotta admit… Xcel is the GOAT at planning, BUT it’s such a scam. I do hope we can change the trajectory, get the focus on Xcel, and not be dumping this on the backs of ratepayers and landowners.

Ahhhhh… Xcel’s MN Energy CONnection… In the midst of extreme weather events, I spent time over the last two weeks, seven meetings over four days, for scoping of the Environmental Impact Statement for this project. Here’s the Notice:

Yesterday in Monticello, MN, it was up to 54 degrees! At each of the seven meetings, at least two people waxed histrionically that climate change was not real. How can this be? Granted, 54 degrees and El Nino is “weather” but we all know of the weather extremes, drought, intense storms, that are obvious signs of climate change. Even insurance companies, due to weather extremes, our home insurance doubled (!), and the company said they were doing that for all Minnesota customers (Minnesota focused because we’re in Minnesota!). In Florida, insurance companies are refusing to offer coverage, California too. That article has this pie chart from insurance industry:

Granted, it’s focused on perception of when your “home” will be affected, and not LIFE, but according to the insurance industry, so many say “no effect” and I’ve heard enough denial of climate change lately to think that the pie chart is credible. Insurance companies make money on their gambles, and if you’re insuring anything, you’re betting against the house.

Sherco 3 IS closing. Xcel wants to build this transmission below, and have ratepayers and landowners pay for it. The purpose of this is to preserve Xcel’s “valuable transmission interconnection rights” at Sherco.

I don’t think so…