(Yes, that’s Summer grrrrrrrrrrl.)

Remember how hot it was back a couple of weeks ago?  Xcel’s Tim Carlsgaard was again bragging about Xcel’s peak:

9,083 MW

There’s plenty of time this summer to ramp it up higher, but so far, 9,083.

Here’s Xcel’s peak demand for the last decade, taken from their 10-Ks filed with the SEC:

Carlsgaard’s number came from an informal calculation or two, interruptible service was part of it, and I think it was deducted, but you never can be sure with a PR shill!!!  Anyway, 9,083MW is nothing to write home about.  If you remember, Capx 2020 was based on a 2.4% increase ANNUALLY.  If we’d done that, starting from 2005, we’d be at:

10,620 MW

So we’re down about 1,600MW from their projections, and from what CapX was based on…

Their projections of a 2.4% increase annually add up quickly:

2005  –   9,212

2006 –   9,433

2007 –   9,659

2008 –   9,891

2009 – 10,128

2010 – 10,371

2011 – 10,620

In 2006 they jumped ahead of projections by a couple of years, but since then have dropped further and further behind, now with a peak trailing behind the peak of 2005…

So one way of looking at it is that they’ve pushed the “need” for additional power out for years.

Another way of looking at it is that they’re about three 500MW coal plants shy of what they projected.

Another way of looking at it is that they 1,600MW short is about Prairie Island’s and Monticello’s three nuclear reactors short.

Another way if looking at it is that it’s 1,00MW of cheap generation for wholesale and there’s plenty of room on 2,050-2,211 MVA (4,100-4,422 MVA double circuited) CapX 2020 transmission to ship that over to points east…  (see MCEA, ME3, Waltons Schedin IR3)

So Tim, do tell, where am I off here???   p.s.  Always check my math, I’m an attorney, not a vet, because my brain has grey sponge in the math department.

You may remember prior posts about that but I’ll start from the beginning and try to make it quick.  There’s a pattern at the Office of Administrative Hearings that is disturbing…

Way back on the MinnCan pipeline, members of U-CAN had tried to intervene and were refused.  They got late notice and were not represented, stumbling through the administrative process pro se.  MPIRG showed an interest and started working on it, among other things, submitting a Petition for Intervention:

MPIRG Petition for Intervention – MinnCan Pipeline

Despite the late notice and their attempts to “work within the system,” the Petition of MPRIG individual U-CAN members was denied:

OAH – Denial of Intervention

And when they appealed, they were tossed out, as if they had not even tried to intervene:

MinnCan Appellate Decision

So when CapX 2020 hit, and they filed a Certificate of Need and landowners learned it wasn’t just the pipeline, but now transmission TOO (how much can a landowner stand?) they got right to it, and intervened as United Citizens Action Network (U-CAN), participating pro se as they had no resources to hire an attorney and were in condemnation and appellate court at the time.  They Petition, and were admitted as full parties.  So what happens?

Judge Heydinger, the same ALJ in the CapX Certificate of Need case as in the MinnCan pipeline case, files sua sponte (on her own initiative, not a Motion brought by parties) a demand that they explain why they, and the Prairie Island Indian Community,  should remain intervenors:

Order to Show Cause – U-CAN

Order to Show Cause – Prairie Island Indian Community

This had been done before in the Excelsior Energy Mesaba Project siting docket, where ALJ Steve Mihalchick booted out Xcel Energy, Minnesota Power, and my client, Public Energy – Mesaba, because no testimony had been provided:

5th Prehearing Order

This docket went forward, there were two days of hearings, first in Taconite, where ALJ Mihalchick rammed through 4 witnesses and where we weren’t provided adequate opportunity for questioning, and, I swear, when I tried to get a table, he said, “Whatever would you need a table for?”  Really… after much hassle, Bill Storm of Commerce found one (thank you!!).  Since that day, I bring my own.  Anyway, the second day, it was -30 in Hoyt Lakes and the hearing was in the unheated gym next to the hockey rink.

That day, Judge Mihalchick rammed through … what… 16 witnesses?…  in one day, and left saying, “I’m not coming back here.”

Travesty doesn’t begin to characterize that hearing.  And worse, Excelsior Energy got a permit for a vaporware project:

Excelsior Energy Mesaba Project siting hearing

Fast forward to 2011, where ALJ Heydinger has now again issued a similar Order to Show Cause regarding two intervenors, Energy Cents and Verso Paper:

Order to Show Cause

Here’s Verso Paper’s response:

Response to Order to Show Cause – Verso Paper

Just filed:   Order Confirming Party Status – Verso Paper

Where’s the Energy Cents Coalition?

Anyway, I’ve submitted a Rulemaking Petition to OAH about Minn. R. Ch. 1400 & 1405 to try to address some of this.  We shall see…

Not much time to pull this together, but a couple of things to note before I head off to Cannon Falls for the hearing today…  From my stats, it’s clear people want more information — there’s flooding,and it’s a lot:

Interview with Bernard Shanks – from KMOX –  Total Information AM

“Fort Peck dam failed when it was under construction, it failed… 8 men are buried in it…”

… and in response to Shank’s claims, here’s the response from the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Ft. Peck dam operators:

Fort Peck officials work to stay ahead

Increased water release from Ft. Peck dam continues

If you’ve not been to Fort Peck dam, put it on your list and get there.  The campground there is one of the things that will stand out in my memory forever, what a dogforsaken place it was in the 60s…  The ranger came around to say hello, he’d been out shooting rattlesnakes, had a bag full, and cautioned us!

So back to the impacts of the flooding.  There’s water, water everywhere…  surrounding the Fort Calhoun nuclear generating plant, and it’s getting higher, the plant is now completely surrounded by water and sandbags are for now keeping it at bay. June 6, the day of the fire, a no-fly zone was declared that remains today:

Airspace over flooded nuclear plant still closed

OPPD addresses Ft. Calhoun rumors

And here’s the OPPD site:

OPPD Flood Rumor Control

Who needs rumors when we’ve got the truth!

Above, Chuck Burdick with attorney Todd Guerrero arguing at PUC last November.

Today Exceptions to the Report of the Administrative Law Judge were due in the AWA Goodhue docket.

First, the ALJ’s Recommendation:

Recommendation to PUC on AWA Goodhue Wind docket

And now for the Exceptions:

Goodhue Wind Truth – Exceptions

Goodhue County – Exceptions

Belle Creek Township – Exceptions

Coalition for Sensible Siting – Exceptions

Dept of Natural Resources – Exceptions

AWA Goodhue – Exceptions

This is worth a watch…

Senate video of hearing

I’ve been receiving a lot of emails about the upcoming hearings, now this has happened and emails are coming in about it.

She has a good handle on it, the job, the role, and she’s been on energy issues f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  I’ve just put it on, and she is sounding nervous, with reason, given the tone of some of what I’ve been hearing.

Now she’s got a story about Koppendrayer and Pugh, where LeRoy told Tom that this was not the legislature and he didn’t have to vote with the chair, Tom proceeded, and LeRoy then said,  “You don’t HAVE to vote AGAINST the Chair EVERY TIME!”

Right now, she’s addressing questions from Sen. John Howe, from here in Red Wing, but he’s asking about things that are before the Commission right now, which she cannot address, it’s like asking a judge in confirmation hearing about issues before the court, she can’t go there… and from the sound of it, she’s not real familiar with the Goodhue Wind case, where the statute does allow County regulation.

Explaining differences… “You can’t just shoot off your mouth like I could as a Senator.”

Sen. Howe is now addressing “personal bias” and I wonder if he knows about her role in limiting nuclear generation and nuclear waste in Minnesota?!?!  And balanced with that is her role in putting nuclear waste “in Goodhue County.”

And now a question about repealing the coal moratorium.  HELLO, where do these folks think that there’s a need for a coal plant?  She’s talking about generation and transmission planning, decreased demand (too weak on that, she should have the specifics).   They’re wanting answers to questions like “What would be the circumstances for the public interest to add a new coal plant?”  Unreal… no understanding that there’s no need.   Sen. Metzen is saying “we used to think we were 5,800-6,000MW short and now, I don’t think the need is there.”  Well DUH.  I’ve been providing info to the Senate and House Energy Committees for so long about need and lack thereof, how is it that so many haven’t gotten it through their heads that there is NO NEED!

Sen. Scott Dibble is now referrring to a facility proposed, can’t tell if it’s Big Stone or Mesaba, probably Mesaba, “a facility that there were questions about.”

Sen. Doug Magnus: “What are your thoughts on transmission… how are we going to move this energy around where we need it?”  There’s a number of transmission cases coming up before us… PUC has decided the first of the CapX lines, that line is intended to help support renewables.  Related to that… one thing that’s been interesting, because there’s been transmission gaps, and logjams in recent years, more of the wind projects have been located closer in to the metro area… as we site more of those transmission lines… that will help bring wind farm siting more back to the high speed wind areas that are more rural… not quite as much contention.   I did carry bill in 2005 to allow CapX utilities to get cost recovery to build out transmission…

(gotta get back to work!)