Legalectric

That MPCA logo… looks like it’s got the whole world in its hands (things appear unbidden on my tape loop, sorry!)

MPCA is here on Legalectric today, with help from Alan Muller, because they issued a “2007-08 Solid Waste Policy: Draft for Public Comment” which is open for Comment. Yes, it’s open for Comment, but it was issued on December 21, 2007, just prior to the world shutting down for two weeks, and the Comment period is open for only three weeks.

Quick, email the MPCA’s Jim Chiles, and Commissioner Brad Moore and ask that the Comment period be extended another 30 days!

Jim Chiles: jim.chiles@state.mn.us

Commissioner Moore: brad.moore@pca.state.mn.us

Now read carefully on that home page, because this is going to be a report to the legislature — and that legislative hearing will present another opportunity to let them know what you think! Here’s “Solid Waste Policy Lite,” the presentation for “stakeholders” which of course doesn’t include you and me or those working and commenting on certain incineration issues… and just who was included? Have they held any meetings in the communities where incinerators are proposed? Has the MPCA announced this Solid Waste Policy at any of the recent meetings where Solid Waste Policy as an issue? Have “stakeholders” been spreading the word about this Solid Waste Policy? Inquiring minds want to know. They call this a “Roadmap” which harkens back to the misguided push for coal gasification by Joyce Foundation, GPISD, RE-AMP and others, and it’s clearly a way of setting policy…

Solid Waste Policy Lite

MPCA Draft Solid Waste Policy for Comment

And here’s the full MPCA Solid Waste Policy page:

MPCA’s Solid Waste Policy Page

… so here’s the MPCA, setting Solid Waste Policy as directed, not by Minnesota and federal law, but as directed by their boss, The Green-Chameleon, Tim Pawlenty:

Solid Waste Policy has been a recurring issue at the MPCA, and here we are, doing a similar policy dance that went down twenty years ago, at the time the MPCA recognized its environmental leadership role inherent in the agency’s legislative charge, and recognized the necessity of those on the front lines dealing with permitting and analysis of project proposals to weigh in:

MPCA Memo – Stand up and DO YOUR JOB!

MPCA staff critical of heavy reliance on incineration – STrib Nov 4 1988

And now, the 2007-08 Solid Waste Policy is promoting a sharp increase in incineration. The MPCA!!! Does Commissioner Moore know of and endorese this policy? Is this a reasonable position for the state agency charged with, NAMED AS, the Pollution Control Agency? Is this just a classic case, like air permitting, of inability to control it so what the hell, let’s do more, let’s waive the restrictions, up the limits so that “we’re in compliance.” Oh, great… yes, this is one green idea…

Comments anyone? There may be an extension, I’ve requested it, others probably have as well, and from Jim Chiles, who says “we plan to send out an email today on the comment-period question.” Oh, OK, and what does that mean? I’ve asked and will keep y’all posted. In the meantime, start those comments, and send by close of business on January 11, to:

* By e-mail (preferred): jim.chiles@state.mn.us
* Postal mail:

Jim Chiles
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
520 Lafayette Road N
St. Paul, MN 55155-4194

* Fax: 651-297-8676

Now get to work!

The Cannon River Watershed Partnership is the only group keeping an eye on water in Rice County, well, the Cannon River Watershed, to be precise.   And on August 24th, after the heavy rains, here’s some of what that eye, the camera of Beth Kallestad, sees:

This is the dam at Circle Lake, right by that “development” of Jerry Anderson’s, the one that was shut down by the Army Corps of Engineers for lack of a permit.   In this photo, “Wolf Creek flows out of Circle Lake, where the two dogs died recently from drinking toxic algae in the lake water.”

This one is near “County Road 8, at a volunteer water quality monitoring station on the bridge below Claude and Marie Brown’s.”

This is a dramatic photo of the “confluence of Wolf Creek (green, right) and the Cannon River (brown, left) near Grandpa’s Farm on Hwy 3.”

Link: MPCA’s Impaired Waters List.

You’ve got to check out this site.  Hilarious!!!  And I’ve got nothing at all to do with it, haven’t a clue who it is, but WHEW!  As I told the author, it’s a “thoughtful, inciteful, and concise analysis of Waseca Tank and a few of the best laughs I’ve had in a long time. ”

WWW.WASECATANK.COM

Folks, this is what blogging is all about!!!!!!!

OK, it’s time to get back to work, enough vacationing and loafing…

Photo stolen FAIR USE from the STrib.

On July 3, AT LONG LAST, the full Waseca County Board voted to join the Waseca Planning Commission, and adopted the Planning Commission’s denial of the Borglum’s four-part application for a tank course, 3 outdoor and one indoor shooting ranges and retail gun sales.

From the STrib’s article:

“I’ll be honest with you, I guess I had my head in the clouds,” Marie Borglum, Tony’s mother, said about the boisterous opposition to the project. “I knew there’d be opposition, but I didn’t know it’d be this much. And I didn’t know it’d be this aggressive.”
…
“It’s probably just us being unfamiliar with this type of process. But I guess we had our head in the gearbox and the dirt bucket too long,” she said.

They were asked at the Planning Commission hearing if they would accept approval of part of their plan, not the whole thing, and they said, EMPHATICALLY, that NO, they would not accept approval of part. So now they’ve applied for each part individually!

Here’s the full article:

Waseca County family won’t surrender on tank range

Here’s a Guest Column written by Marie Borglum and printed in the Waseca County News (yes, she’s the one who signed an Affidavit — probably written by her attorney — saying that I was a prostitute! Letter of David Gross & Affidavit of Marie Borglum):

How I caught ‘Green Fever’

Thursday, June 28, 2007

By Marie Borglum

About five years ago my youngest son developed an interest in historic military vehicles. That interest became a reality when he decided he had enough of his snowmobile and sold it on EBay, generating him a few extra dollars. My son found a gentleman who had a few vintage US military trucks for sale in Minnesota. A Deuce and Half was purchased, trailered home and became the focus of my son’s ability to “think outside the box.”

The decision was made that a search for an armored scout car, a Ferret should begin.

A few vehicles in the US were found for sale which had been imported from the United Kingdom. Too many middle men and too few choices left us wondering if we shouldn’t just take a trip to England. So a trip was booked and off to the UK my son and his best friend and partner in crime, his dad, went. A few days go by and I get a phone call that they had indeed found the-be-all-end-all armored vehicle used car lot heaven in England.

The two travelers return from their trip over the pond and I am informed that we now have to figure out how to import those six vehicles they promised to purchase. My son again does some research, and we learn that there are actually quite a few avid British armored vehicle collectors in the US who have successfully imported vehicles from the UK. I contacted one of the more progressive collectors; in fact, he has the largest private collection of various military vehicles in the United States. We are invited out to see the massive collection so we can see first hand the possibilities of our new found passion. Upon arriving at the “little tank farm,” we are introduced to the full time mechanic and manager and he opens up a couple of doors for us…literally.

Inside these doors are wall to wall, track to track, tire to tire military vehicles. There are vehicles from all over the globe, US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Poland; vehicles from World Wars I & II, Vietnam era, Korean era the Cold War and even Desert Storm. I am amazed; I have never seen so much history crammed into warehouses in my life. As the “boys” check out each and every vehicle, I find a vehicle with a nice spot to sit on. As I sat there amongst all those camouflaged and olive drab colored pieces of defense history, I began to feel … something. I felt a huge wave of emotion. Fear, excitement, dread and anticipation.

The gentleman with the collection suggested that we take another trip to a newly opened US Marine museum in Virginia. The displays were laid out in the different theaters of war; you could experience American military history through a timeline. Since I tend to be “stuck in the 70’s,” I headed for the Vietnam War exhibit.

I entered the doorway and soon found myself inside what was an actual jumbo war plane. As I walked out of the hatch, I entered an area filled with native vegetation, sandbags, uneven terrain and sounds … gunfire in the distance, bugs, drone of engines, voices speaking in both American and Vietnamese etc. It was hot and humid and jungle-like. You were in Vietnam.

A couple of gentlemen entered the room behind me. As we exited the exhibit, the two men stopped. One man said to the other “Did you feel it?” The other simply replied “Yes.” Tears started rolling down their rugged, aged and weathered faces. Not tears of sorrow, but of raw emotion not experienced since they had been in Vietnam in the 1970’s. They said the smells, the sites and the sounds were exactly as they remembered. I asked them if it was a good thing for them or if it dredged up feelings long buried and forgotten for survival.

They both replied at the same time: “It is THE best thing that ever happened to us!” There was closure. There was dignity and respect. There were no war protestors and feelings of guilt. There was just the truth of how it was and what all those men and women did to survive a war that wasn’t respected at the time.

I decided then and there that if I could bring that feeling to just one person back home, it was worth any amount of red tape and complications. After months of waiting, I get an email that two vehicles are ready to send to their new home in the U.S. Our first shipment arrived in February.

Amid protests and complaints, we parked our pride and joy armored vehicles one by one on our property. Not to ridicule, make light of, or disrespect the military; but to honor the brave men and women who stepped up the plate to defend their beliefs and the vehicles that helped them accomplish their missions.

I realize that there are veterans out there that want to forget, that take offense to us and our project. I don’t expect everyone to understand my project. I don’t expect everyone to support it. The Waseca County Planning & Zoning Board requires that I demonstrate a need for my project. Gosh that is a tough order. I cannot seem to come up with the words to validate the need for a living, hands on, touching, real life tribute to armored vehicles in Waseca County Minnesota, USA.

So, I decided to tell my story and how the idea became a reality from my heart. It is not fabricated, fiction or the loose screws in my head talking, you can make fun of it, you can print it, share it, throw darts at it, forward it or delete it as you so desire.

Last night was a LONG night with the Waseca County Planning Commission. But the good news is that the Conditional Use Permit application for a tank driving course and shooting range for guns ranging to machine guns was denied UNANIMOUSLY! I’ll post the documents here soon.

Staff Report for June 7, 2007 Meeting

GRRRRRRRR, there’s not a lot on the county site and I’m just not in the mood for uploading, let me sleep on it…