Legalectric

It’s that time of year again…

Lots to review, the budget is no small thing! This is the City’s Budget page, which will be updated before and after meetings:

2023 Budget Planning

From the August 29, 2022 meeting, primary docs:

Purpose of the August 29, 2022, City Council Budget Workshop
The purpose of the budget workshop is to further discuss the 2023 levy and review Special Revenue funds.

• 3 – Power Point Attachment
• 3 – Attachment
• 3A – Attachment
• 3B – Attachment
• 3C – Attachment

Other primary documents for consideration:

1. Budget Overview (PDF)
2. 2019 10-Year Strategic Plan with Council top priorities highlighted (PDF)

Seeing so many drought posts, photos of the Mississippi River at such low levels, looking at the Elephant Butte reservoir and the Rio Grande, drought affecting bird migration through California, essentially drought throughout much of U.S., particularly east of the Mississippi:

… and as I was deleting files, cleaning up computer as I clean up hard copy boxes and boxes of old files (i.e., the Mesaba Project, glad to be putting that one away), I found a report on water needs of power plants, it’s old, but I’d guess relevant, eh?

Here’s the 2011 update:

2011 Update: Estimating Freshwater Needs to Meet Future Thermoelectric Generation Requirements

Interesting that a search doesn’t turn up anything newer!!! Another from 2011:

A Review of Operational Water Consumption and Withdrawal Factors for Electricity Generating Technologies

There is this, so July 2022, must need other search terms???

NETL Co-Develops New Model for Sustainable Freshwater Use by Power Plants

When boats are having a hard time getting around on the Mississippi River, what does this mean for all the power plants dependent on the Mississippi for their water supply? Even our lovely garbage burner here on the river, not to mention Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant!

Resigning as Vice Chair of U of M Board of Regents is a start, but RESIGN FROM BOARD OF REGENTS.

NOW!

EXCELSIOR ENERGY’S MESABA PROJECT

PARTIAL DOCUMENT REPOSITORY

Well, a bit more than 20 years ago… January 15, 2002, just after the start of the legislative session, I was at an energy committee meeting, Senate? House? I think Senate was first, then heard again at House, and the following year they got their legislation through as a part of the 2003 Prairie Island bill.

• The Excelsior Energy link I’m using is compliments of waybackmachine. Note that now, if you plug in “excelsiorenergy.com” it becomes “excelsiorcapital.com (Excelsior Energy Capital).” essentially at a marina at 21960 Minnetonka Blvd.! Related?

Anyway, there was a presentation back in 2002 about the greatest thing since sliced bread (NOT!), a coal gasification project proposed for “somewhere” on the Range. Here’s what they presented:

Note the parts about “brownfield” and “existing infrastructure.” LIES, it’s that simple. Here’s what their site looked like, this was at the DOE and locals site visit in 2005:

Starting in 2005, I was representing “mncoalgasplant,” landowners and residents near the proposed project, joined in tandem by Citizens Against the Mesaba Project (CAMP) (site circa 2013 with live links, thanks waybackmachine!). We had such active folks, every hearing was PACKED, and eventually the project faded, never formally declared dead, but piece by piece, it went away.

HOWEVER, Excelsior Energy did manage to get an save passed by the legislature for a natural gas plant:

Week before last, I picked up files from a cohort who shall remain unnamed, and am scanning in boxes of files, to post here, and recycle hard copies for biomass (UGH, but that’s what Red Wing does. Thanks, Xcel Energy!). I’ll be posting them, some interesting stuff if you’re into energy and political and capital intrigue, some purely inside baseball that no one will care about.

MONEY TRACKING – Spreadsheets and invoices to IRRB for reimbursement

Various Contractor Invoices (some redacted)

What a pain in the patoot that was — TWO ENTIRE WASTEBASKET OF SCANNING!