Legalectric

Above — Over a decade ago, there was a San Luis Valley project proposed running through La Veta Pass, over a HUGE conservation area, and though permitted, it couldn’t be built. Conservation easement, DOH!

• From Colorado’s San Luis Valley January 20th, 2011

• Transmission from La Veta, Colorado January 12th, 2011

Here’s what the local system looked like then:

The plan was withdrawn and it was dead… UNTIL NOW, and what’s changed? What’s been going on?

CLICK HERE – SEARCH for “22M-0514E” – Colorado Public Service Commission

Project proponents are now seeking a grant from the DOE (the good news is that they’d tried before, and didn’t get the grant). ARE THEY SEEKING DOE INVOLVEMENT TO GIVE THE DOE SITING AUTHORITY AFTER THEY WEREN’T ABLE TO GET IT THROUGH BEFORE?

There was a presentation at Alamosa County, but the agenda and minutes aren’t posted yet. Here’s the link:

Alamosa County Board – scroll down for agenda and minutes

Here’s the full article from Alamosa’s Courier News:

Transmission line study application has been filed

By: By John Waters, Courier News Editor

Posted Nov 24, 2023

SAN LUIS VALLEY — Alamosa County Commissioner Lori Laske has submitted a concept paper application to the U.S. Department of Energy for a grant to study the feasibility of considering up to three alternative power transmission lines in and out of the Valley. The application is for up to $2.0 million for an Upper Rio Grande Valley Transmission Study to consider transmission routes in south Colorado and northern New Mexico.

Laske briefed the San Luis Valley Commissioners Association at their meeting in Alamosa on Nov. 20, stating, “This is a grant to the federal Department of Energy to have a study done to have a large transmission line. This is not a line going to houses, it is to transport [electricity] solar out of the valley or energy coming in. This is a line to move energy in and out of the Valley.”

Laske told the commissioners that a grant application for a study of Valley transmission lines submitted last year was not chosen. After learning the fate of that application, Laske said she searched for other grant opportunities and picked this Department of Energy grant that could finance a feasibility study. Formally, the grant application is known as a Transmission Siting and Economic Development (TSED) Program Concept Paper,” and Alamosa County is the siting authority with Commissioner Laske as the technical point of contact. Laske added she hopeful, “at a later date to get all the San Luis Valley Commissioners to endorse and be a partner of this project.”

According to the concept paper, “The proposed URGV (Upper Rio Grande Valley) Transmission Study will increase grid resilience, enable the development and deployment of renewable energy and significantly increase economic opportunities in the communities affected by the construction and operation of a “covered transmission project.”

The concept paper-application states that communities in south-central Colorado and northern New Mexico, “have identified strong interest in additional transmission lines and substations to provide interconnection points for a subsequent clean energy build-out.” The region is “ideal for solar production,” and, “the region currently only has just one transmission corridor, which runs north over a wooded mountain pass with high fire risk. Without redundancy, all power to the 50,000 residents in the SLV could be lost if there were to be a wildfire.”

The San Luis Valley is home to several solar production facilities. In March, the Valley Courier reported on a 17.5-acre renewable energy storage facility being built off Lane 8N. Last month, Korsail Energy announced plans to build a 790-acre solar energy production and storage facility near Alamosa.

This is not the first attempt to build an additional line in and out of the Valley. In 2011, a permit was issued to Public Service of Colorado and Tri State Generation and Transmission to build a transmission line from Alamosa County over La Veta pass. That proposal was doomed after a large landowner objected to the plan that prevented the acquisition of the needed right of way.

If the proposed study is funded, it will analyze three transmission corridors, 1. East from Alamosa to Pueblo; 2. South from Alamosa to Northern New Mexico; and 3. Northwest from Alamosa then southwest to the Four Corners Area.

During the commissioners meeting, Laske listed the partners in the proposal: Colorado Energy Office, New Mexico Energy Office, New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Office, Colorado Electric Transmission Authority, Colorado Department of Transportation, New Mexico State University, San Luis Valley Commissioners Association, San Luis Valley Council of Governments. The San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative and Kit Carson Electric Cooperative are also partners.

In an interview with the Valley Courier, Alamosa County Commissioner Laske stressed that the concept paper-application she has submitted is a preliminary step that has yet to be approved.

The Site C dam in British Columbia hits the news again. The good news is that this time RCMP did not shoot and kill anyone, as they did at a dam open house back in 2015:

RCMP shoots hydro dam protester? Nope, misidentified!

This time it’s bears and a most brilliant idea… NOT!

BC Hydro scrambles to tranquilize and remove bears hibernating in Site C dam flood zone before waters rise

In short, here’s the plan:

I can’t imagine the bears won’t wake up after being tranquilized, or when being flown around in a helicopter, or wake up wondering what on earth they did the night before! Flying bears… this is something to keep an eye on.

Having to isolate and mask up for so long is a pain, immuno-suppressed at least through 8 months of treatment after 5 weeks of Alan’s hospitalization… though it’s helpful now that COVID has increased again. A fb friend reported that, of a women’s choir group with a week of concerts, TWELVE women came down with COVID! AAACK! We’ve been trying, MASKED, to get out and about some, Tower of Power last month at Treasure Island, then headed up north to hear Aaron Brown’s history of Hibbing, but after we landed up in Grand Rapids, Alan got pneumonia and we spent Saturday in the ER and barely avoided another hospitalization. That sure sucked.

Anyway, headed up north again. It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood… at Dagwaagin camper cabin. Taking a needed time out, after I had a very intense work from home plus three trips to the hinterlands, working truckdriver hours over the last week, peeling away the layers of onion, building over the last month into a most bizarre case of … conspiracy? fraud? financial crimes over about 20 years? A mess far beyond what either my client or I anticipated, but so damn interesting! Anyway, it’s time for a getaway!

Last February, in was Ningaabi’anong way to the west:

This time Dagwaggin, near the WARM showerhouse:

Can’t cook in a camper cabin, other than crockpot and coffee/tea kettle, but just outside the door there is a cooking station with electric, and a stainless counter and splash so you don’t burn the place down:

And a picnic table and grill/fire ring on the other side:

It’s a nice set up, very bright and sunny, with most of the comforts of home, and it’s solid, and not leaky, so in the winter, WARM!

Cooking outdoors is the joy of camping for me, and I like to collect toys to play with when camping. Camper cabins require a different set of toys, last trip was the Weber Q1000, which was fun, but HEAVY! This time I tried out the Cobb grill with marinated turkey breast and packets of carrot and potatoes:

The result was almost perfect, though I should have opened up the turkey packets to brown it… next time. The potatoes and corn I’d tossed in balsamic vinegar dressing and a lot of dried thyme from the garden (dressing, because I’d forgotten oil, how can that be, but the oil I had for camping had leaked all over, GAACK, and in cleaning up, space it out and forgot to load.).

Tonight, more turkey, done open and so browned and a tad crispy. Until then, time to make some more corn cakes!

Somebody’s a happy camper… couldn’t happen to a more deserving jerk.

This is a must read:

This “Critical Energy Infrastructure” label is so grossly overused, and here we go again. Pres. Biden has declared this month, November, “Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month.” It’s not “just” energy, but that’s the one I know most about:

What it also means is that information about our energy system is often classified as “Critical Energy Infrastructure Information” and it’s nearly impossible to get access to it. Thanks to reasonable minds at Minnesota Power and Great River Energy, I was able to get “confidential” information about the “Northland Reliability Project,” PUC Dockets CN-22-416 and TL-22-415. On the other hand, MISO has worked hard to prohibit attendance at its planning meetings, despite FERC’s acknowledgement that MISO is misusing the term, and providing sufficient support IN WRITING that should allow attendance. GRRRRRRR.

What is Critical Energy Infrastructure Information? It’s all about FERC:

“Critical Energy Infrastructure Information”

Some prior posts:

• MISO bars access to planning meetings

• MAPP adopts shroud of secrecy

• “Grid Security” Notice of Comment Period

My take is that much/most of this is just hype, and offered as justification for the BILLIONS in infrastructure that they’re sinking in, and yes, it is investment, it’s providing jobs, but as far as energy goes, it’s going the wrong way. But hey, we’ve known that for more than 25 years…