A visitation will take place on Thursday April 4 from 4-6 p.m. at David Lee Funeral Home, 1220 Wayzata Blvd., Wayzata. A memorial service will be held on Friday April 5 at 10 a.m. at Wayzata Community Church, 125 Wayzata Blvd., Wayzata 952-473-8877. All are welcome to attend.

In the STrib:

Thomas Andrew Micheletti

January 28, 1947 March 15, 2024

Micheletti will not be forgotten.

Per his obituary, a PR campaign in its own right, he shares a military avoidance scheme on a level with Captain Bonespurs:

Tom broke his ankle his senior year playing football. He cut the cast off himself, long before it had healed, so that he didn’t miss the opening hockey game. This messed his ankle up just enough to eventually keep him out of the Vietnam War, but not so much that he couldn’t keep playing.

And “Tom’s career became another arena for his love of the game.” Yup, gaming the system, he was certainly an expert. Here’s the legislation he got through, by hook or by crook, paired with Xcel’s bid for more dry casks for nuclear waste — a deal with the devil, or between the devils:

Micheletti was a/the primary architect of one of the most costly boondoggles on the Range and in Minnesota, history, the “Excelsior Energy Mesaba Project.”

It was introduced in 2002 at an energy committee hearing, I was there — cost said to be $800 million. HA! By the time it got to the Public Utilities Commission, the cost was over $TWO BILLION!

$2,155,680,763

“… capable of offering a long-term supply contract at a hedged, predictable cost.” NOPE The PUC did catch it, was NOT a reasonable cost, was not in the public interest, and the PUC denied approval of the Power Purchase Agreement.

Throughout this, we faced bizarre, and yes, I’m using that term a lot here, and it’s fitting. The things they claimed were pulled out of some nether orifice, put in writing, and entered, under oath. The sums of money they took from so many agencies, the way they steamrolled local governments, legislative committees, throughout I was wondering what he had on so many, kompromant? Why would people would jump on his bandwagon, it made no sense. Did people think it was too much work to look at the facts? Was it a personal thing? Was it “debt,” and for what and why? Still don’t understand. I do know that so much that was said was not true. So much that was put in writing was not true. So much was made up, tossed at a wall, and why did it stick? Ultimately, it did not, but it took YEARS and hundreds of hours.

About that Mesaba Project, Micheletti’s obit says:

For a decade, he and his wife, Julie, combined their talents and built a company that partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a large- scale clean-tech power plant to be constructed on the Iron Range. He holds dear the many individuals who dedicated themselves to that effort, taking on the special interests that block innovation and progress. He was proud the team conceived and enacted significant state and federal policy legislation that removed significant barriers to innovation in the power industry.

“… partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy…” Nope, more like scammed the DOE, also the Minnesota legislature, Renewable Energy Development Fund, and of course the IRRB. How much of that IRRB “loan” has been paid back?

Here’s where some of the money went — somewhere in my Mesaba Project files we’ve got documentation of their using taxpayer funds for a Christmas trip to Italy! I’m looking, and in the meantime:

And spreadsheets for 2004, 2005, a tiny bit of 2006:

Here’s a review from Citizens Against the Mesaba Project (CAMP),:

“… special interests that block innovation and progress…” Special interest!?!?! Right… Here’s a wayback link to Citizens Against the Mesaba Project (CAMP), and my clients mncoalgasplant.com, grassroots “special interest” groups addressing community concerns, groups which did the most amazing organizing, and the drudgery of detailed work and digging about coal gasification, the financing of this mess, and documentation of much of the federal and state dollars; federal, state, and local perks, given to this vaporware “project.” Special interests???

• CLICK HERE for CAMP-SITE
• CLICK HERE for mncoalgasplant.com

That’s a CAMP meeting, above, a room packed with regular folks. The special interests? Well, “they” showed up in force at the hearings. There were 300+ filling the Taconite Community Center, so if you’re classifying all these regular folks as “special interest,” people who got up, one by one over HOURS of the hearings testifying about seriously technical issues and considerations in their own backyards that were being ignored in Micheletti’s Mesaba Project plans… special interests? well… that’s a bit misguided.

Here’s Micheletti at a Mesaba Project meeting in Trout Lake Township before the Town Board:

And he instructed his new hired hand, Xcel’s recently retired Michael Wadley, not to let me speak because I didn’t live in the area — nevermind that I was representing mncoalgasplant.com, a group of local residents! Oh, and I was living in Red Wing right across the street from Wadley’s parents! Why Wadley got involved in the Mesaba Project mess I’ll never know, had to be money, but it sure couldn’t have been worth it to wade in that cesspool.

And here’s a wayback link to excelsiorenergy.com

Leadership team of seasoned power industry executives? Seasoned? Right — stick a fork in, they are DONE!

Micheletti was an extreme example of using connections and knowledge and influence to cobble together many moving pieces into a phenomenally orchestrated steamrolling line of bullshit that was the Mesaba Project, taking advantage of public and governmental ignorance and apathy, dragging those of us who opposed it on a decade of intense work — successfully stopped — but what a grind that was.

Micheletti & Overland near fisticuffs in the Hoyt Lakes Arena October 27th, 2005

The legislation promoting the project required that it was to be built on a site with available infrastructure, and here what it looked like – see above, Minn. Stat. 216A.1694, Subd. 1(3), “adequate infrastructure to support new or expanded development,” so it says, but here’s the reality. They were discovered trespassing in the woods by hunters:

Here’s a photo from a DOE site visit — dig that utility infrastructure:

Tom was not at all happy to find our “boys in the woods” and the press there too. From an MPR site visit:

The only way to get to the site was on ATVs using a transmission easement over land that wasn’t theirs, not theirs via easement or in fee — yes, they were trespassing:

Here’s an example of the bizarre filings from Micheletti’s “seasoned” experts:

Health Benefits of Coal (ya gotta read this one, HILARIOUS!)

Bizarre? Yes, that’s the operative term here. A bit of Alan Muller’s cross-examination, the question clarified by ALJ Mihalchick:

I’m looking for the map showing their plan for rail access — they wanted to go right THROUGH Diamond Lake! Found it — that’s it, circled in pink, from the DOE’s EIS:

THROUGH DIAMOND LAKE?!?! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

There was also a bizarre, yes, again, bizarre, “plan” to capture CO2 and store it, BUT the amount that could be captured was not much at all, it severely decreased efficiency of the proposed plant, AND once captured, it took it … really… only to the PLANT GATE, no further. Then what? Who knows, they sure didn’t have a clue. Yup! Really… a brilliant plan. And where it possibly could be stored? Another bizarre filing:

Their plan? Read it and guffaw, snort, hoot and holler: Ex_EE1067_Plan for Carbon Capture and Sequestration Download

They got a GRANT for this, our tax dollars thrown away:

Sequestration grant press release June 24 2005 Download

Looking back, it s really uplifting to see what we did accomplish, two rag-tag groups of people on the range who knew a boondoggle when they saw it, and who put in the time and effort to learn about coal gasification, no small feat, enough to make knowledgeable comments on what Micheletti & Co. were proposing, and put on enough pressure to slow it down, and ultimately stop the project. Considering the resources that Micheletti brought to this, with DOE, MN legislature, IRRB, and Renewable Development Fund, plus so much Joyce Foundation funding to enviros to support it:

Joyce Foundation PROMOTES coal September 5th, 2006

Yes, the Mesaba Project did go down in flames. Took a long time, but looking back, we did a good job.

As of last week, Tom Micheletti will not be promoting any more bogus projects and pocketing our taxes to do it.

Apparently, Micheletti resurrected Reddy Kilowatt! That’s something that really ought to be in his obit!

Back to Micheletti’s obituary:

p.s. To access the PUC’s Excelsior Energy’s Mesaba Project Power Purchase Agreement docket, go HERE – eDOCKETS, and then click again on “eDockets” and click on “Search Documents” on Left, and arrive at this screen and add Year “05” and Docket “1993” and then click SEARCH!

For the siting docket, plug in 06-668:

The siting docket was also bizarre. We tried to intervene, but were not allowed, and as “participants” were not allowed to question witnesses. The hearing was a farce, and it was in a gym next to the hockey rink, the heat turned of on a -20F day, because with the blower on we couldn’t hear a thing. Afterwards, Excelsior entered in a LOT if additional exhibits, as the record was flimsy:

Mesaba – Extend the hearing! February 23rd, 2008

That site hearing was such a travesty…

Gotta get out of this rabbit hole.

Oh my, what a pleasant surprise! Yes, it’s “only” temporary at this point while the court collects additional information (info that’s not in the record, i.e., the record is incomplete?).

Federal judge blocks transmission line’s crossing through wildlife refuge for now

It’s not “just” ATC, it’s ATC, ITC, and Dairyland planning this project, and it’s almost completed!

Co-owner utilities react to preliminary injunction ruling in United States District Court on Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line Project

From their press release:

Alan’s Acute Promyleocytic Leukemia is DONE! They’ve said once it’s gone, it’s GONE, non-recurring. We’re hoping that’s true.

Today, his port was removed, it’s about time. The one above is very different, that one stays in chest, and Alan’s did a “frolic & detour” up into his neck. UGH, it was pretty ugly at first, and took a long time for those bruises to go away — but that tube was always visible. Frankly, it gave me the creeps, both “just” the chest port bump, and it was worse when he had the infusion hardware hanging from it. EEEEEUW!

From May 19, 2023 to TODAY, it’s been a long, long haul, and as of today, it’s over, because the port is GONE.

No more port to put in that IV arsenic, and no more oral ATRA (Vit A derivative), and now all that’s left is to rebuild his immune system. That will be a few months.

This is such a relief.

Need some time to deep breathe, and then dive in to finishing up the financial piece, and that is a DEEP, DEEP, dive.

It’s been old home week, errrrrr, month, for Xcel Energy at the Red Wing City Council. The February 6th meeting was pretty wild, Xcel “decommissioning” the emergency warning sirens and transferring costs to us (!) and their Emergency Plan. Here’s the poop on that meeting. But now, we’ve got more Xcel news. At the February 26th meeting, Xcel dropped in for a presentation on the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and their application for additional casks at Prairie Island filed at the same time with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). I’d given the Council a heads up on both a month ago so they had some time to get acquainted with the subjects.

More Nuclear Waste Casks at PINGP?

February 7th, 2024

Xcel’s new Integrated Resource Plan

February 5th, 2024

Ross Lexvold presented for Xcel, starting with the IRP, going on and on about the process and how “stakeholders” participated. Next time, how about sending the staff a pdf for the packet? They never do it until the last minute, and it’d be helpful.

To watch the meeting, go HERE — he starts ~7.:22

He walked them through a compressed version of the process. And interesting point is that they plan to extend the garbage burner’s permit for 20 years when it expires in 2027 (now, about that air permit?!?!). He also admitted they’d be using natural gas to back up wind and solar, discussed batters more a bit later. Yawn, nothing really exciting. Lexvold expects public meeting on the IRP to be in mid-June, and that our area was going to get a hearing (so we’d best pack the room, eh?).

It’s been accepted as Complete and referred to Office of Administrative Hearings. Comments are open now and there’s a lot of time to get through that pile o’ papers:

Note that he gave them the wrong url to get to the PUC dockets.

To get into a docket, go to the PUC’s eDockets page HERE, and redundantly click on “eDockets” at the bottom, and you’ll get here, as above, and under “search” and “year” plug in “24” and under “Number” plug in “67” and you’ll get all the documents. To view them, click on the number on the far left side:

Refer to this to get into the Prairie Island cask docket, that’s “24” and “68” – easy to remember.

And that’s a little more exciting. Xcel Energy has applied for additional casks for Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plan, E002/CN-24-68, filed just moments after the IRP. You can find the REVISED application here:

More Nuclear Waste Casks at PINGP?

It’s a weird application, seems to have been written by committee. The first 7 chapters really SUCK, and then starting with Chapter 8, it’s written more clearly (though there are focus problems in Chapter 9 again). Anyway, here’s what I’d filed Friday around 4p on behalf of Communities United for Responsible Energy:

That was the Initial round of Comments, and there are two more whacks at the apple:

Check the docket to see what all’s been filed, and get to it, there’s only a week!! What to write about? It’s to be a reply in response to the Initial Comments filed in answer to these questions — lots of wiggle room in that last one:

What’s most notable in this application is that they have sufficient storage capacity to last at least to 2033. WHY APPLY NOW? IT’S PREMATURE! They say they’re going to be relicensing for 20 years, the licenses expire in 2033/2034. That’s a decade away. Things are changing dramatically in the energy world, and who knows what will be happening then, what new ideas will be found for generation, how we can better conserve, etc. So that’s important to look at. Now is NOT the time for this.

And on that happy note, I’m done for the day!

The January 22, 2024 Red Wing City Council meeting was jam packed full of goofy ideas. Yesterday, I posted about the limitation of public comment to 3 minutes at the beginning of the meeting in the Public Comment period. Today’s post is about nuclear… as I go critical seeing what they’ve done and are doing.

A lot happened at the Red Wing City Council meeting on January 22, 2024. In addition to cutting public comment opportunities, there were two nuclear items, the first on the CONSENT AGENDA (yes, I’m SHOUTING!) and the second in general business:

Here’s the video of the meeting:

January 22, 2024 Red Wing City Council meeting

Let’s start with the first – 10 F in the Consent Agenda – beginning on the video at 1:07:

In the Staff Report from the Police Captain, Travis Bray, also Emergency Management Director, he states:

And sure enough, there is no emergency plan in the packet, only discussion of it and a signature page.

On the first page of the Staff Report:

The plan does detail certain steps relative to activation of the EOC and certain contacts that
must be made, however department and division heads still retain the responsibility for
determination of the appropriate level of response given the situation along with other demands
on their personnel by other events.

Do department and division heads know enough about all things nuclear to “retain the responsibility for
determination of the appropriate level of response…?” Shouldn’t the NRC and state Emergency Management be the deciders on this, with advice from those on the ground?

The Emergency Plan is to be reviewed and approved each year by:

Travis Bray’s Staff Report gives the Council two alternatives and a recommendation:

… or…

Travis Bray, Police Chief and Emergency Management Director for the City of Red Wing, was one of those to review and approve the plan. He was at the City Council meeting for the other agenda item, but this was on the consent agenda, and it was passed with zero discussion.

Because “[a] copy of the plan may be viewed at the EOC or the City of Red Wing Emergency manager’s office,” you can guess what I’ll be doing someday soon. I’m remembering the horrific/hilarious Emergency Plan for Site P “in Goodhue County,” the dry cask storage facility proposed in Florence Township.

Here’s the NRC on “Federal, State, Tribal, and Local Responsibilities” in nuclear emergency.

Click here for the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant (PINGP) Emergency Plan test and Final Action Report from 2016!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And back to the video of the January 22, 2024 meeting:

January 22, 2024 Red Wing City Council meeting

Moving on to Agenda item 11.C.

Xcel Energy wants to “donate” the 33 emergency warning sirens and donate the costs of operation and maintenance to Red Wing. Great idea… Here’s the packet for 11.C with all the details we have:

The Council was told that the Emergency Plan was essentially changed… but wait…

Slide 5 says that Xcel Plans to decommission all outdoor sirens:

Slide 7 notes that “the State of MN has agreed to be the responsible party…”

I have a few very logical questions:

• What jurisdiction currently has responsibility for emergency alerts?
• Cite the NRC regulations for Emergency Warning Systems, including sirens.
• “State of MN has agreed…” Who? What? Where? Why? When? Produce the agreement.
• Were the affected Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant and Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant host communities involved in negotiating this agreement?
• Emergency sirens owned and maintained are a cost of doing business — why are they shifting this cost to us?
• If “donated” they’d get the benefit of being relieved of that cost, PLUS would likely receive a tax deduction for this “donation.”

Chief Bray is supposed to come back to the Council with more information and a recommendation.

Soooooooo, will try to keep an eye out for this. It’s NOT on the March 11, 2024 agenda.

p.s. And again, click here for the Emergency Plan test and Final Action Report from 2016!