It’s the garbage burner, f/k/a coal plant’s 75th Anniversary! Well drat, we didn’t get invited to the party! Did you?? The last Xcel gathering Alan and I went to was a “Community Meeting” where we got to ask Sparby about the IRP at that time which said the Red Wing and Wilmarth garbage burners were going to be closed! HA! So much for projections and continuity of IRPs!

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Feb 3 from the RW bEagle:

Red Wing’s Xcel biomass facility celebrates 75th anniversary

Written by Alec Hamilton Published on Feb 3, 2025

Xcel Energy’s biomass burning facility in Red Wing celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2024 and nearly 40 years of burning refuse derived fuel (RDF).

The facility, located off of Fifth Street in Red Wing, began as a coal-fired energy generating facility in the 1940s until it was converted into a RDF burning facility in 1986. Garbage from Ramsey and Washington Counties, as well as the City of Red Wing and surrounding Goodhue County, is sorted for recyclables in the municipalities and at a facility in Newport before it is burned on-site to create electricity. 

Leon Lenertz, the plant manager who has been at the facility for 16 years, said they receive and burn about 800 tons – or 40 semitruck trailer loads – a day and have burned an average of approximately 230,000 tons per year the last several years. The facility operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week for about 330 days of the year with it being closed for maintenance the other few weeks. 

Over the course of a year, the facility produces 23 megawatts of electricity, enough energy to power the equivalent of about 12,000 homes. 

Lenertz also described the burning process, which meets the State of Minnesota’s emissions standards to be carbon neutral. Before the RDF arrives at the facility, it is thoroughly sorted and numerous types of metals are removed. He said that thanks to this process, the communities that ship their garbage to the Red Wing facility, or others like it, often have the highest recycling rates in their areas. Once it arrives at the facility, it is unloaded onto a series of conveyor belts where it is organized before eventually feeding into the burner. The burner reaches 2,500 degrees Fehrenheit and the burning process takes about 45 minutes.

The smoke from the burning then makes its way through silos filled with bag houses that hold 1,104 filter bags per bag house. Lenertz said the bag houses and scrubbers in the silos are state-of-the-art technology and facilities like Red Wing’s were some of the first to receive it. Once the facility’s emissions hit the air, it is almost clear in the sky outside since the particulate was removed. 

The volume of RDF burned is reduced to 1/10 of its original volume in the form of ash, so if 800 tons of RDF is burned per day, that results in 80 tons of ash. Plant Direct Jared Graham, who not only oversees the Red Wing biomass plant but also ones in Mankato and La Crosse (Wisconsin), said that the ash is then taken to the facility’s landfill. However, some facilities have companies come in and sift through the ash for leftover precious metals – say if a lost wedding ring ended up in the RDF – while other municipalities have started to experiment with using the ash in road base material, though that is not yet state-approved. 

With the rise of the emerald ash borer and the resulting removal of vast amounts of trees, the facility also has started to burn wood waste from private companies and municipalities. It can also now burn products like household pharmaceuticals or illicit drugs that authorities would not want to end up in a landfill. 

The facility has 28 employees, 16 of which are operators. At any one time, there are two operators in the control room monitoring the facility while another, the outplant operator, is responsible for making any manual adjustments like opening/closing valves, etc. Those operators are split into five shifts of three people working 12 hours. 

Readers can reach Alec at ahamilton@orourkemediagroup.com

Color me paranoid, but this sure raises red flags:

A Plan For Establishing A United States Sovereign Wealth Fund

     By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to promote the long-term financial health and international leadership of the United States, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.  Policy and Purpose.  It is the policy of the United States to maximize the stewardship of our national wealth for the sole benefit of American citizens.  To this end, it is in the interest of the American people that the Federal Government establish a sovereign wealth fund to promote fiscal sustainability, lessen the burden of taxes on American families and small businesses, establish economic security for future generations, and promote United States economic and strategic leadership internationally. 

Sec. 2.  Sovereign Wealth Fund.  The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce, in close coordination with the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, shall develop a plan for the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund consistent with section 1 of this order.  The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce shall jointly submit this plan to the President within 90 days of the date of this order.  Such plan shall include recommendations for funding mechanisms, investment strategies, fund structure, and a governance model.  The plan shall also include an evaluation of the legal considerations for establishing and managing such a fund, including any need for legislation. 

Sec. 3.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

THE WHITE HOUSE,
    February 3, 2025.

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Trump signs order establishing a sovereign wealth fund that he says could buy TikTok

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From Reuters:

Trump orders creation of US sovereign wealth fund, says it could buy TikTok

If created, the sovereign wealth fund could place the U.S. alongside numerous other countries, particularly in the Middle East and Asia, that have launched similar funds as a way to make direct investments with government dollars.

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Oh, great idea…

Color me pissy — the Public Utilities Commission cannot seem to get it together to send adequate service of a “Notice of Intent to File,” Initial Filing,” and “Notice of Comment Period on Completeness” and “Notice of Extended Comment Period.”

Somehow this particular project came up on my radar, after I’d heard there was a meeting in Northfield recently about “water” and the intense water use of data centers, and in looking it up, I found I’d not received notice, not just “notice,” but NOTICES!

HOW MANY OTHER PROJECTS ARE GOING FORWARD WITH INADEQUATE NOTICE?

Here’s the Service List for a “Notice of Intent to File” filed by the Applicants last October — only FOUR were served, and look what four:

Then the application was filed by the Applicants on January 16, 2025, and only the original four plus these 15 state and federal agency reps:

And then on January 22, 2025, the PUC filed its Notice of Comment Period on Application Completeness, which was served to:

And then, the document I was served with, the Notice of Initial Filing, was dated January 21, 2025, and filed January 31, 2025. This had a general service list!

Oh! That was odd, so I looked at the docket, and when I looked at the docket, I found the Notice of Comment Period, with Initial Comments due February 4 – so essentially FOUR days notice. That Notice of Initial Comment was served on a handful of service lists, including the initial 11 that included PUC, OAH-RUD and Commerce staff, another 14 agencies; 87 Tribal contacts plus Commerce’s “Tribal Government Contacts” person, plus 12 additional Tribal contacts, the Applicants including Matrix, SolarStone, Stantec, and Fredlaw. STILL NO GENERAL SERVICE LIST.

So I fired off a missive to the PUC that there was inadequate notice, it needed to be extended:

And of course I quickly got notice that it would be extended. GOOD! Today was the original deadline, and I’d not received anything, so I sent a missive asking whether it had not been extended or whether it had been extended and I didn’t get service. I was told “It was filed yesterday, and served to the official service list. Attached is a copy.” I went to the docket, and found a February 3 Notice of Extension:

OK…

Oh, right… here’s the service list:

GOOD GRIEF! Only those 12 again. When I fired off an email asking “so why wasn’t I served with this notice?” Here’s the response: “Apologies, I think there was a misunderstanding. Your 1/31 e-mail asked to be added to the project list, which is a separate list from the Official Service List. I have requested and you have now been added to the Official Service List as well.”

I’ve had a chat with one of the Applicants attorneys, letting them know about this issue, which he thought was odd, and I made it clear I have no issues with the project whatsoever. And I’m waiting on a call back from Bret Eknes at the PUC.

Meanwhile…

Another lawsuit filed today, this one Alliance for Retired Americans; American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO; Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO v. Scott Bessent, Secretary of Treasury; Department of the Treasury; and Bureau of the Fiscal Service in U.S. District Court, District of Columbia:

I’m so glad to see those with resources kicking in. No schedule yet, it’s early.

Here we go!!

From ACLU.org

YES, seeking asylum is a perfectly LEGAL means to enter the U.S., and a lawsuit challenging the way this administration is unreasonably and unlawfully treating asylum seekers, detaining and deporting with zero regard for their legal status:

The Trump administration has characterized refugees seeking asylum as an “invasion” of the U.S., and issued Proclamation 10888:

Guaranteeing The States Protection Against Invasion January 20, 2025

It was “refugee resettlement” in January 2020, and now it’s “asylum seekers.” Saying it’s an “invasion” doesn’t make it an invasion, but that’s a great way to get folks unnecessarily riled up.

Remember all the vile fomenting when local governments were required by Trump’s Executive Order 13888, issued September 26, 2019, which required prior consent to allow refugee resettlement:

Restricting refugees was a fundamental part of Trump’s prior administration’s “immigration” policy, which was more a “prohibition of immigration.” As the deadline approached, and Goodhue County’s consideration, it got seriously ugly here, with wild falsehoods about refugees, and odd, because in this county, refugee resettlement is essentially a non-issue.

Just after Goodhue County consented to acceptance of refugees, Executive Order 13888 was tossed out.

Now what are they doing wrong? Pretty much everything, going directly count to the black letter law:

What are the Plaintiffs seeking? It’s pretty simple:

This was just filed today, and there will be a response from Defendants and a hearing in the near future.