Grant Merritt in the STrib:

Counterpoint: Case still powerful against nuclear energy

It would be unsafe and costly for Minnesota to reverse the moratorium. 

By Grant J. Merritt April 13, 2022

In response to “Times change. Minnesota nuclear moratorium must end” (Opinion Exchange, April 11), there are five reasons to retain Minnesota’s moratorium on building any more fission nuclear power plants.

The first is that ever since the Atomic Energy Commission began promoting them back in the post-World War II days, and over the ensuing 75 years, no acceptable storage locations have been found for the radioactive wastes.

The second reason is that these plants are prone to accidents, such as we had at the Monticello NSP nuclear plant on Nov. 19, 1971, when 50,000 gallons of radioactive water flowed into the Mississippi River. This caused the commissioner of the Minnesota Health Department to close the water intakes in the metro due to the threat to human health. That catapulted the accident into national news. Serious accidents occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant followed by the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear plants.

The third reason to oppose any more of these plants here or elsewhere in the U.S. is the threat of terrorism, now being experienced at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

The fourth reason is that licensing nukes is difficult due to opposition by many people, even though the U.S. government has preempted state regulation of potential exposure to water discharges. Thanks to action by former Gov. Wendell Anderson when he was a U.S. senator, air emissions are not preempted, so the state can hold hearings on air emission permits, which would no doubt be hotly opposed.

The final reason for continuing the moratorium is that building nuclear power plants is so excessively costly that the nuclear plant that was well underway to being built on the Savannah River in South Carolina was abandoned by voters.

For these reasons the Minnesota Legislature should not reverse the nuclear moratorium.

Grant J. Merritt, of New Hope, is a retired attorney. He was executive director of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 1971-75.

Wisconsin folks, call your legislators! Support this bill!

https://legis.wisconsin.gov/

Why? Wisconsin has a “brownfield” bill, but Public Service Commissioners IGNORE the requirement that energy infrastructure be built on brownfields:

Wis. Stat. §196.491(3)(d)8:

(d) Except as provided under par. (e), the commission shall approve an application filed under par. (a) 1. for a certificate of public convenience and necessity only if the commission determines all of the following:

8. For a large electric generating facility, brownfields, as defined in s. 238.13 (1) (a), are used to the extent practicable.

Despite this clear requirement, they acknowledge it, laugh about it, and dismiss it without consideration, and instead site on prime and protected agricultural land.

So YES! This, something I’ve been advocating for, for YEARS!

IT’S SO HARD TO BE PATIENT!!!

Trump deflects blame for Jan 6 silence, says he wanted to march to Capitol

Cannot help but think that the little public info does show that the January 6th Select Committee is circling around John Eastman, more and more reports about him, his repeated “taking the fifth,” and his inability to quash supboena, and glad to see that Clarence Thomas, Ginni Thomas, and Donald Trump are in that circling flow:

Yes, we have a serious ethical problem, corruption at the highest levels…

I was looking at that bogus Texas lawsuit challenging the 2020 elections, the one that 125 U.S. Representatives signed onto and filed Amicus brief, looking at all of the filings, and found this, a “Motion of Donald J. Trump” to file Amicus brief. And look who the attorney is on it. It’s John Eastman, filing before U.S. Supreme Court. Eastman was clerk for Clarence Thomas at Supreme Court, and is also buddy of Ginni Thomas. And from the New York Times, “The Long Crusade of Clarence and Ginni Thomas.”

Here’s the full brief:

The Center of the American Experiment is at it again. Seems they object to being held accountable. Seems that Erin Nystrom, a member of Rochester Golf and Country Club (RGCC), filed a petition with 90? 100? signatures demanding that the RGCC cancel the presentation scheduled by CAE based on divisive results of a prior CAE presentation urging people to flood the next school board meeting objecting to “Critical Race Theory” (despite that the notion that this is school curriculum thoroughly debunked), and responses to other CAE presentations around the state. RGCC Board took up the matter, and it appears that this was more than a day before the presentation (looking for verification). Anyway, CAE objects, claiming “cancel culture” and legally claiming breach of contract. The Amended Complaint is below.

A couple of posts, first from CAE and followed by Med City:

“Activists shut down Rochester law enforcement panel event” (CAE’s video MIA!)

Rochester Golf and Country Club cancels ‘crime crisis’ event after facing backlash

From the Med City post just above:

Prior to the event’s cancellation, Torgerson offered a similar take on why he agreed to participate on the panel. Speaking to KAAL-TV’s Betsy Singer, the sheriff said while he doesn’t believe there is a crime crisis in the area, he did welcome the opportunity to discuss the issues facing law enforcement.

Center of the American Experiment was not happy about this cancellation of their shindig.

Center of the American Experiment, through its attorney, Gregory Joseph (remember the “Recall City Hall” bogus lawsuit, quickly withdrawn?) filed Notice of Motion and Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order in Olmsted County District Court, and got this result:

Pretty simple, “Denied. Plaintiffs do not have the right to a hearing without proper filing of suit and motions.”

And about 4 hours after this order of DENIAL, Joseph sent this:

Apparently he didn’t get the message, so another judge filed this a couple hours later:

They DID file a Complaint and Memorandum, but not until AFTER the dismissal, and filed this Amended Complaint on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, 3 weeks after their initial filing:

Note that Joseph has changed from his private practice to “Upper Midwest Law Center,” where he is listed now not as “inhouse” but as “outhouse” counsel:

I wonder if Joseph is trying to pick up the Erick Kaardal contingent — that seems to be the Upper Midwest Law Center‘s focus.

Erick Kaaardal has been very active in SE Minnesota and also with “groups” and “organizations” politically and philosophically in line with those of Center of the American Experiment.

Joseph does seem to be following some of Kaardal’s playbook. If so, he perhaps should exercise caution and not follow it too closely?!?! Kaardal is up against sanctions for participating in filing a bogus 2020 election lawsuit. It was the threat of sanctions which lead to Joseph’s withdrawal of the “Recall City Hall” lawsuit. Recall committee drops lawsuit against City Council members and Red Wing recall lawsuit dropped . . . for now.

Here’s some of the scoop on Kaardal, first regarding the judge’s referral for sanctions:

And why referred for sancions? Here’s the original Complaint in that underlying case, and here’s the judge’s Memorandum on Order Denying Injunction, tossing it out.

And local folks here in SE Minnesota, don’t forget that CD1’s former Rep. Jim Hagedorn voted to deny certification of the 2020 election. And don’t forget that “our” SD21’s Rep. Steve Drazkowski and Senator Goggin requested, with other MN legislators, that the Texas A.G. add Minnesota to the bogus Texas lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results, disenfranchising Minnesotans in this free and fair election! Those signing this letter have no business continuing as Minnesota legislators.

Dismissal of that lawsuit (note Thomas’ take on this — hmmmmm, Clarence, Ginni, or both?!?):

This is just too weird:

Capitol riot suspect is granted refugee status in Belarus after fleeing US

Evan Neumann: US Capitol riot suspect gets asylum in Belarus