PJM’s 3Q State of the Market
November 14th, 2019
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2019/11/PJM-logo2.jpg)
Here ’tis:
And dig this, from Introduction, p. 3, seems PJM is attempting to manipulate the market, and that’s not flying with Market Analytics, the entity that does the State of the Market reports:
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2019/11/3Q-snippet-1.jpg)
… and this, also p. 3, decreasing revenues is putting it mildly:
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2019/11/3Q-snippet-2.jpg)
This report bears reading, I know, in spare time, but this is REAL NEWS!
MN Biennial Xmsn Plan
October 31st, 2019
Here it is:
There’s no map in this plan! But there is this:
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2019/10/CapX.jpg)
As if the CapX 2020 boondoggle predicated on 2.49% annual demand growth wasn’t enough, now this? A repeat performance? Over my dead polar bear…
USDA’s RUS requests Comments on C-HC
October 30th, 2019
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2019/10/route-map.jpg)
The USDA’s Rural Utilities Service has issued the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission project.
In the Wisconsin State Journal:
Cardinal-Hickory Creek: Feds favor OK for power line to cross Mississippi River wildlife refuge
And the USDA’s Notice:
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2019/10/Notice-1.jpg)
And here’s what to look at, Volumes 1-4 of the EIS… did they do a good job? Is the FEIS adequate? Let them know what you think.
Final Environmental Impact Statement – October 2019
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Send to: comments@CardinalHickoryCreekEIS.us
Irresponsible PG&E — make PG&E public!
October 30th, 2019
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2019/10/CAFire1.jpg)
PG&E has been shutting off power to hundreds of thousands of Californians as its response to fires started by their powerlines:
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2019/10/PGE-Outage-Map.jpg)
And here’s a PG&E spreadsheet of outages: PG&E Get the data
Transmission lines causing fires is nothing new. After deregulation circa 2000, failure to maintain transmission lines and easement clearing was the cause of the August 2003 blackout that took out much of the Eastern Interconnect:
NERC’s August 2003 Northeast Blackout page
Do explain… why is utility failure to do their job an issue today? Why is PG&E allowed to get away with this, after the 2003 revelations of impact of failure to maintain lines and easements (a logical impact of deregulation, cut corners in every way possible to increase profit and return to shareholders)? Why is PG&E allowed to get away with this after PG&E admittedly caused the Camp Fire?
California Says PG&E Power Lines Caused Camp Fire That Killed 85
From the article:
PG&E previously said that it recognized “that more must be done to adapt to and address the increasing threat of wildfires and extreme weather” and that it was stepping up inspections, tree trimming and maintenance.
DOH!
So what do they do? This year they admit even more:
PG&E says its equipment may have caused 9 CA fires in 2019.
From that article:
The utility company acknowledged that its equipment may also be the source of the May 29 Spearhead Fire in Fresno County, which burned ten acres. That fire was ignited when a dead tree toppled into a power line. PG&E crews had done maintenance in that area the previous month, but did not trim or remove the 60-foot tree because it was 45 feet away from the line, outside of the legally mandated maintenance zone.
PG&E’s solution? File bankruptcy and shut off hundreds of thousands of people’s electricity.
PG&E failed to cut hundreds of trees close to powerlines
What? From that article:
Under intense pressure to reduce wildfire risk this summer, PG&E Corp. failed to notice that its tree-trimming contractors neglected to chop down hundreds of trees growing dangerously close to power lines, a court-appointed monitor told the federal judge overseeing PG&E’s criminal probation this week.
In one case, a tree trimming contractor falsified records, and the utility never noticed, according to a report filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
The findings could spell yet more trouble for California’s largest electric utility, which filed for bankruptcy in January after its power lines were blamed for sparking wildfires that killed dozens of people since 2017. PG&E has embarked on a massive tree trimming effort across its vast service area in response, spending hundreds of millions of dollars.
File bankruptcy? How evasive can you get? But then again, corporations no longer have any legal responsibility to serve the public interest. This was one of the most infuriating examples of what’s wrong with our society that was hammered home in “Corporations I” in law school.
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2019/10/GettyFire1-1024x536.jpg)
PG&E is already facing criminal action in connection with the 2015 San Bruno gas explosion, convicted of 6 felonies, and is on probation… that’s the venue where PG&E admitted it likely caused so many California fires.
The NTSB eventually determined the disaster had resulted from a lethal combination of PG&E’s shoddy maintenance and flawed record keeping, along with lax oversight by the PUC.
Bankruptcy when faced with responsibility for the “Camp Fire” fire is just evasion. It’s time for JAIL!
More importantly, it’s time to turn PG&E over to the public, to revoke its corporate charter and reform as a PUBLIC utility, and get to work on the issues PG&E is neglecting in its focus on profits for shareholders, and to work in the public interest.
Check out this article
Corporations and the Public Interest
A look at how the originally purpose behind corporate charters has been lost
In short, a few snippets, looking at the balance of limited liability and public interest:
This social role for enterprise, a residue of pre-market society, acted as a necessary ballast and brake to the market. The dispersal of this ballast – including the physical setting of enterprise, the old Main Streets – has helped bring about the growing social chaos.
When the author was tasked with looking at the corporate charter of a railroad:
The author has suggestions, here are the two most important:
Individual Responsibility: Executives of large publicly-held corporations should not be able to hide behind the corporate veil. They should be held personally responsible for their actions, and for actions taken in their behalf, to the same extent you or I would be.
Empowerment: … The greater need is to empower individuals and communities to hold corporations accountable for their actions.
IRRESPONSIBLE CORPORATIONS?
JERK THEIR CORPORATE CHARTER AND PIERCE THE CORPORATE VEIL.
HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE!
11/19 – PPSA Annual Hearing
October 18th, 2019
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2015/11/mickeymouse.jpg)
It’s that time of year again, the Power Plant Siting Act Annual Hearing.
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2019/10/Notice.jpg)
And here’s the…
Here’s the Power Plant Siting Act — Minn. Stat. Ch. 216E!
Why an Annual Hearing? Because the statute says so:
216E.07 | ANNUAL HEARING. |
Here are the reports from prior PPSA Annual Hearings:
2006 Report to PUC – Docket 06-1733
2007 Report to PUC – Docket 07-1579
2008 Report to PUC – Docket 08-1426
2009 Report to PUC – Docket 09-1351
2010 Report to PUC – Docket 10-222
2011 Report to PUC – Docket 11-324
2012 Report to PUC – Docket 12-360
2013 Report to PUC – Docket 13-965
2014 Summary Report– Docket 14-887
2015 Summary Report – Docket 15-785
2016 Summary Report – Docket 16-18