Legalectric

We had a “win” at the PUC on Thursday, but it’s the kind of a win that is such a “DUH!” that it’s hard to celebrate, it’s too much of a reminder of the ways that the public is being treated these days, shut out of process, harassed, quashed, and in this case, as attorney for City of Lindstrom, it’s astounding me the lengths Commerce on the Siting and Routing side will go to to keep a local government from having input. Unbelievable!

While I’m clear that Xcel is not “our friend,” they are not the ones putting up the roadblocks, and we have to be ever vigilant about ALL the players in this. Pawlenty’s state agencies particularly!

I’m having a hard time getting this posting done because the actions and position of the Dept. of Commerce have been so egregious… so I guess I’ll just let them speak for themselves, the pattern will show through:

Prior Post: Chisago — State cuts out the public

When it became clear that the Task Force process was being perverted by Dept. of Commerce into a “no notice” and “too little time” fiasco, we filed a Motion to Extend Task Force:

City of Lindstrom – Motion to Extend Task Force

Which was followed by the Commerce position, in a “letter” and not a responsive pleading, that it was not necessary to extend Task Force, that what had transpired was just fine, and arguing that the Siting/Routing docket was not a contested case:

Commerce Letter to ALJ Lipman

OK, fine, so then we filed a Petition for a Contested Case with the PUC:

City of Lindstrom – Petition for Contested Case

Our Motion was referred to the PUC, and was put on agenda for Thursday, April 19, 2007.  And here are the Staff Briefing Papers for Thursday’s meeting:

Staff Briefing Papers for April 19 2007

And here’s where it gets interesting. Xcel was not the “bad guy” here, the “bad guy” is the Dept. of Commerce Siting and Routing staff! Xcel came in with no objections to a contested case, an interest in assuring that “at the end of the day” the City of Lindstrom couldn’t say “we were shut out,” and “we had no opportunity to participate!” AND, best of all, they brought in this great chart showing just how it could be handled, where the rules for this “Alternate Review Process” can be integrated into the pre-existing Contested Case for the Certificate of Need! Minn. R. 4400.2850 folded into Minn. R. Ch. 1400 (and noting in places that “Ch 1405 provides helpful analogy.” And yes, I made sure Mike Krikava new that I appreciated Xcel’s attitude in this. Another interesting point — Commerce staff, in presenting their off the wall arguments, were there on their own, no Asst. A.G. to be seen!

Here’s Xcel’s chart, that shows how the processes can be combined:

Xcel – Alternate Review and CoN can be combined

The meeting was “spirited” and the bottom line was that because (I believe) Xcel had no objection with combining the two forks, Siting/Routing and Certificate of Need, into one contested case, that’s how it’s going to go! Will post the Order when it comes out.

It’s not just in Delaware. Things got wound up in the Chisago Transmission Line docket, starting Friday, the 6th. For background, check these dockets:

04-1176

06-1677

To do that, go to www.puc.state.mn.us and then to “eDockets” and then to “Search documents” and then search for the dockets.

Friday was the day when Commerce sent this convoluted and tortured responsive letter (not pleading) to the City of Lindstrom’s Motion to Extend Task Force:

City of Lindstrom – Motion to Extend Task Force

Here’s their take — which is beyond… beyond… well, read it for yourself:

Commerce Letter to ALJ Lipman

The Commerce position was a bit more than I could take — to think that, even where the PUC decision is silent on it, to think that the routing of the Chisago project is not a contested case is just nuts, so I fired off this quickie Petition to get this nailed down:

City of Lindstrom – Petition for Contested Case

They’ve been doing a good job of trying to keep the public out, keeping local government out. It started right out the gate, when Xcel didn’t serve me with the Certificate of Need application, and then didn’t seve me with the Routing application either! They didn’t serve my former client, Concerned River Valley Citizens, etiher. Chisago City was not served with notice or the application or with notice of the Citizens Task Force. CRVC participated in the notice plan, and yet when it was time for Comments on Completeness, Commerce did not bother to serve any of us with those Comments, and when challenged, PUC staff Bret Ekness said they were only about “completeness” and that the Comment period shouldn’t be extended. Nevermind that they were arguing for a “non-contested” proceeding, which given Chisago history is NOT realistic. Then came the PUC hearing, at which time Jim Alders addressed whether it should be a contested case, saying that the company expected it would be a contested case and that Xcel did not have an issue with that.

But noooo, that’s not the end of it. Last Monday, the ALJ issued two Orders, one regarding the City of Lindstrom’s Motion to Extend Task Force:

ALJ Certification to the PUC

But noooo, that’s not the end of it. Here’s the Minnesota version of gavelling the public, quashing participation:

ALJ Harrassment and Quashing of CRVC

By Wednesday of this week, the ALJ  has ordered CRVC that:

3.    On or before 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 2007, a representative of the Concerned River Valley Citizens shall file responsive papers addressing the following matters:

a.    Whether either Mr. Neuman or Ms. Johnson is licensed to practice law in Minnesota or any other jurisdiction;

b.    Whether, in the view of the association, representation of Concerned River Valley Citizens by a non-attorney would amount to the unauthorized practice of law, as those terms are used in Rule 1400.5800;

c.    Whether, in the view of the association, retaining the services of a licensed attorney to appear on behalf of Concerned River Valley Citizens would be unduly burdensome;

d.    Whether the Concerned River Valley Citizens, if granted intervention as a party, would seek access to confidential trade secret data; and,

e.    Whether a more limited role than intervention, under Rule 1400.7150, might meet the needs of Concerned River Valley Citizens

…. sigh… can  you believe????
So we’re before the PUC on Thursday.

Here’s the GRE HQ, stolen from GRE’s site. It’s the former home of Minnesota’s first nuclear plant, the little bitty one that my father helped design the conventional side, the steam stuff, not the nuclear, though I do remember playing with a geiger counter as a kid.

Today it’s time for the NM-SPG meeting up in Elk River, transmission planning for the area. And so hot off the press, here’s the abbreviated report with presentations below:

TRANSMISSION PLANNING

The first issue was one that I care about — the 2007 Transmission Plan (Minn. Stat. 216B.2425). There’s a problem because “nobody’s showing up” and so their thought is to eliminate the zonal meetings. Ummmmm, no… They will hold them this next round, but then what?
Here’s the Minnesota Transmission Owners site.

Here’s the CapX 2020 site.

CAPX 2020 – Jared GRE

Phase I projects and Brookings to Twin Cities
Slides they’ve been giving to County and Township routes
Projected Population Growth 1.3 million by 2050
Job growth 500,00 new jobs
Projected Electric Demand growth 4,500=
CapX Group 1 –
Four lines work together to ensure reliability for the region
Lines meet most urgent need
Lines will serve as out let for whatever generation resources are built
CapX Brookings
250 miles of 345kV, “access to new generation

CoN – Based on SW MN-Twin Cities EHV completed Nov 2005
Additional studies – Generation Alternative for load serving
MISO queue additions, Lake Marion xfmr overload – overloaded before they put it in
Combined CapX Groupe I loss analysis
Load serving, Marshall, Franklin, Lake Marion, New Ethanol loads
Underlying system study to see impact on lower levels

Cost allocation – MISO RCEB Analysis
BISO Baseline Reliability Study – MTEP
CapX Notice Plan – in 30 days or so.
EOM – PUC meeting on Exemptions
Brookings project – Randy Fordice 763-241-2463 rfordice@grenergy.com

Reliability project or generation project – MTEP process, studying now, some results on Fargo project
Load use more like 2004 load and not 2016
MTEP 06 – will be in MTEP 07 if determined to be reliability projects

Fargo CapX line
Corrects loss of bulk lines – Center-Jamestown-Maple River
Dorsey Forbes
Local load serving benefits – Alexandria, St. Cloud
Loss Reduction of 100MW real-time
Fargo need – not until 2018
Alexandria – big problem is loss of Grant County-Elbow Lake Lind
St Cloud – this is the primary local problem – loss of Benton County – Granite City 115kV, St. Regis load drop, cannot Reconfigure GraniteCity without new source

So, seems to me that CapX is doing a good job of proving it’s NOT needed.

Here are a few of the juicier presentations:

Big Stone II Transmission Update – Phase 6

CapX 2020 Fargo – Metro Xmsn Line

CapX 2020 Brookings – SE Metro Xmsn Line

And here’s a presentation using RES as justification for more unnecessary transmission:

RES & Transmission

Click HERE for RES Language

Now doesn’t that make you wonder just what they were thinking when they passed an RES with transmission language in there???

Xcel’s application for the Chisago transmission line is at the PUC, wtih the Certificate of Need and Siting dockets mixed into one.  They’re trying to ram it through unexamined, setting up a Advisory  Task Force with virtually no notice and having three meetings crammed into an eight day period — that’s not sufficient time for anyone to get the application, review it, and comment coherently.  So we’ve filed a Motion for an extension to have a reasonable amount of time, rather than this farce they’ve instituted.  Sure, they don’t want an effective Task Force like the last time, heaven forbid that local governments and the public should have an opportunity to participate in a meaningful way.

Lindstrom Motion for Extension

Expanding Horizons – 1997 Chisago Task Force Report

Expanding Horizons – Appendices

And with that report and appendices, you can see how it should be done.

CLICK HERE for Xcel’s Chisago transmission site.

For the dockets, go to www.puc.state.mn.us and then “eDockets” and then “Search Documents” and then search for dockets 04-1176 and 06-1667 .

The Chisago Transmission Project is going forward with vigor, and with not a heck of a lot of notice.  For example, the Public Comment session on scoping of the Environmental Assessments was last Tuesday, and Comments are open until the 29th of March.

PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE WITH COMMENT INFO

DEPT OF COMMERCE – CHISAGO SITING DOCKET

 XCEL – CHISAGO TRANSMISSION PROJECT APPLICATIONS
They’re in such a hurry that they’re appointing the Citizens Task Force tomorrow, notifying them by the 9th, and week of the 12th they’re starting the Task Force meetings. There’s no way that public entities, i.e., cities, can properly nominate and approve a Task Force member by that time.  NO WAY!!!  That’s “streamlining” in the extreme!

Here’s an article on Jeremy:

Freshman lawmaker Jeremy Kalin of Lindstrom exhibits high energy, working on series of initiatives

Monday, 05 March 2007

by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

There’s a pair of baby shoes in Rep. Jeremy Kalin, DFL-Lindstrom, office at the Capitol.

They’re a gift from a family member, a memento of the drive candidate Kalin exhibited in wearing out five pairs of shoes campaigning in District 17B.

Now the high-energy candidate has made the transition to high-energy lawmaker.

“First of all, I’m having a blast,” said Kalin recently of life in St. Paul.

“If I’m going to be effective, I have to take advantage of every second I’m here,” he said.

Events move quickly at Capitol

Although only two months on the job, one thing that has impressed Kalin is how quickly events move at the Capitol.

And he’s noticed, too, that it’s not when lawmakers are making speeches or otherwise posturing that the work gets done. Deals are struck over coffee, walking to committee, he explained.

Indeed, Kalin wanders about during House floor sessions, not aimlessly nor sightseeing but to buttonhole colleagues, extract information.

In rapid fire Kalin can list a series of initiatives he’s working on. Some have been planned, others developed when he saw an opening and thought “Why not?”

An example of the latter is a proposed East Central pilot project for growing prairie grass for the ethanol industry.

Kalin — who is carrying a portion of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s energy bill — thought growing grasses for ethanol production could be a good use of the sandy soils found in the district.

Jumped in with a proposal

So he saw an opening in some legislation and jumped in with the proposal. “I believe my folks sent me done here to get things done for them,” he  said.

Another energy-related idea Kalin, 32,  designer and draftsman by profession, has is to rate the energy efficiency of public buildings on a state Web site.

The idea, he explained, is to activate the public — to provide information.

When they learn their city is losing thousands of dollars through poor energy use, taxpayers will let their council members know about it, he explained.

Kalin serves in a political place and already has had to make political decisions.

Recently, the House debated an increase in their per diem or daily allowance.

DFL leaders didn’t want a floor debate but rather send Republican amendments on the increase to committee.

Breaks with the leadership

Kalin broke with leadership, voting with Republicans. “I can tell you that wasn’t easy to do,” he said. Yet Kalin argues that per diem is being used as a salary supplement. “I think we should have the guts to stand up and say, ‘Yes, we should raise pay,’ or ‘No, you shouldn’t,’” said Kalin.

While not ruling out a pay increase in the future, Kalin argues now is the wrong time.

In recent days, DFL leaders at the Capitol have indicated that some big issues, such as health care, cannot be fully addressed this session.

That some must be put off for future sessions.

Kalin argues that’s acceptable.

“They don’t want us to do everything at once,” said Kalin of the public.

You don’t want the right ideas with the wrong details, he warned.

In discussing other issues, Kalin said the transportation finance committee only now is figuring out the budget — the issue of a possible gas tax increase hasn’t been decided yet, he explained.

Kalin believes most constituents in his district would accept a gas tax hike — district transportation needs are so pressing, he explained.

“Of course there’ll be some (political) grief,” he said, smiling.

“There’s a little grief waking up and keeping my title ‘politician,’” he said, laughing.

Kalin’s first bill

Kalin’s first bill, a bill dealing with veterans applying for hunting licenses, is expected to come up on the House floor for a vote.

It’s a compromise, Kalin explained. And it’s better for it, he opined. “I think it’s a big success,” he said.

On one recent day, Kalin — the bright sun outside his office window beautifully lighting the Capitol entrance across the street — spoke of rapidly approaching committee deadlines.

He spoke of the need to move faster. Of getting more done. “There’s so much more to do,” he said.

Kalin and his fiance, a physician, are planning to marry in August.

(Photo by T.W. Budig, ECM Capitol Reporter)