Legalectric

This is a Mother’s Day musing, “things mother did right.” Somewhere between shlepping me from meeting to event to cause and filling up the back seat with books, she taught me that it is my responsibility to stand up for what’s right, that’s it’s an imperative, not an option.

I’m astounded at the number of people who go through life without participating — the folks stuck wondering “why they’re here,” or who regard action as “controversial” and “not nice,” or who think passively attending meetings suffices (A trend: my divorce clients almost uniformly are not socially active, hmmmmmmmm… but that’s blog for another time). What’s the point if your actions and life are contrary to claimed values? Learning is doing, life is living, get to work!

Social action can come from any perspective, and there are so many stark needs. My struggle is one of prioritizing, along the lines of Viktor Frankel’s notion that each of us has unique gifts and it’s our job to get out there and use them. How can each of us be most effective using the gifts we have?

Studying and doing go hand in hand. Some draw the distinction between the Yiddish and Hebrew interpretations of mitzvah/mitvot, “good deeds” and “commandment” but it’s not binary — I take it to mean the imperative to act responsibly to improve our world.

There was a great talk the other day on Midday, always more meaningful on a bleary-eyed drive home after a long long day… Here’s how it was billed on the MPR site:

Robert Putnam, the Harvard political scientist who has tracked the
declining membership in everything from bowling leagues to rotary clubs, wants Americans to start doing things in groups again. Putnam says that people who socialize have longer lives, better health and are better citizens.

Here’s the link to Putnam on-line, just scroll down to that program.

Putnam is very disturbed about the trend of ignoring our civic and social responsibilities. Participation is at an all time low. This was determined by asking questions about organizations people participated in, voting and helping on campaigns, and social action. Even church attendance was measured.

Putnam found that a major influence on this negative trend is television — DUH! Off your TV.

Power and Energy is the theme of the week.

MAPP NM-SPG

Yesterday was the MAPP NM-SPG meeting, which is the Mid-America Power Pool Northern MAPP – Subregional Planning Group! MAPP is the transmission industry regional group that was formed a few years after the New York blackout to help share power between the utilities. The NM-SPG, like the other planning groups, determines need for transmission from a transmission engineering perspective, does the necessary electrical studies to evaluate load serving needs, voltage stability and reactive power problems, and generally insuring reliability of the transmission system. The MAPP site has some good resources, for example, if you really want to know how much power is ?needed? you can find that in MAPP?s Load and Capability Report.

Meetings are held at Great River Energy in Elk River. The main office is built next to their 250MW municipal waste burning plant. Years ago, this was the site of the state?s first nuclear plant, which my father helped design, a decade before he desiged the solar at the Minnesota Zoo!

Though some have called it ?watching paint dry,? I really get a charge out of these meetings. Maybe that?s because I miss the first half?caught the close of the discussion about the Transmission Planning meetings starting next week. Check the CapX2020 report for their rough plans/dreams. (see ROUGH transmission map, p. 28). Here?re the meeting dates:

Southeast Zone

May 12, 2005 7 p.m.
Rochester Public Utilities Community Room
4000 East River Road NE
Rochester, MN 55906

Southwest Zone

Twin Cities Zone

West Central Zone

Northwest Zone

Northeast Zone

Last year at the SE Zone meeting, when I wanted to raise issues about interconnection of the Mesaba Project, was told to go to Duluth! (yes, Duluth is hell, but my friend Sadie lives there!). At the NE Zone meeting, there was no one from the Mesaba Project presenting, and the presenters who were there did not want to deal with Mesaba! I?m warning Michael Wadley that I expect the real poop from them that evening!

Here’s the EQB Transmission Map!

Back to the MAPP meeting — there were updates on the ?SW Wind Projects? from Xcel?s Pam Rasmussen; Air Lake-Empire from GRE?s Mike Steckelberg MSteckel@GREnergy.com and Plymouth-Maple Grove 115kV and Eastwood & Faribault 115kV lines.

I asked if they had any info about the Blooming Grove 325MW gas plant and they knew nothing about it. Randy Porter of Dahlen-Berg, which handles management of MMPA, and who worked on the Faribault plant, knew about the earlier plans for a 46MW. Although the line to the north along Hwy. 60 had recently been upgraded, there just isn?t 325MW of spare capacity, and the tap from Hwy. 60 down to Waseca that would connect the plant couldn?t handle that power without upgrades. Rick Free, the Transmission guy for Simon Industries, will have his hands full! It?s important for the Independent Power Producers (IPP?s) to show up at MAPP to keep the planners apprised of their pending projects.

Need a job? GRE is looking for a President and CEO!!!

PUC – Minnesota Power petition to allow ATC to own Arrowhead Line

From there, on to the PUC, for Oral Argument about the Minnesota Power petition to let American Transmission Company take over the Arrowhead Project, leaving MP as only ?construction management.? Right? The issue has been bouncing around between agencies after being raised by various parties for a while, and has settled in the PUC now that MP has filed this request.

PUC staff did a good job of analysis in the Staff Briefing Paper, calling MP lying sacks of.. er… ah… ?disingenuous,? yeah, that’s it. It?s impossible to tell from MP?s statements in the various venues who is doing what, who owns what, and what their relationship really is, and it’s been that way for years. ATC emphatically said it is not a party, and until Thursday?s meeting, had not participated in any way!

The argument was spirited with 12 seated at the table, five participants plus PUC staff and MP/ATC, continuing along the lines of the positions outlined in the Staff Briefing Paper. George Crocker, NAWO, has yet to explain his conflict of interest — on one hand this opposition to ATC, and on the other, a deal and promotion of the Transmission Omnibus Bill from Hell as ?a good deal.? This bill will change the law to allow ATC and TRANSLink companies to operate in Minnesota, just what he advocates against at the PUC. I asked him on the record to disclose his interest in that deal and explain his position, but he did not. The Attorney General’s RUD opposes this bill — I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds it problematic that we’re giving away state authority. May Crocker and Bill Grant of the Izaak Walton League have SF1368 and HF1344 tattooed on their foreheads to forever remind themselves and the world of their legacy…

World Organization for Landowner Freedom, the organization I represent, was the only party to raise ATC ownership at the Arrowhead EQB hearing in August of 2000, but the ALJ ruled it irrelevant. Then Judge Nickolai is now PUC Commissioner Nickolai, and I think now he finally gets it! What?s interesting is that he was ALJ for Arrowhead, he replaced Judge Reha, now Commissioner Reha, and she was ousted as ALJ in Arrowhead for her connection via mediation of the Chisago Project (the one with the side deals for Taylors Falls and St. Croix Falls). It?s possible those two will have to recuse themselves, and if that happens, then we lose the two Commissioners with hands on knowledge of transmission.

Bottom line ? it looks like the PUC will order a contested case. The Briefing Papers present options, and I prefer Option II(B), that orders specific issues to be addressed. It?s about time.

Commissioner Johnson had a good question for ATC: WHY DO YOU WANT THIS? It’s simple: Arrowhead makes no sense electrically or economically. It’s planned as a 600MVA line with an 800MVA limitation, which won’t generate enough revenue to justify the $450+ million cost. It makes a lot of sense if Mesaba ties in and the line expands to a typical 345kV capacity, like the 345kV in SW MN (2085 MVA). MN doesn’t want Arrowhead used for bulk power, but if ATC controls the line, then Minnesota won’t have jurisdiction, FERC will, and Minnesota probably can’t regulate it! Pretty simple! WATCH! And remember who promoted the legislation that lets this happen.

Girl Scouts – Advocacy for Girls

From then to Northfield for the Girl Scout Board Meeting where the big issue is the annual Golf Scramble, Monday, June 13, 2005 at The Legacy, in Faribault (directions/details — walking is allowed!). For more info, contact the Girl Scout Council of Cannon Valley at (507) 645-6603.

We had a very good discussion about the importance of advocacy for girls, focused on “what is lobbying” and what is appropriate and necessary given our mission — the the very purpose of the organization is advocacy for girls. The Vision Statement: Everything we do with our time, talent, technology and treasure is for girls. We’ve been working on Strategic Planning, and as needs rise, we want to be focused to be able to provide for those needs as best we can. You’ll be seeing and hearing more about Girl Scouts!

FULL DISCLOSURE: Golf??? I just can?t relate, Mark Schweiss jokingly described one fancy-schmancy course in the Metro as an ?edifice to capitalism? or some such, but to me it’s too true. ?Golf? represents too much of what?s wrong today, people devoting so much time and money to golf and all the accoutrements when there are so many urgent and demanding needs in our society (yet it’s great the Girl Scouts turn that to an advantage), another opiate of the people. It?s a class thing… I sure can’t afford “country club casual,” and I just don’t have any interest. For me that philosophical tension was captured by very existance of the Central High School golf team — inner city students out in the school’s front yard practicing, hitting balls towards 4th Ave. into cars and the houses across the street. I think the infamous Dakota chef Ken Goff* was on that team! Bill, my old neighbor here in Red Wing, was a golf pro until he salvaged his soul by becoming a high school teacher (and of course coaching the golf team). My little bro? David say?s he?s found the highest and best use for a golf cart ? running down the coyotes at ?his? resort. Nope, I am not now nor have I ever been…

* Huh, article in the Thursday STrib says Goff’s out of the Dakota! More time for golf?

Last night in Blooming Grove Township, Waseca County, the Town Board voted unanimously for a resolution to negotiate a Host Fee Agreement with Simon Industries for their support of a personal property tax exemption for the plant, similar to the one negotiated between Xcel and Scott County and Shakopee. HERE IT IS! Download file

Simon Industries received a personal property tax exemption from the legislature in 2002 for its 46MW plant, but that plant was not built.

The proposed plant site is on a hill on the east side of Hwy. 13 just after you enter into Waseca county, at the first bend in the highway, which is on top of a very large underground natural gas storage facility.

This is looking from the Prehn’s homestead over the site, which will be on the left edge of the photo. The site is next to the pumping station for the 7 billion, yes, that’s 7 BILLION, cubic foot underground gas storage facility. Since it was opened, there have been pumping stations, purpose unclear, that look like little outhouses. The landscape is dotted with them, and it lends an eerie feeling because it’s impossible to forget all that gas below.

These are two of the pumping stations on my client’s land. Years ago, they would open valves and polluted water would spew over the land nearby. The groundwater became polluted enough that in 1998, Centerpoint, then Minnegasco, was required to build a water treatment facility and installed underground tanks at each of these pumping stations to collect that polluted water. My client filed a Petition for an Environmental Assessment Worksheet regarding the polluted water at the time, but it was dismissed without any inquiry. The gas company periodically sends “the gator” to go from station to station and collect the water to bring to the treatment facility at the main pumping station on the hill. It’s a very noisy process, particularly in the winter.

The site where they want to build the plant is shown on the photo below, taken from the farmyard of the nearest home, maybe 1,500 feet away. It will be on the hill in the middle, and the underground storage pumping station is on the hill to the right.

You can find maps of the site in the Environmental Assessment Worksheet from their 2002 application.

So who cares about utility personal property tax exemptions? Taxpayers do! Utilities are taxed differently than most other entities. Those of us in Red Wing care very much when the majority of our county, city and school district tax revenues come from utility personal property tax. That revenue dropped dramatically when the legislature, at the behest of NSP/Xcel and Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, successfully lobbied to drop the rate from 4.6% to 1.5-2.0%. For the last few years, any new power plant construction has been exempt, completely exempt from personal property tax. The reason that this is important to local government is that when local governments support these exemptions, they must be mindful that when an entity is exempted, the tax burden is shifted over to the other property owners in that jurisdiction. Kevin Greene of the Dept. of Revenue laid this out in detail — he’s the one who handles all of the state’s utility personal property tax exemptions. This shift to the taxpayers was confirmed by Brad Johnson, Goodhue County Auditor. In this case, it means that the $2.4 million estimated exemption is paid by the property taxpayers of the county. The taxpayers in Blooming Grove Township were not pleased.

At the township meeting, Rick Free presented the case for Simon Industries ? he also presented at the County meeting that morning.

Free is a consultant, and was with Xcel for 25 years in Operations and Power Marketing. Simon Industries lists him as the one working on Transmission and MISO Interconnection. With that experience, he should know better than to say that we ?need? power! We?re not going to freeze in the dark in an incubator without a job. He probably expected a slam-dunk as with the County, but the Township was looking out for its own, and heard the citizens who were concerned about the impact of this plant on the environment, their enjoyment of their lives and homes, and on this evening, their property taxes.

The Blooming Grove town board voted to require Simon Industries to negotiate a Host Fee Agreement. They can get assistance from the Minnesota Association of Townships in this process.

Rep. Connie Ruth told Nancy Prehn that she wanted a ?win-win? situation. This is a “Win-Win” to be sure! Simon Industries got the support for exemption they wanted, and the Township was included as a stakeholder and can now negotiate a Host Fee Agreement.

Congratulations to the Blooming Grove Town Board for standing up for its citizens and the public interest.

The Living Green Expo was this weekend, and I had a booth, first time they’ve had a lawyer there!

An excited energy enthusiast locked the keys in one of the hybrids. They had one per year that they’ve been manufactured, and had the hybrid bus with the bike rack on front (I didn’t see evidence of the Solar Bike Tour but I might have missed it).

The only disaster of the day was that the Resource Center of the Americas’ coffee pot lost its power at a crucial point mid-morning. A minor revolution ensued…

My booth was in the far row, just to the left of the center column in the photo.

Many of the people who stopped by were concerned about Mesaba, Arrowhead Transmission Line too, although I think the sample was skewed by a large percentage of people from up north.

I wasn’t really ready for this, didn’t have my stuff copied, so it could have been a lot better, but given the hours this week on the Blooming Grove utiity personal property tax exemption, just showing up was a feat. Check the front page of the Mankato Free Press for the full scoop on the tax exemption, 7 billion cubic feet of gas storage, and the resolution before the Waseca County Board on Tuesday — we’ve got a small army down there. I’ll post the link when I get it.