Legalectric

Hi Everyone,

We made it to Berlin! This particular travel day was really LONG: We left Gimmelwold. Switzerland at 8am and didn’ get to our destination until 12:30am! We again rode the gondola down the mountain, hopped on a bus to Lauderbrunnen, caught the local train to Interlachen, and got on the regular train to Basel, Switzerland. By then it was noon.

We had a nice layover of two hours there and found a wonderful grocery store in the train station that helped us stock up for our next and final leg of the journey. We stepped on board the train to Berlin at 14:11 and arrived in Berlin at 21:21. All was well until we got off and discovered our escort was nowhere to be found. This was a big disappointment. We were tired and didn’t want to go in to high gear to figure out how to get to the conference site.

Then this wonderful thing happened. This very gruff, very stern, very German frau who worked in the subway came to our rescue. We had been standing in front of the ticket machine trying to figure out how to make it spit out 12 tickets, to where we still were not sure, and were beginning to argue with eachother over why none of our effórts was fruitful. With limitted English and the use of my rather simplistic map, she figured out what was needed and walked us through the buying or tickets, mapping out our route (two subways and a train) and even accompanied on the first subway, ensuring that we got off at the right stop.

Then the next wonderful thing happened. On the last train, we discovered someone who had been sent out to accompany incoming IDEC participants. He was able to lead us from the train station to the tent site (a 30 min. walk through what looked like a maze of dark, narrow streets and walkways). We were all very greatful to put down our bags and fall in to bed.

Our accomodations are rather comical: Big 12×12 circus tents in a big circle, housing about 200 people. Toilets and sinks are a 2 1/2 minute walk from the tents in one direction (I timed it!) and the showers are a 5 minute walk in another direction – the portable type. All of this is set up in a park about the size of Como Park and in the midst of activity somewhat like Como park as well.

And then there is the conference. It is fantastic. All these people from all around the world, who love to think deeply about education and the politics of children. All these kids who love to learn in the most organic and concrete ways, by having fun and being themselves, by discovery and with delight. In this very makeshift setting, we are coming together to share thoughts, ideas, experiences, and hopes for a world that will include all of the problems and all of the solutions. This is a very exciting place to be.

There is a sign-up sheet for a visit to a concentration camp, and one for a visit to the Berlin wall. Peter and Tarin went on a group tour of the Berlin nightlife last night. Our new home has a small swimming lake and beautiful flower gardens.

We are being fed by a catering company, fabulous vegetarian meals and an afternoon snack of cake and coffee. We are sleeping well on our little camping cots. We arranged ourselves in two tents: 9 students wall to wall in one, 3 teachers spaciously placed in the other. We are all adjusted to this next new temporary home. It is our last European stopping place and we are making the most of every minute, as we have each day of our travels. We will be home soon, and we will be both sorry to leave and happy to resume our lives with you all.

Maria

You may remember reading about this on the Bly Blog, and here it is again, Electricity: Winners and Losers, but this time the gathering was in Lindstrom, Minnesota.

Jamie Anderson, our hostess with the mostess, runs Many Voices Bookseller and Coffeeshop, and it’s “info central” in the area, hosting events like this, the Wild River Audubon Society, and trying to fill those needs in a small rural/exurban community, well, you have to be out here to understand…

We were there to see Green Green Water and talk about energy. Now’s the time to check it out, right HERE! It’s the story of the impacts of our energy choices, and an urgent call to take responsibility for electrical generation — we can do it differently.

This “Electricity: Winners and Losers” was put together by Just Energy and was sponsored by Women’s Environmental Institute, Many Voices Bookseller and Coffeehouse, and Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy, and Ken Bradley of Just Energy at ME3 presented their film clip of Green Green River.

Also present were Women’s Environmental Institute staff members Rep. Karen Clark and Jacqueline Zita, and a room full of area folks, real people who are affected by the changes this legislative session.

Yes, I went there on a mission — first, to make sure everyone in that room knew there was no electricity crisis. For that, just look at the CapX2020 report (the 6,000MW claimed need in the chart on p. 5, and the 16,712MW in line for generation interconnection shown on p. 7, do the math, we’re fine). The more complicated part was about the Chisago line, which is going to go right through downtown Lindstrom. Years back, the locals had tanked the NSP Chisago Transmission Line by showing that it wasn’t needed to serve Minnesota load, that was back in the days where it was “Minnesota” need that mattered. Now, as of the last legislative session’s Transmission Omnibus Bill from Hell, it’s REGIONAL need, and it’s going to be pert near impossible to disprove that need, it’s just too broad. Shellene Johnson, President of Concerned River Valley Citizens, did a great briefing of the status of the project and some of the problems she anticipates, and she knows that the changes this session will hurt her community, those living under the line.

All of you at home, get out your pens and Thank You Notes — We have Bill Grant of the Izaak Walton League, Midwest Office, and George Crocker of North American Water Office to thank for their work as the primary ones who trotted this “good deal” around and sold it to legislators. That’s what made this change happen.

Everyone in that room in Many Voices in Lindstrom needed to know that Xcel regularly promises to submit its application, and has already obtained approval from the PUC of its Notice Plan. This legislative change will have an impact on them all personally. So, get ready, roll up your sleeves — we’ll have a lot of work to do.

Here are the specific legislative additions that make “regional” need the criteria — from the Transmission Omnibus Bill from Hell SF1368:

6.35 or, in the case of a high-voltage transmission line, the
6.36 relationship of the proposed line to regional energy needs, as
7.1 presented in the transmission plan submitted under section
7.2 216B.2425;

and

7.19 (9) with respect to a high-voltage transmission line, the
7.20 benefits of enhanced regional reliability, access, or
7.21 deliverability to the extent these factors improve the
7.22 robustness of the transmission system or lower costs for
7.23 electric consumers in Minnesota;

and

12.28 Subdivision 1. [TARIFF ESTABLISHMENT.] A tariff shall be
12.29 established to optimize local, regional, and state benefits from
12.30 wind energy development, and to facilitate widespread
12.31 development of community-based wind energy projects throughout
12.32 Minnesota.

Regional need. Great. Thanks George… Thanks Bill…