Legalectric

The Pages of Shades: Fairy Tales

Emperor Micheletti exposed!!! The whole world is watching, and a lot of people know… In today’s Grand Rapids Herald Review Bob Beech speaks the obvious truth that must be said:

Reader likens Excelsior project to ‘Emperor’ fable

Editor:

In the fable, â??The Emperorâ??s New Suit,â? by Hans Christian Andersen, remember how the emperor commissioned a wonderful new wardrobe which took lots of hard work, time and money to create?

I quote here from the fable; â??One day two swindlers came to this city; they made people believe that they were weavers, and declared they could manufacture the finest cloth to be imagined. Their colors and patterns, they said, were not only exceptionally beautiful, but the clothes made of their material possessed the wonderful quality of being invisible to any man who was unfit for his office or unpardonably stupid. â??That must be wonderful cloth,â??thought the emperor. â??If I were to be dressed in a suit made of this cloth I should be able to find out which men in my empire were unfit for their places, and I could distinguish the clever from the stupid. I must have this cloth woven for me without delay.â?? And he gave a large sum of money to the swindlers, in advance, that they should set to work without any loss of time. And remember, when he finally appeared in public in his new outfit, how everyone pretended to admire the fancy clothes — even thoâ?? he was totally naked?

And remember the end of the story? Again I quote the fable; â??The emperor marched in the procession under the beautiful canopy, and all who saw him in the street and out of the windows exclaimed: â??Indeed, the emperorâ??s new suit is incomparable! What a long train he has! How well it fits him!â?? Nobody wished to let others know he saw nothing, for then he would have been unfit for his office or too stupid. Never emperorâ??s clothes were more admired.

â??But he has nothing on at all,â?? said a little child at last. â??Good heavens! listen to the voice of an innocent child,â?? said the father, and one whispered to the other what the child had said. â??But he has nothing on at all,â?? cried at last the whole people. That made a deep impression upon the emperor, for it seemed to him that they were right; but he thought to himself, â??Now I must bear up to the end.â?? And the chamberlains walked with still greater dignity, as if they carried the train which did not exist.â?

Well, the reason for fables like that is staring us in the face right now. Itâ??s called the Mesaba Energy Project. We need to expose their naked grab for our money before we get caught holding the bag for what needs to be their risks, not ours –the people of Trout Lake and Iron Range townships. They propose to use our land and our money to build the stateâ??s most expensive experiment ever producing electricity which will not be used locally and for which our people will see absolutely no improvement in their quality of life or lowering of taxes.

Bob Beech
Bovey

Yes, they’ve made it very, very official, and I hope everyone who is experiencing a tightening and lurching stomach at the prospect of this $1.3 BILLION transmission project (Phase I of how many phases?) calls or emails Bill Grant of the Izaak Walton League (651) 649-1446, and George Crocker, North American Water Office, (651) 770-3861, to thank them for ushering through the 2005 Transmission Omnibus Bill from Hell. Special thanks are due Rep. Aaron Peterson too, email him or call him at (320) 226-1737. This is the direct result of that bill, this is a direct result of their “deal, a package deal, a good deal.” Here’s that deal, SF1368/Ch97. This bill made these projects possible.

It makes me sick…

Here’s the STrib’s report:

Electricity network upgrade underway

Xcel Energy and other utilities kicked off a $1.3 billion project to add transmission capacity in Minnesota and neighboring states.

Joy Powell, Star Tribune

Regional utilities on Friday filed regulatory papers kicking off a $1.3 billion transmission project aimed at feeding the region’s growing appetite for electricity.

Between 2009 and 2020, Xcel Energy Inc. and other utilities will upgrade a transmission “backbone” in Minnesota and neighboring states.

It’s the biggest such effort undertaken by Xcel and other Midwest utilities in nearly 25 years, said Terry Grove of Great River Energy, a project leader.

“These transmission capacity upgrades are needed to deliver new electricity generation to support economic, job and population growth in the future,” Grove said, adding that they’re also needed to deliver more wind energy.

Customer demand for electricity is projected to grow by 6,300 megawatts from 2009 to 2020, or about 2.5 percent a year. (One megawatt can serve about 1,000 households.)

“It’s existing customers using more energy,” Grove said. “It’s new customers, and that’s generally a measure of the economic growth and vitality of the state. And in some cases, you’ve got industries that are expanding dramatically, like the ethanol industry and, potentially, biodiesel refineries.”

With more capacity in the transmission system, utilities will be better able to buy competitively priced wholesale energy supplies and move it through the system.

And that could help lower customers’ bills overall, officials said.

“We are definitely operating with the lines at their full capacity many times,” Grove said.

The approximate lengths and locations of the proposed lines:

â?¢ A 200-mile, 345-kilovolt line between Brookings, S.D., and the southeastern Twin Cities. Also, a related 30-mile line.

â?¢ A 200-mile, 345-kilovolt line between Fargo, N.D., and the St. Cloud-Monticello area.

â?¢ A 150-mile, 345-kilovolt line from the southeastern Twin Cities area to Rochester and La Crosse, Wis.

â?¢ A 70-mile, 230-kilovolt line in the Bemidji area of north-central Minnesota.

Once the Minnesota Public Utility Commission approves the plans, Xcel will mail letters to potentially affected property owners along each of the planned paths of the transmission lines, letting them know how they can learn more, said Laura McCarten of Xcel.

That route-permitting process will determine the paths of the power lines, the location of substations and which owners will be affected. The utilities could seek condemnation of land needed for public use, if agreements can’t be reached.

“We know that we will cross many parcels, but it’s very hard to quantify at this point,” Grove said.

“We’re very early in the process. The filings we just made [Friday] are to seek the Public Utilities Commission’s approval [of] how we will notify local government units, landowners and the general public.”

Xcel Energy, Great River Energy and Otter Tail Power Co. will cover much of the $1.3 billion cost, which will be passed on to consumers in small amounts, beginning in 2009 or 2010.

By 2012, or once the projects go into service, the investment could result in an increase of less than $1.50 per month to a typical residential customer’s bill by 2012, Xcel spokeswoman Mary Sandok said.

This $1.3 billion project is the first of three phases. The second will build more transmission lines and substations to serve the load primarily in eastern Minnesota.

The third will create more facilities to integrate new generation into the grid, Grove said.

In today’s Northfield News:

Ethanol plant in Little Prairie?

To the editor:

Advanced Bioenergy is proposing to build a large ethanol plant in our small farming community. This may cause profound changes in our lives. Please join us in learning about the possible impacts of this proposal.

The CEO of this company presented their proposal at last Monday’s meeting of the Bridgewater Township Board of Supervisors. The plant would likely be built in Section 29 near the Comus railroad junction. The site is targeted due to the availability of corn, rail, interstate highway, natural gas, water and electricity.

They are proposing a large facility: larger than the failed Dundas plant and twice the size of the Claremont plant. It would produce 100 million gallons of ethanol per year, store two million bushels of corn, occupy more than 200 acres with buildings on 50 to 60 acres, add five to seven miles of rails, pump 750 to 900 gallons per minute of well water, employ about 45 people, and attract 150 to 200 trucks per day.

There are a number of issues related to an ethanol plant of this size, including odors, air emissions, noise, light, highway safety, groundwater usage, wastewater treatment, and process and stormwater discharges to Wolf Creek. An Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) will likely be required by the state.

Advanced Bioenergy is only 18 months old, a phenomenon of increasing oil prices and the ethanol boom. They are building their first plant in Fairmont, Neb., and scoping a plant in Rochester, Ind. The plant in Rice County would be their third. This is a company with no economic or environmental track record for us to evaluate.

Like you, we love living in Little Prairie and cherish our shared history. Steve’s grandparents purchased our farm in 1919. Let’s inform ourselves so we make good decisions about our community’s future in 2019 and beyond.

Cathy Larson
Steve Albers
Dundas

My friend Maria, in Kenyon, has had one hell of a week… she’s a teacher at the Village School, well, until last Tuesday, and then on Monday, well, here’s her report:

Friends and family, everyone who has sent us support,

On Monday afternoon, for no apparent reason, our house started on fire and burned up. I was the only one in the house at the time, sitting peacefully in the basement doing school work. Something caused a fire to start in the kitchen. It must have been electrical. I heard popping noises and then banging sounds like something was falling, and by the time I came upstairs to see what was going on, it was already out of control and the house was filled with smoke. I bolted out the door and yelled “FIRE”! That was the end of our life in that lovely old farmhouse where we have spent the last 13 years of our lives. The house burned while we waited for the fire trucks to come. It took 5 trucks and 15 people to put out the blaze and when they were done, our house was gone. We are still trying to grasp the reality of this.

We are trying to go day by day and figure out the little stuff and the big stuff at the same time. The Red Cross has given us 4 nights in a hotel in Faribault to camp out and regroup. We have to find a place to live by Friday which is really big. And we need things like underwear which is kind of small, but still… It’s pretty overwhelming.

When people ask “what do you need?” I keep thinking, a house! That doesn’t really get me anywhere. So then I think, underwear, dog food, socks… well that’s not exactly it either. This is just hard to figure out in a step by step way.

We did decide that we need to get our barn sorted out because that appears to be our home at this time. Not that we will live there but that is where we will keep our stuff for the time being. Two of out bedrooms didn’t burn up in the fire, smoke but no flames, so we have stuff from there, and our basement didn’t burn either so there’s stuff from there. But it’s such a weird jumble and collection of stuff and it doesn’t make up a household so sorting it seems really confusing. When my mom died I remember going in to her house and feeling this way. I just stared at everything and it all reminded me of stories and I was useless at doing anything practical. That is how I am right now. Kind of at a loss.

We are inviting anyone who can come to help us on Thurs. (tomorrow) to get everything out of the house that can be saved and to help us produce some sort of order in the barn. We will hopefully have a dumpster there. We might try to save some of the plants that have been living around the perimeter of the house. We are counting on the power of the collective mind to make this happen as our minds are not really able to figure this out alone. If you can’t come, don’t worry. Prayers are always helpful.

So that’s where we are so far. We hope that everyone who comes can also bring some food to share, remembering there is no kitchen, no serving spoons, no chairs… you know… We will have a saw horse and plywood table, and probably will discover other useful things as we go along.

We will be getting cell phones today so we can be in touch with people soon. Sorry for not talking to every one of you. I’m having a hard time figuring out what to do moment to moment and end up thinking up things but doing very little. I really appreciate your love and concern.

Thanks, Maria

From Maria this morning, it’s a whole new day:

Thank you to everyone for your love and support, your positive energy, your donations and condolences.

Yesterday was amazing. We had about 50 people at our place and everyone was busy, which only goes to show how much work there was to be done. Our devastation was transformed and we now have a home again. Lois lent her camper for sleeping, stocked with dishes, beds, fuel, even tape! We cleaned out the barn and made room for all the random things that survived the fire, then organized them so that we can now take stock of what is left.

Many people took home photo albums to revive and bags of clothes to wash. They brought food to stock our “summer kitchen”, and we ate really well for the first time all week. All the plants around the house were transplanted so they will be out of harms way when the house is taken down. A set of dishes I had forgotten about was retrieved from the attic. My school files that I was working on at the time of the fire were found! I feel so grateful. I can’t even put in to words how much it has meant to me to be helped by all of you and to be healed by your love.

With the power of this incredible group of friends and family we moved in one day, from chaos to order, from hopelessness to clarity. I was so overwhelmed yesterday that I could barely bring myself to show up at our farm. I felt at a loss about where to start, what to do, and I was feeling so inept. How could I ask people to come and not even know what I was asking for? But it didn’t matter. Each person found their place and stayed with their task, made do with what was there, and created a vision that came to be: We are no longer homeless.

We are ready to move to the next phase. Knowing you are there to help us through is going to make this all possible. A phrase we use in AVP kept floating through my mind yesterday, “Trust the process.” Well, this is a process and you have all really helped me to trust. Things are going much better than I could have imagined.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Maria

Monday night there was a presentation by Revis Stephenson, of Advanced Bioenergy, who wants to build an ethanol plant in Bridgewater Township. The location proposed is the Hutton farm on Co. Rd. 8, right by Stephanine Henricksen and David Kamis’ farm. Oh, great, good idea! Here’s Section 29, showing the Hutton’s land, they have parts of Section 29 and 30.

They plan to dump the wastewater into Wolf Creek, and Stephenson apparently didn’t know that Wolf Creek is an impaired water — they won’t be dumping any wastewater there! And how exactly would they get it from Hutton’s land to Wolf Creek?!?!? Here’s the MPCA Impaired Waters list in PDF and searchable Excel.

Also, take a look at the plat map, in the middle of Section 29. See where it says Freeway Enterprises (not an active corporation) and Medford Properties — what are they?

And the punch line — here’s how Revis Stephenson deals with permit compliance in “his own backyard” literally — for his own home (here’s the aerial photo) in the City of Orono, where he did not comply with the conditions of his permit and wanted After the Fact Conditional Use Permit and Variances — he just happened to expand his lot by 26 feet… who in Rice County does this remind you of? Here’s the City Council minutes!

Here’s info on the Fairmont, Nebraska plant they built. Note that in that one they got TIF money. They want to try to do that here too. HUH??? More slopping in the government trough, building for-profit enterprises at public expense. I would hope the County has the sense to say “NO!”

Here’s some SEC info about Stephenson’s compensation for a project.

Here are links to all sorts of SEC stuff on Advanced BioEnergy — 10Q very much!

And then there’s the issue of the railroad upgrades (that Doug Jones has been talking up) and traffic on Co. Rd. 8.

Does Little Prairie Church want ethanol neighbors?