Legalectric

Last Thursday, Excelsior Energy was before the PUC with the boondoggle IGCC coal gasification plant from hell, asking for Commission blessing of transmission, “associated transmission” for a project that doesn’t exist, the project for which the PUC persistently refuses to approve the non-PPA and force it on Xcel raetpayers, the project about which LeRoy Koppendrayer, chair of PUC said, AGAIN, that “no one needs and no one wants” oh yes, here we all are wasting our time again…

Here are my ROUGH notes, sue me if they’re wrong… we on the opposition side sure can’t afford transcripts:

commission-apr-10-2008

You’ll get the flavor… I got really frustrated with the way they’re yammering on this transmission, and avoiding the words “associated” and I couldn’t type when I was registering my objections… I was on the phone from far away and am just not that multi-task proficient… but at least the dogs weren’t barking in the background.

But at least we have one shining example of defiance of the face of economic assault. There comes a point, sooner or later, when you stop scrambling around on all fours and, like JB and his fellow drivers all over the country, you finally stand up.

Yes, it’s true, I spent a lot of years in a truck.   That’s one, above, my “Kelly truck” when I worked for a bunch of yahoo brothers who would get into fistfights in the office and where I spent way too much time at the bank trying to wring some money out of the checks they wrote… it was 12 years, off and on, probably a million miles, and much of it on pretty gravy runs hauling meat to CA and produce back, 5-7 days of hard work for decent money.  It’s how I got a B.A., driving one or two weeks a month, faxing in assignments, parking in the school parking lot, and falling asleep during the LSAT because I’d blasted in from Phoenix to take it, oh yes, those were the days, and I sure am paying for it now.  My back and neck are shot, left rotor cuff and hip jammed from falling off the “back porch” while jumping the reefer, and personality wise, I’m not fit to work for anyone after all those years of having the boss a couple thousand miles away, doing what I want when I want (as long as what I wanted to do was drive all the time), and it’s a severe jones that no 12 step program can handle.  Any Friday watching the sun set, I want to head west, no matter where I am, and all these years later, I’ve got to go… like Bonnie Raitt says, the road is my LAST name.

Anyway, trucks and truckers are in the news.  People really don’t get how dependent we are in this society on trucks.  With fuel going up, and truckers going down, we’re gonna learn real fast.

Truthout is passing on this piece from Barbara Ehrenreich, excerpts below:

Truckers Protest, the Resistance Begins
By Barbara Ehrenreich
Barbaraehrenreich.com

Monday 07 April 2008

(excerpts)

More importantly, the activist truckers understand their protest to be part of a larger effort to “take back America,” as one put it to me. “We continue to maintain this is not just about us,” “JB” – which is his CB handle and stands for the “Jake Brake” on large rigs – told me from a rest stop in Virginia on his way to Florida. “It’s about everybody – the homeowners, the construction workers, the elderly people who can’t afford their heating bills … This is not the action of the truck drivers, but of the people.” Hayden mentions his parents, ages and 81 and 76, who’ve fought the Maine winter on a fixed income. Missouri-based driver Dan Little sees stores shutting down in his little town of Carrollton. “We’re Americans,” he tells me, “We built this country, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to lie down and take this.”

At least one of the truckers’ tactics may be translatable to the foreclosure crisis. On March 29, Hayden surrendered three rigs to be repossessed by Daimler-Chrysler – only he did it publicly, with flair, right in front of the statehouse in Augusta. “Repossession is something people don’t usually see,” he says, and he wanted the state legislature to take notice. As he took the keys, the representative of Daimler-Chrysler said, according to Hayden, “I don’t see why you couldn’t make the payments.” To which Hayden responded, “See, I have to pay for fuel and food, and I’ve eaten too many meals in my life to give that up.”

Suppose homeowners were to start making their foreclosures into public events- inviting the neighbors and the press, at least getting someone to camcord the children sitting disconsolately on the steps and the furniture spread out on the lawn. Maybe, for a nice dramatic touch, have the neighbors shower the bankers, when they arrive, with dollar bills and loose change, since those bankers never can seem to get enough.

But the larger message of the truckers’ protest is about pride or, more humbly put, self-respect, which these men channel from their roots. Dan Little tells me, “My granddad said, and he was the smartest man I ever knew, ‘If you don’t stand up for yourself ain’t nobody gonna stand up for you.'” Go to theamericandriver.com, run by JB and his brother in Texas, where you’re greeted by a giant American flag, and you’ll find – among the driving tips, weather info, and drivers’ favorite photos -the entire Constitution and Declaration of Independence. “The last time we faced something as impacting on us,” JB tells me, “There was a revolution.”

…

If you would like to help support the truckers in any way, go to http://www.theamericandriver.com/files/TruckersAndCitizensUnited.html.

Here we go, deja vu all over again. Excelsior Energy’s Mesaba Project, the IGCC coal gasification project from hell is before the PUC on Thursday, April 10. There are issues in two dockets on the agenda (NOTE LINKS TO BRIEFING PAPERS):

**8. E-6472/CN-07-1640 Excelsior Energy

In the matter of the petition of Excelsior Energy, Inc. and MEP-I LLC for an Order concerning transmission infrastructure under Minn. Stat. 216B.1694

1. Should Excelsior’s petition be dismissed?
2. Should the Commission grant Excelsior Energy’s petition for the Commission to find that all transmission infrastructure associated with the Mesaba Project be exempted from the requirements for a certificate of need under section 216B.243, regardless of whether the Mesaba Project owner or any other transmission owner or person actually permits, owns, constructs, or oversees the construction of the transmission infrastructure associated with the Mesaba Project? (PUC: staff-briefing-papers – Fournier, Gonzalez, Mackenzie)

**9. E-6472/M-05-1993 – Phase II Excelsior Energy

In the matter of a petition by Excelsior Energy Inc. for approval of a Power Purchase Agreement under Minn. Stat 216B.1694, and determination of least cost technology and establishment of a clean energy technology minimum under Minn. Stat. 216B-1693: Should the Commission grant Excelsior’s request for an indefinite stay, pending further order of the Commission, of Phase II proceeding in this docket? (PUC: staff-briefing-papers-stay Fournier, Gonzalez, Mackenzie)

The transmission case is absurd, they’re wanting to claim rights to transmission without needing a Certificate of Need FOR A PROJECT THAT DOESN’T EXIST. How on earth can they claim transmission “associated with the project” when there is no project. How can the discussion get beyond that obvious issue? I filed a Motion to toss it out because it’s just so absurd. That’s the #1 question above. The #2 question goes to the merits of Excelsior’s Petition, which I think is somewhere we shouldn’t even bother going, that Excelsior’s request shouldn’t even get that hint of credibility. So here we go on that… what a waste of time.

The other issue is in the PPA docket, where they’re asking for a indefinite stay. My take? They can withdraw their petition any time they like, if they don’t want a decision. And of course they wouldn’t want a decision on the project, given the disdain for the project shown by the PUC over the last year, sojust withdraw it. Put us out of our misery, please. They can read the writing on the wall.

April 10, at the PUC, 121 – 7th Place E., St. Paul, meeting starts at 9:30 and we’re 8 and 9 on the agenda.

Pack a lunch!

Word has it from Sen. Tom Bakk, that this passed through full Senate yesterday, GRRRRRRR:

The provision is included in the senate tax bill that was debated yesterday and was passed. The issue of the exemption never came up in the committee or the floor of the senate, I believe members of the Minneapolis legislation are divided on this. If you want to continue to pursue this you should spend your time on the house side as they are still in the process of putting their tax bill together. Hope this helps clarify the status of the provision in the senate.
Tom

Sen. Scott Dibble has introduced a bill, SF 3617, to give Kandiyohi more time to start construction, to get over the hoop to get exemption from Utility Personal Property Tax. GRRRRR. Whatever does he think he’s doing?!?! Who’s he representing here — certainly not his constituents. It’s not in his district, he doesn’t represent neighbors of the project. What’s his interest?

This bill needs to be STOPPED!

Link to bill: SF 3617

Take three minutes and do these three things to stop this bill:

1) CALL SEN. SCOTT DIBBLE: 651.296.4191 and 612.824.3823
Email: sen.scott.dibble@senate.mn

2) CALL SEN. TOM BAKK, Tax Committee Chair: 651.296.8881
Bakk’s Email form HERE

3) CONTACT ANY TAX COMMITTEE MEMBERS YOU KNOW: COMMITTEE LIST HERE

Message: DON’T EXTEND TAX BREAKS FOR KANDIYOHI & MIDTOWN.
Withdraw SF3617, the project’s not acceptable, they’ve had enough breaks.
(If you’re a nearby neighbor, let them know.)

Call or email your own Senator and House Rep.

Senate Membership info HERE

House Membership info HERE

Let Dibble and company know that this just is not a good idea. The project is harmful to the community, it’s a waste of money and opening for even more — incineration is economic disaster.

ENOUGH! JUST SAY NO!!!