Another Fukushima Daiichi update
March 30th, 2011
The nuclear mess in Japan is just slowly getting worse, with radiation leaking out at higher levels, more radioactive water from the plant leaking out, nowhere to store what they are able to pump out, and efforts to pump water in aren’t sufficient to provide cooling. The good news is that they are finally openly admitting that the plants will have to be “scrapped.”
Here are some updates from around the world:
Japan may have lost race to save nuclear reactor
Japan nuclear crisis: evacuees turned away from shelters
Japan to scrap stricken nuclear reactors
Here’s a view of our own Monticello reactor, the same GE as some of the Fukushima plants:
For some technical info and photos of this type of GE reactor, check this “Virtual Nuclear Tourist” site, put together by Joseph Gunyeau (here’s some background on him) who I think is based in nearby Cannon Falls, he has been a contractor at many nuclear plants — and he says that a Fukushima page is in the works:
Fukushima Daiichi update
March 26th, 2011
The saga at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear site continues, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better, officials continue to report the situation as “grave.”
Radiation doses spread unequally – Daily Yomiuri Online
TEPCO workers not warned of radiation risk- Daily Yomiuri Online
Iodine 1,250times over limit – Daily Yomiuri Online
Radiation spikes in sea off Fukushima plant – Market Watch
Radioactivity rises in seawater near Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant – Washington Post
Japan PM calls situation at nuclear plant “grave” – Business Week
Draz, kill the amendment..
March 26th, 2011
I’ve seen some bizarre bills over the years, but mandating logging in our state parks here in Southeast Minnesota has got to be one of the worst. Who put it in? Rep. Steve Drazkowski… EARTH TO MARS — PULL THE AMENDMENT… what more to say?
Sec. 21. HARVEST OF TIMBER; STATE PARKS.
Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 86A.05, subdivision 2, or any other law to the contrary, the commissioner of natural resources shall assess the black walnut and other timber resources in Frontenac State Park and Whitewater State Park, harvest the black walnut and timber resources suitable for harvest, and deposit the proceeds from the sale into the state parks account in the natural resources fund by June 30, 2013.
From Bluestem Prairie, with a link to a great Op Ed from Mankato Free Press:
Only God can make a tree, but stupid ideas are left for the Draz to introduce
This posting drew this comment from a reader who was there:
I sat in on the House Environment evening session on March 16. Some time after Lee Frelich offered his testimony Drazkowski went on a little rant about global warming and invasives. I recall his remarks as being "Climate change, SO WHAT. Invasives, SO WHAT." My notes probably don't have the wording exact but his "so whats" were so contemptuous that they stuck in my memory. I'm pretty sure the meeting is recorded so his voice should be available but I don't know if the camera was on him. I recall some ancient philosopher's prayer as being "O Lord, please make my enemies ridiculous." We've been granted ridiculous enemies. I just wish they didn't have the majority in the legislature.
Here’s his contact info – tell him what you think:
651-296-2273 and 507-843-3711
E-mail: rep.steve.drazkowski@house.mn
Next it goes to Ways and Means, so contact all the members, just cut and paste the addresses below:
The Tammens featured in Session Weekly
March 25th, 2011
It’s hard to miss the Tammens — they are EVERYWHERE!!! Saw them up in Clouqet about a year ago at an IATP Biomass love-fest, and they have been at every meeting and hearing for the Excelsior Energy Mesaba Project. Good to see they’ve been noticed!!!
Here’s the profile in Session Weekly — thanks to Darrell Gerber for pointing this out:
Soudan snowbirds
Published (3/25/2011)
By Sue Hegarty
You might not notice Bob and Pat Tammen sitting in the House hearing rooms. Bob, clothed in a crisp, pressed dress shirt and necktie, blends in with the lobbyists, deputy commissioners and expert testifiers. Pat sits next to her husband, alert to the day’s agenda.
Bob and Pat met after he returned from Vietnam in 1965.
They don’t always agree with some DFL legislators who say mining brings prosperity to a community.
When the legislative session ends, they’ll drive north again and park the camper on
Xcel’s Hiawatha Transmission Project Comments Due
March 24th, 2011
Does anyone give a rodent’s rump about Xcel’s Hiawatha Project transmission project through Phillips?
Listen up! It’s time to Comment on what we all think the scope of the Environmental Report should be for Xcel Energy’s Hiawatha Project transmission line. What should be reviewed, what system alternatives should be considered (conservation, reconductor the distribution system at issue), demand side management (demand is DOWN, DUH!), solar on every roof of Phillips to follow peak load… , whether the size of the project (the specs) conform with the need they’re claiming, whether a power factor and distribution based need claim can and should be addressed with a big honkin’ transmission line, and how ’bout some realistic magnetic field modeling, ____________ (your issue here!).
Does anyone care?
Last week was the public meeting to solicit comments on the scope of environmental review, a meeting (NOT a hearing!) held by our friends at Minnesota Office of Energy Security – MOES:
COMMENTS ON THE SCOPE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT ARE OPEN UNTIL APRIL 6, 2011!
Send Comments to:
Bill Storm State Permit Manager Minnesota Office of Energy Security 85 7th Place East, Suite 500 St. Paul, Minnesota, 55101-2198 Fax: 651-297-7891 email: bill.storm@state.mn.us
More on Comments below… I couldn’t attend the public meeting because it was in the middle of the AWA Goodhue Wind evidentiary hearing, there was no way to do both. However, this is my old neighborhood, I spent 20 years in Prestigious East Phillips! I can’t stand the thought of this project ripping up Phillips…
To look at the dockets for this case, go to www.puc.state.mn.us and click “Search eDockets” and search for:
Hiawatha Project Routing Docket – 09-38
Hiawatha Project Certificate of Need Docket – 10-694
I’m concerned whether anyone cares, whether anyone is going to be weighing in on this, because the big intervenors in the routing case, Hennepin County, City of Minneapolis, and the Midtown Greenway Coalition have all pledged not to intervene:
Joint letter from Hennepin County, City of Minneapolis, and Midtown Greenway Coalition
Why would they say they’re not planning on intervening? Did they agree not to intervene? Why?
What does it mean if the large funded intervenors aren’t participating in the Certificate of Need docket?
Why does it matter if anyone intervenes in the Certificate of Need?
Well, it’s simple. This project isn’t needed. And in a Certificate of Need proceeding, the applicant has to prove up need. If it’s not needed, it doesn’t go forward. If you want to stop a project, force them to do it another way, the odds are a lot higher if you show up and participate in the Certificate of Need docket at the PUC. If not, well, you’re just sitting on the sidelines and stuck with whatever result happens while you’re not there. The moral to the story? SHOW UP!
During the Hiawatha Project’s PUC routing process, there were loud objections that this project was not needed, was not subject to a Certificate of Need, and should be. Rep. Karen Clark pushed through a bill requiring a Certificate of Need for this specific project:
So amid much breast-beating, this bill of Rep. Karen Clark was added to SF 3275 and became part of Ch 361. A Certificate of Need is now necessary for the Hiawatha Project.
But here’s the hilarious part — there was a $90,000 kicker to ???? some organization, to do neighborhood conservation and energy planning, $90,000, and that the project would go forward, it wasn’t hinged on the results of this “work.” The bill passes and goes on to the Gov. to be signed… SNORT… Pawlenty vetoed the $90,000 payout in the bill!
So now where are we? The money is gone… funding to a community group is pulled out from the bill. (And what community group would that be intended for… CERTS? … Xcel-funded Green Institute? What organizations have “experience in energy conservation and energy planning at the neighborhood level?”) Oh well, the project moves forward.
Next, Xcel applies for the Certificate of Need, which under this bill is not to proceed until after April 1, 2011, and now the scoping for the Environmental Report is held.
What is “scoping?” It’s when an agency collects comments and mulls it over and determines what all should be covered in environmental review. In this case, because it’s a “Certificate of Need” proceeding, system alternatives are at issue, in addition to the usual environmental suspects. And of course, a full disclosure of impacts is necessary, things like the expected range of magnetic fields. That’s a particularly prominent issue because in the routing docket, the Administrative Law Judge recommended that the Hiawatha Project be put underground due to exposure of local residents and workers to high levels of magnetic fields, higher than the threshold above which the World Health Organization would urge we exercise precaution. And of course, the reasonable levels are a lot higher than what they’re disclosing.
Before you work on your comments, take a look at what’s been posted as the “Draft” Scoping Decision:
And check out these magnetic field charts from the application – do these amp levels have any relation to the claimed need and the potential amps on the lines as spec’d?
WHAT DO YOU THINK SHOULD BE ADDRESSED IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT?
COMMENTS ON THE SCOPE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT ARE OPEN UNTIL APRIL 6, 2011!
Send Comments to:
Bill Storm State Permit Manager Minnesota Office of Energy Security 85 7th Place East, Suite 500 St. Paul, Minnesota, 55101-2198 Fax: 651-297-7891 email: bill.storm@state.mn.us