Legalectric

This case just came down yesterday:

Klayman v. Obama

If you’re at all interested in “certain intelligence-gathering practices by the United States government relating to the wholesale collection of the phone record metadata of all U.S. citizens,” than you MUST read this.  And if you’re not interested, well, you should be.  So READ THIS!

The transcript from last week’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting-not-hearing regarding the Nuclear Waste Confidence GEIS and Rulemaking (click HERE for that NRC page) is out:

Transcript_ML13344B149

Comments are being solicited on the proposed rule (at the very end of the Federal Register notice below) and the Generic Environmental Impact Statement:

Nuclear Waste Confidence Rule_Proposed

Nuclear Waste GEIS

Once more with feeling, comments are due soon, so get cracking!  Send comments by December 20, 2013:

• Email comments to: Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you do not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact us at 301–415–1677.

And check out these ditties that I put into the record.  My nuclear stuff is all over at the other house, and it’s been so long that I can’t remember all that I’ve forgotten, so much about casks, and it’s really offensive that nearly 20 years later we’re still having to dredge up all the info about how it’s just not reasonable to think we can store it safely for any length of time, much less 100 years on-site, in “temporary” storage, or tens of thousands of years…

Premature Degradation of Spent Fuel Storage Cask Structures and Components from Environmental Moisture

INEL “unloads” TN-24P – stuck

Creep & Crud of Nuclear Waste Storage

Above is the state of silica sand mining in Minnesota.   Below are the Minnesota Environmental Quality
Board’s “hot off the press” this morning Draft Standards and Criteria:

Tools for Local Govt draft DECEMBER 13_2013

I like the framing of it as “Tools for Local Govt” because it’s clearer that this is something that requires an “opt in” and is not state regulation.  It’s huge, 168 pages, and we’ve only got until 1p on December 18, when the EQB’s silica sand mining subcommittee will be reviewing these draft Standards & Criteria.

Comments: silicasand.eqb@state.mn.us

Comments by snail mail:  Jeff Smyser, Environmental Quality Board, 520 Lafayette Road North, St. Paul, MN 55155-4194

Get to it!!!  And then, show up at the EQB subcommittee meeting (MEETING AGENDA):

Just a week ago public comments on the Hollydale transmission line case closed, the week before that was the public hearing, and just before that was the bizarre meeting with the Dept. of Commerce.  And today?

TODAY WE GET THIS:

Hollydale – Petition to Withdraw Pending Certificate of Need and Route Permit Applications

EEEEEEEEE-HA!

It’ll go to the Commission to tie up the loose ends, but YES!!!  Xcel is withdrawing the application and going away… for a while… so they say:

Oh, and by withdrawing, they are not bound by the law because it specifies applications made by a certain date… then it will not apply!  So they’re getting around it, but they say they are not.  Oh well, I don’t think they’ll try the same trick again.

This past year the Hollydale Law, 2013 Minn. Laws Chapter 57 Section 2, which is
applicable to our currently pending applications, was passed. While the law, as
currently written, would not apply to the new applications, we fully intend to comply with the intention of the law by carrying forward in our new Certificate of Need application all the system alternatives, including distribution alternatives, which were developed during this proceeding. We believe this will allow a robust examination of numerous distribution alternatives and will address the concerns implicated by the Hollydale Law.

and:

Once we develop a more widely accepted solution, we intend to seek the appropriate regulatory approvals.

The down side is that by withdrawing, they are not bound by the law that is limited to applications filed by a certain date, so that law might have to be changed to fence them in.  No problem…

Now the down side is they say they’ll be baaaaaaaaack.  I’d guess they’ll be much more cautious and conscious of what they propose, and for Dog’s sake not be using 2006 information.  DOH!

7 oh-so-young pups, one older pup, 3 adolescents and one 2-3 year old, all from Tennessee and now at foster homes in WI and MN.

7 little poop factories who held it until just seconds after transferring into our crate, and each and every one let loose!!!  Thankfully lots of quilts made that situation manageable!

All of them slept the whole way, barely a sound for hours.  All but Birdo, the lapdog for the trip, he was a dear guy, keeping a watchful eye on the pups, and navigating.  Considering what the weather could have been, it was not bad at all, roads blowy but clear, hammer down!!!  Just the nervous nellies slowing up the process when there wasn’t a passable passing lane…