Legalectric

Yes, the Xcel’s Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant Draft Environmental Impact Study has been released by Commerce EERA. Now it’s time to read it and submit substantive comments.

Here’s the NOTICE with all the details:

Public Comment Sessions:

*November 19 in-person at the Red Wing Ignite Building, 419 Bush St., Red Wing, MN

*November 20 @ 6 p.m., virtually via Webex, https://tinyurl.com/5auc8ksp

Password: MnPUC! or

Join by phone: 415-655-0003 or 1-855-282-6330

Access code 2485 318 0139

I’d forgotten about this, and it’s an important point that needs attention, given the election. We need to focus on bolstering Social Security.

Social Security withholding… talk about short-sighted… do you remember when tRump ordered a pause in payroll withholding for Social Security? It was chump change for the workers who got a small boost in take home pay and later had to pony up for those missed contributions. But policy wise, it was a HUGE step, and keep in mind that it was done by a Presidential Memorandum:

Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 Disaster – Memorandum for the Secretary of the Treasury

Guidance: Relief with Respect to Employment Tax Deadlines Applicable to Employers Affected by
the Ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) Disease 2019 Pandemic

Yes, he really did that, deferral of withholding from September 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. Thankfully, after those few months, payroll deduction was resumed.

What would it mean if Social Security payroll withholding were discontinued long term?

Social Security would go broke. As of now, it is projected to run out of funds in 2035. From the Social Security Administration:

The Future Financial Status of the Social Security Program

We know that they’d love to end Social Security and Medicare, that’s a well documented talking point, one which they do not like to have raised publicly. Every worker has paid into this fund for their entire working life. How to dismantle it? They’d start out, bit by bit, raising the age to receive Social Security and Medicare, decreasing or eliminating withholding, lowering the benefit. Just NO!

NO! WE ARE NOT GOING BACK!

Hot off the press:

You can also attend online:

To review the DEIS, go to the PUC’s eDockets. Start HERE, click on “eDockets” on that page, and you’ll go to the search page. Enter “22” for year, and “131” or “132” for the docket:

The DEIS was filed in MANY documents on October 8. The full text is here:, all 506 pages of it:

And here’s where it gets interesting. This Notice is also for the Evidentiary Hearing, and note the limitations for the public:

Here’s what the rules say about public participation at ALL hearings, Minn. R. 1405.0800:

And also this, from Minn. R. 1405.1500:

And then there’s Minn. Stat. 216E.03…

So let’s take another look at that “Evidentiary Hearings” paragraph from the Notice just received:

We had the Probable Cause hearing in the Iocco_2024-Campaign-Finance-Complaint. That huge sign was a flagrant violation of Minn. Stat. 211.15, prohibiting corporate contributions. The lease for the sign claimed a $1 charge, but it’s supposed to be market rate, otherwise it’s a corporate campaign contribution.

The ALJ had issued Notice-of-Determination-of-Prima-Facie-Violation-and-Order-For-Probable-Cause-Hearing. Then I missed that hearing, had the wrong conference code and no amount of calling and waiting made it work, grrrrrrrrr. Thankfully the judge did reschedule: Campaign Finance Probable Cause Hrg Rescheduled but left only Dehn Oil as a Respondent, and dismissed Gary Iocco, Gary Iocco for Mayor, and as I’d withdrawn complaint against Wilson Oil as it was Dehn Oil on the lease, received the night before, Wilson wasn’t, technically, involved.

This latest probable cause hearing was Monday. Dehn Oil had hired attorney just that morning, so he wasn’t up to speed, and the judge reluctantly did reschedule. Then after it was adjourned, the attorney and I got on the horn, chatted briefly, we put an agreement together, and we’re DONE! The sign is DOWN! It came down within hours of our talk — when he said “immediately,” he was not kidding. Dehn Oil is out of it, I’ve sent letter to the judge to dismiss Dehn Oil. I really appreciated his attitude, particularly in light of just getting into this matter just a couple hours at best before the hearing, not knowing background, jumping in cold.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement for Xcel’s Mankato-Mississippi (Wilmarth-Tremval) transmission line, PUC Dockets CN-22-532 and TN-23-157. Here’s the Commission Order:

What’s odd is this addition. Commissioner Tuma always, well, nearly always, has some Decision Option, something new or an amendment. Here’s what he proposed this time:

With this map, with no identifying features, classic transmission map without roads labeled:

Tuma said it was a change for a large landowner, and I did find that this had been noted in Comments:

There’s already a transmission line, and won’t moving it further away from that transmission line mean there will be greater loss of trees than if they put it next to the existing line and utilized some of that line’s RoW? What am I missing?