Legalectric

Yes, I’ve filed this under “Energy” “Disaster” because it’s a train wreck of a proposal, and I cannot believe people would buy into this… or sell out into this.  What, you say?  e21!

102115_e21_Initiative_Phase_I_Report_2014

In December, Xcel filed this, and I swear, this was the heading:

REQUEST FOR PLANNING MEETING AND DIALOGUE

ROADMAP FOR SUPPORTING THE e21 INITIATIVE

“Roadmap for SUPPORTING?”  Really…

So what is it?  It’s a lot of whining about how hard it is to be a utility and that things are changing.  Ummmmm… yeah.  As if Xcel didn’t know that?

It feels to me like it’s another whack at “restructuring,” a/k/a deregulation, and a “we’re too big to fail” argument.  And as before with “restructuring,” everyone’s getting in line, jumping on the bandwagon.

Listen to this recommendation:

(J)1. Encourage the use of, and give additional weight to, settlement agreements among parties, as long as the Commission determines that the agreements are in the public interest.

Really…

And now that we’ve permitted and built all this excess transmission capacity, they’re whining about under-utilization… can you believe it?  Check this recommendation:

(N) Identify and develop opportunities to reduce customer costs by improving overall grid efficiency.  In Minnesota, the total electric system utilization is approximately 55 percent (average demand divided by peak demand), thus providing an opportunity to reduce system costs by better utilizing existing system assets (e.g., generation, wires, etc.).

This sounds like the best opening to get into the CapX and MVP dockets and get them revoked.  Give me a break…

So I just filed this, we’re gonna do what we can:

Legalectric and Muller – Petition for Intervention

Why file for intervention?  Well, this thing is all about stakeholders, and argues that, hey, look, all the stakeholders agree so just do it.  Ummmm… right… and just who are the stakeholders?  Those who have made those agreements with them in the past that got us right where we are today, DOH! What a fine mess you’ve gotten us into… let’s not do it yet again!

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Delaware Audubon Society will give Alan Muller its Conservation Award at its Annual Dinner, coming up on December 7, 2012.  Alan doesn’t like to toot his own horn, but that’s part of what I’ve got a blog for!  Please join us at the Annual Meeting and Dinner!

205 N. Market Street, Wilmington, DE

CLICK HERE FOR RESERVATIONS

If the link doesn’t work, go to the Annual Dinner site!

What’s the Conservation Award?  Well, in this case, maybe it’s a thank you, maybe it’s a send-off, maybe they’re just glad to see Alan spending so much time in Minnesota, but whatever it is, it’s recognition of all that he’s done in Delaware.

Special thanks to Matt Del Pizzo and Linda Whaley who are working so hard to pull this together.  Alan and Matt got a lot done back when Matt was head of Audubon not so long ago, and appreciated their ability to work together to make a difference in Delaware.

As a recipient of the Conservation Award, Alan’s in interesting company — we’re especially partial to 1988’s Jake Kreshtool, he’s pretty much adopted us and is the best mentor of activism we could hope to find in Delaware, an attorney who was on the Steering Committee of Green Delaware, and way way back, he fought the big transmission line crossing the Delaware River at New Castle.  Here’s their list of past recipients:

Here are two profiles of Muller:

The Eco-Activists – Alan Muller Profile

A Profile of Alan Muller of Port Penn: An Environmental Activist and Director of Green Delaware

A look at the work of Muller and Green Delaware shows how much he’s gotten done in a difficult environment, particularly Alan’s favorite accomplishment,  Delaware’s legislative ban of incineration.

www.greendel.org

Alan speaking at Macalaster for Neighbors Against the Burner:

Alan officing at Itasca State Park:

Alan at the raw sewage outlet (where’s that photo of him in his jailbird suit behind these bars?):

I’ve been noticing this for a while now, people may laugh, dismiss it, but it’s very real.  CORN IS GETTING BIGGER FASTER, sooner in the year, because they’re planting earlier, and by the time the 4th rolls around, the corn is way high.  Now I realize this is off a bit, because we took this on June 30th, so imagine it a bit taller today:

Does that look knee high to you?

Alan Muller had a few more minutes of recognition for his work against incinerators.

The MPCA made its decision at the Board’s June 26 meeting, Alan’s testimony is kick-ass as usual, starting around 2:47. The Cottage Grove part starts about an hour into the webcast:

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THEM APPROVE THE 3M INCINERATOR PERMIT

This time, it’s the Cottage Grove 3M Incinerator in Huffington Post this week:

(that’s a NAB sign out in front of our house, Barn Bluff visible way down the hill in the distance…)

3M Incinerator Can Burn Outside Hazardous Waste, Minnesota Says In Defeat For Residents

Bets Thorkelson’s opposition to 3M Co.’s hazardous waste incinerator began in the mid-1990s, when she learned that four moms of boys on her sons’ hockey team had breast cancer.

“About the same time, I had also noticed that many people on my street were starting to die of cancer, including a young boy from a form of lymphoma,” said Thorkelson, who lives in what she describes as a blue-collar neighborhood in Cottage Grove, Minn., about two miles from one of the St. Paul-based mega-corporation’s factories.

Her distrust of 3M grew when she received a diagnosis of breast cancer herself a decade later. And it mounted further when she heard about the company’s plans to truck in additional hazardous waste to use as fuel for an incinerator.

Last week, after three years of public meetings, petitions and pleas from Thorkelson and other residents, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency approved a permit to burn non-3M waste, as well as materials confiscated by local law enforcement agencies, allowing the company to save as much as $2 million in natural gas. Neighbors said they fear it will add lead, mercury and other toxic pollutants to the air they breathe — on top of the water and soil contamination already blamed on the company.

No link has been proven between past 3M pollution and cases of cancer. However, the state of Minnesota is suing 3M over claims that the company polluted groundwater and surface water for more than 50 years with perflurochemicals, which scientific studies have suggested may cause cancer.

“The [incinerator] decision is very disappointing, though not surprising,” Thorkelson said. “Our community has now become the toxic dumping ground for U.S. industries.”

Knowing the permit would be controversial, the state Pollution Control Agency decided to involve residents in discussions concerning the permit, according to the agency’s Jeff Smith. “At the heart of the issue was whether the public felt like they were enough part of the process so that they were informed and had a say,” Smith said. “Over 15 additional restrictions that might not otherwise have been required were negotiated between citizens, the city and the company. At end of the day, we overachieved in involving the public.

“There will be no additional increases in pollutants beyond what 3M has been permitted to emit,” added Smith.

Representatives from 3M also emphasized that the air pollution coming out of their incinerator with the additional hazardous waste would not rise above historic levels , thanks mostly to updated equipment that traps most of the particles.

But are the regulatory limits enough to protect Cottage Grove children from developmental problems, asthma, even cancer? And were 3Ms historic pollution levels ever safe?

Alan Muller, who once promoted incinerators for DuPont, said he shares the community’s concerns over uncertain answers to both questions. He now helps advise opposition groups, including the Coalition of Concerned Cottage Grove Citizens.

“For every pound of lead that goes into the incinerator, a pound comes out,” said Muller. Toxic metals can’t be broken down like other particles, he explained, so they will either spew from the smokestack, end up in the ash that’s trucked to a landfill, or get treated with the plant’s scrubber water before winding up in the Mississippi River.

A little lead can potentially cause a lot of harm, especially to a child’s developing brain. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently acknowledged the risks by lowering the threshold for lead poisoning.

“It’s not that hard to find out hazardous waste incinerators are a bad scene. But this is a political, not a tech, issue,” said Muller. “The idea of weakening environmental regulations to revive the economy is not localized. Unfortunately, the same bogus arguments continue to be made all over the country.

“I never had a feeling that MPCA was acting in good faith on this,” Muller added. “Whenever you have a powerful corporation, with a lot of clout in the state, it’s hard for regulators to stand up to them.”

Fred Luden, a resident of Cottage Grove and a former 3M employee, returned from vacation in time to share his concerns at last Tuesday’s final hearing. He told the MPCA that it struck him while sitting on a lake with his grandkids just what a pristine environment he enjoyed while growing up in Minnesota, and how contaminated parts of the state have become today.

“You’d like to see at some point in time the ball go back the other way, to an environment that you can pass down to your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren — hopefully,” said Luden, a member of the board of directors for the Coalition of Concerned Cottage Grove Citizens. “And that they will enjoy the same ability to drink the water, breathe the air, grow what they want in a garden and eat the fish again.”

That’s little comfort for some families who currently live in what they said is a contaminated environment.

“I have some peace of mind,” said Thorkelson, “knowing my grandchildren do not live within a 10-mile radius of the incinerator.”

(that’s dear departed Kenya doggy in front of the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant back in 2004 or so)

Uprate Xcel Energy’s Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant?  I think not…

Today was the deadline for filing comments to Xcel Energy’s Changed Circumstances Petition.  Here it is:

Xcel Petition – Changed Circumstances

And what’s been filed so far:

Commerce Comments (yawn)

City of Red Wing (misses the boat, doesn’t address need, only $$$)

Prairie Island Indian Community – BULLS EYE!!! Very well done!

And Alan and I filed joint Comments:

Muller and Overland Comment – we did the math!