Reply Comments on Minn. R. Ch. 7849 & 7850
June 1st, 2017
At long last, the final round of Comments on the 5+ year long rulemaking have been filed. A five year long process to enact the changes consistent with legislation passed in 2005, 12 years ago. WHAT!?!?! Yes, that’s how long it’s taken. These are rules based on the Minnesota statutes for Certificate of Need (Minn. Stat. 216B.243) and the “Power Plant Siting Act” (Minn. Stat. Ch. 216E), which is transmission routing and power plant siting.
Here are the Reply Comments, and note there are very few:
Public Intervenors – No CapX 2020, U-CAN, North Route Group & Goodhue Wind Truth – FINAL_May 31 2017
McNamasra GWT Reply_20175-132415-01
Commerce EERA Reply_20175-132345-01
ITC Midwest_Reply_20175-132421-02
Next step — on the agenda at a future Public Utilities Commission meeting, where they’ll discuss changes, hopefully we’ll have oral argument of the parties and comments from the public, and then the rules are formally released to the public for public comment, a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, and then back to the Commission for approval. Probably it will be August… given the public comment period and hearing, this will be at least a SIX YEAR PROCESS!
Rulemaking Initial Comments – Minn. R. Ch. 7849 and 7850
May 12th, 2017
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission rulemaking for Minn. R. Ch. 7849, Certificate of Need, and 7850, Routing and Siting, is slowly moving forward. Here are the final drafts up for review before they go to the Commission for a rubber stamp and release for general comment:
Final initial comments on drafts were due on Monday and here they are, in alphabetical order:
20175-131687-01_Goodhue Wind Truth – Marie McNamara
20175-131650-01-1_Great River Energy
20175-131683_ITC Comments and Attachments
20175-131686-01_NoCapX – U-CAN – NRG & GWT
Reply comments are due by 4:30 p.m. on May 31, 2017. eFiling is preferred! If you need to register to eFile, GO HERE! It’s easy, quick, and makes filing a breeze. Get to work — there’s a lot here to comment on!
LTE in Dodgeville Chronicle
December 8th, 2016
See the lower 1/2 of MISO’s MVP project 5, running from near Dubuque, IA to the northeast to the “Cardinal” substation near Madison? That’s the Cardinal – Hickory Creek transmission line.
The Dodgeville Chronicle ran my Letter to the Editor, just in time for the meeting last night, held by Rural Utilities Service, about the Cardinal – Hickory Creek transmission project:
Carol A. Overland, Esq.
Red Wing, MN
RUS Scoping Meetings for Cardinal-Hickory Creek xmsn
December 6th, 2016
Slow evening at Rural Utilities Service’s scoping meeting for the Environmental Impact Statement for the Cardinal – Hickory Creek transmission project. RUS is involved because Dairyland Power Cooperative (DPC) plans to hold a 9% undivided interest in the project, and are looking to RUS to provide the funding. RUS held two more meetings, following on prior meetings October 31 and November 1 & 2, because their notice for those meetings went out a day late, so another Notice went out:
Notice of Intent To Hold Public Meetings and Prepare Environmental Impact Statement (October 18, 2016
Where’s my prior post on these meetings? It’s gone! Here’s the dates and locations (click for larger version) — the last one is tomorrow in Barneveld, Wisconsin:
So to make quick work of it, this is cut and pasted from the RUS Cardinal Hickory Creek page:
Alternatives Evaluation Study (July 2016)
Notice of Intent To Hold Public Meetings and Prepare Environmental Impact Statement (October 18, 2016)
Macro-Corridor Study (September 2016)
Alternative Crossings Analysis (April 2016)
- ACA Table of Contents
- ACA Main Report Chapters 1-5
- ACA Main Report-Chapter 6-References
- ACA Appendices
SCOPING MEETINGS
I had a quick chat with Dennis Rankin who’s in charge of the environmental review on this and the Dairyland Q-1 South projects, and had a few quick things to register, particularly that ATC has announced that the project is delayed:
ATC postpones Cardinal-Hickory Creek project – The Dodgeville Chronicle -Dodgeville, WI
I had this article and a few comments to add tonight, and will file more detailed comments before the deadline — now January 6, 2017.
(don’t worry, I’ll get this looking pretty by the deadline!)
On the way in, there was new transmission marching across the countryside, so ugly:
And look how close to this house in New Vienna, right up near the garage, and not far from the house either — this line cut right through the middle of town:
But all in all, it was a beautiful day for a drive today!
ATC/ITC/Dairyland’s Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission
May 17th, 2016
Be there or be square — transmission open houses in eastern Iowa near Dubuque and southwestern Wisconsin near Cassville.
Monday, May 16 –
Peosta Community Center
7896 Burds Road
Peosta, IA 52068Tuesday, May 17 –
Pioneer Lanes
1185 US (Business) 151
Platteville, WI 53818Wednesday, May 18 –
Deer Valley Lodge
401 West Industrial Drive
Barneveld, WI 53507Thursday, May 19 –
Deer Valley Lodge
401 West Industrial Drive
Barneveld, WI 53507
Where’s Art Hughes when you need him??
Art Hughes has died… March 31st, 2009
Days before he died, Art Hughes was testifying in Peosta against an ITC transmission line heading east to Peosta, here’s the photo from that hearing, and the article about it is in the “Art Hughes has died…” link above.
And now they’re doing another round of open houses, yesterday in Peosta, IA. Wherefore Art thou? Well, Art, where are you? I guess they remember him, because this time it’s “open house” and not a meeting/hearing. These “open houses” are held by ATC, ITC, and Dairyland about its plan for the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Project. This project is the southern part of the “5” project on the MISO MVP project map below, from the Hickory Creek substation (near Dubuque) to the Cardinal substation (near Madison)(the northern part of 5 is the Xcel/ATC Badger Coulee line). It’s one of the transmission lines that fills in the 345 kV transmission gaps to enable North & South Dakota to Chicago bulk power transfer.
Once more with feeling: Open House Schedule — each starts at 4 p.m. and goes until 7 p.m. (hello, ITC, it’s planting season, how convenient!):
Monday, May 16 –
Peosta Community Center
7896 Burds Road
Peosta, IA 52068Tuesday, May 17 –
Pioneer Lanes
1185 US (Business) 151
Platteville, WI 53818Wednesday, May 18 –
Deer Valley Lodge
401 West Industrial Drive
Barneveld, WI 53507Thursday, May 19 –
Deer Valley Lodge
401 West Industrial Drive
Barneveld, WI 53507