Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission in trouble!
June 30th, 2021
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2020/04/horselaughing-1024x576.jpg)
Oh my, take a little time off, and look what happens!
Cardinal-Hickory Creek: Secret messages with former regulator prompt utilities to seek new permit for power line
Here are the Petitions from ITC and ATC filed Monday, June 28, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. and 10:09 a.m.:
And it’s instantly on the agenda for TOMORROW’S Commission meeting (meeting starts at 10:30 a.m.).
Listen to Live Broadcast HERE!
The “notice” was provided on Tuesday. June 29, 2021 at 3:15 p.m., not even 36 hours before the meeting (note there’s a “CS memorandum of 6/29” where Commission staff offers background and suggestions that we don’t get to see):
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/image-56.png)
OBJECTION!!! Ja, you betcha, from Jewell Jinkins Intervenors and others:
What are we asking for? It’s pretty simple:
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/image-57.png)
DALC and WWF filing just came in and they have a very different take:
And ATC and ITC’s scheme is getting some coverage:
Giuliani suspended, temporarily…
June 24th, 2021
Coal ramping UP! Xmsn shipping it OUT!
June 24th, 2021
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/image-43-1024x598.png)
From a post about 2,100 MW of new transmission:
Developers of 2,100 MW MISO-PJM transmission line choose engineering firm
Let’s think about this a bit. This is a MISO to PJM transmission project. Transmission serves what’s on the line. In MISO, (see above) it’s coal, followed by natural gas, both fossil fuel, and those two followed by nuclear, the most toxic, dangerous, and expensive generation.
Amid all the bluster about climate change, coal generation has ramped up over the last year. Factor to consider — in May of 2020, not much was happening anywhere, so increased generation from then seems likely, to be fair, we need comparison to 2019, BUT, clearly the coal plants are NOT being shut down. And with our transmission build-out over the last 20 years, they can ship and sell it anywhere. What is it going to take to get this fossil generation shut down?
And look at PJM’s mix:
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/image-44-1024x604.png)
And again, much of the coal in PJM was smaller plants, except for that monster in West Virginia, smaller plants that were too expensive to run, not at all marketable, so they were shut down. MISO is another story, with large coal plants, transmission to get it from any Point A to Point B, and probably the last coal plant to be built, Warren Buffet’s 700MW MEC coal plant, served by the transmission build-out through southern Minnesota and across Iowa.
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/image-45.png)
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2011/12/mtep-map.jpg)
Why would we need more transmission? WE don’t. THEY DO, it’s a major part of their new business plan. As Lisa Agrimonti so aptly stated in a recent Grid North Partners Conference, it used to be about NERC reliability criteria, “a pretty simple story,” but now, “we need this transmission line to deliver energy more broadly” and it’s a more complicated need story.
Yeah, that’s what they’re wanting to do, for sure!
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/image-46.png)
With the change from reliability to the general “we want it” corporate greed = need, how can a project be challenged?
Feels good in Red Wing today!
June 15th, 2021
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After wading through the bullshit last night, it feels a lot better this morning in Red Wing. Watch the video, particularly Agenda Items 7, 10C, and 10D:
Red Wing City Council Meeting – June 14, 2021
In order of appearance:
- Agenda Item 7 – Terri Cook appointed to Charter Commission, no discussion, no muss, no fuss.
- Agenda Item 10C – Recall – Brown and Buss – once again, no malfeasance or non-feasance. DOH!
- Agenda Item 10D – Shared space – Mayor Wilson does not have exclusive rights to the shared space at City Hall.
There was a call to SHOW UP and support the Council, that’s the folks in white shirts, who far outnumbered the “RECALL” folks, about the same percentages as in the Presidential votes in our fair city. Overflow crowd.
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/20210614_1745241-1024x768.jpg)
In the Republican bEagle:
4 things to know about the Red Wing City Council meeting
In the Rochester Post Bulletin:
Recall committee loses another round at Red Wing city council meeting
Collective goals? REGULATORY CAPTURE!
June 2nd, 2021
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/image-2.png)
Here we go again. It’s bad enough that CapX 2020 is morphing into CapX 2050/Grid North Partners, but they’re having a “conference” (sign up here) in a couple weeks.
Look at the Chair of this panel, none other than the Chair of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, and the description:
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/image-3-1024x346.png)
… TO MEET OUR COLLECTIVE GOALS?
Remember the toadying for CapX 2020? Remember the toadying for Excelsior Energy’s Mesaba Project coal gasification? Remember the toadying for Prairie Island/NSP/Xcel Energy’s nuclear plants, particularly Prairie Island circa 1994 and 2003?
This sort of thing has been an issue before, and former Chair LeRoy Koppendrayer has been the only one to acknowledge this type of participation as an issue — this was in 2007:
IEDC gets carried away
When this happens, I contact the PUC and register concerns, and have always been assured that they know well the boundaries.
And, well, here’s Commissioner Tuma on DOE Nuclear Waste panel circa 2016:
DOE “Consent-Based” Nuclear Waste Mtg.
![20160721_172836[1]](https://legalectric.org/f/2016/07/20160721_1728361.jpg)
This was also an issue with Commissioner Reha when she went off on a coal gasification junket to Belgium and promotion of CapX 2020! See the John Tuma link, above, for this with active links:
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/image-4.png)
When the promotion and bias is so blatant, I’m not about to watch silently. Earth to PUC Commissioners, here are the PUC’s rules:
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/7845.0400/
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/7845.0700/
And when you see something, say something?
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/image-5-1024x416.png)
Ummmm, right…
ALJ “INVESTIGATIVE REPORT PURSUANT TO MINN. STAT. § 216A.037”
Listen to Commissioner Tuma’s words that were the subject of our complaint at the link above. And the ALJ’s report delivers this warning:
![](https://legalectric.org/f/2021/06/image-6.png)
I guess it will be an informal complaint, eh?