Oronoco Township had petitioned the Minnesota Supreme Court for review of the Appellate affirmation of the Public Utilities Commission to route the CapX 2020 Hampton- La Crosse transmission line through Oronoco Township near Co. Rd. 12.
I don’t think “Aunt Bea” will be pleased… but even if it does buy Rochester, it doesn’t buy everything!
As Xcel said in a billboard near the capital, beware, powerlines kill. That was a safety reminder for people climbing on their roofs, but now it’s a terrible fact for a construction worker on the CapX 2020 transmission project.
KARE 11 – with film clip of site:
In the STrib:
A piece of the safety gear broke, Fordice said, and the two men fell into the hole.
On KMSP TV with film clip too:
On KEYC Mankato:
DOH! This is NOT rocket science. This came out last month, posted on the CapX 2020 site, and around the same time, there was a PR push about the tax payments, “benefits,” that local governments were receiving for the CapX 2020 transmission lines. This report is all about the “benefits” and not about the costs, let’s be clear on that:
Now I’ll take a look at this…
What it looks like is advance work for the 765kV overlay, for which there is no logical “need” claim. They want to turn “planning” on its head, and put “benefits” at the top, the first item on the check list, in “planning.” I’ll be using a lot of “quotes” here because I’m not buying it.
What they advise, what they’re trying to sell, is that transmission planning should:
1) Identify potential transmission projects that could supplement or replace baseline reliability projects and to develop a comprehensive list of their likely benefits.
2) Estimate the value of as many of the identified benefits as practical.
3) Determine whether the proposed transmission investments would be beneficial overall by comparing the magnitude of estimated economy-wide benefits with estimates of the total costs of the projects.
4) Address cost allocation.
They say that “planners must plan for the highest value first…”
Citing my favorite Posner decision, they quote, “To the extent that a utility benefits from the costs of new facilities, it may be said to have “caused” a part of those costs to be incurred, as without the expectation of its contributions the facilities might not have been built, or might have been delayed.
Benefits should be weighed at the outset when assessing need, in essence benefits supplanting need as reason for a transmission project. Yeah, OK, what’s new???
(still reading)
Here it is – sorry it took so long to get it posted! I’d scanned it in, and then lost it. AAAARGH!
And here are the others already posted:
Public Utilities Commission Response to Oronoco Petition to Supreme Court
It’s filed, the Public Utilities Commission’s Answer to Oronoco Township’s Petition to the Supreme Court for review of the routing decision over the White Bridge Road in Oronoco.
Public Utilities Commission Response to Oronoco Petition to Supreme Court
I expect Xcel to file one too, but maybe not. The possibility of the Supreme Court taking on this case is slim to none because it’s an Administrative decision, and the Appellate Court gives great deference to the agency decision, and the Supreme Court? It’s not about to act on an administrative case with a unanimous decision. It just doesn’t happen — and it’s not like the Court of Appeals where they have to take whatever comes its way — the Supreme Court gets to pick and choose. I’m really surprised Oronoco filed the Petition, but oh well… guess they can afford it…
Here’s Oronoco’s Petition:
image: detail of installation by Bronwyn Lace