Scoping meetings for Capx 2020 transmission line from Hampton-Alma continue…

Again, the point of these meetings is specific:

1. Suggest specifics that must be reviewed in the Environmental Impact Statement
2. Suggest alternate routes

Last night we had a well-attended and spirited meeting in Pine Island.  It was a VERY windy day, and Ken was with, doing her “down/stay” thing in the van.  The best part of the day was the RAINBOW CAFE (come on, where’s your website):

It’s nothing like Grandma Alma Overland’s favorite Rainbow Cafe on Hennepin (before it became the hipper Rainbow).  We CapX 2020 opponents weren’t the only ones there, it was the whole family!  First Commerce and then Xcel… FOOD FIGHT!  If you’re in SE Minnesota, put it on your list.  Excellent broiled cod with asparagus and a few french fries for Kenya too!

Midway through the opening spiel I realized that Matt Langan had not been saying a word to all the folks of their opportunity to intervene, so I pressed on that, and he did a good job of explaining and Trish DeBleekere jumped in and volunteered as a contact person to fill people in on what that means.  That helps.

I got a couple of surprises, one was that a former client has it coming right over her house, and second, that a friend who house sits now and then has it coming through that place too!  AAAAAAAGH!  Too many people I know are affected by this.  It’s “old home week,” as bad as the Hiawatha Project!

The meeting ended on a more ethereal note — a multi-part question asking in essence, where’s the state’s coordination of utility plans, resources, purchases, infrastructure investments, highlighting one of the problems — THERE IS NO STATE ENERGY PLAN.

Tomorrow… NO MEETING!  But then there’s always Exceptions to the ALJ’s Recommendation for CapX 2020 Brookings-Hampton transmission.