Bill Glahn, of the Minnesota Office of Energy Security, has denied the NoCapX 2020 and United Citizen Action Network appeal of his scoping decision for the CapX 2020 Hampton-LaCrosse (Alma) transmission project.  No surprise, but the agency’s steadfast refusal to join with the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service to do an Environmental Impact Statement just leaves me shaking my head.  Oh, and of course there’s a bit of steam coming out the ears!

Glahn Denial of NoCapX & U-CAN Appeal of EIS Scope

Here’s our Appeal:

NoCapX & U-CAN Appeal of Scoping Decision

And the EIS Scoping Decision that we were appealing:

CapX Hampton-LaCrosse (Alma) Scoping Decision

And apparently the rule that Glahn cited in “his” Bemidji-Grand Rapids EIS scoping decision, affirming the necessity of the state to work with the feds, means nothing here:

4410.3900 JOINT FEDERAL AND STATE ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTS.

Subpart 1.  Cooperative processes.

Governmental units shall cooperate with federal agencies to the fullest extent possible to reduce duplication between Minnesota Statutes, chapter 116D, and the National Environmental Policy Act, United States Code 1976,
title 42, sections 4321 to 4361.

Subp. 2.  Joint responsibility.

Where a joint federal and state environmental document is prepared, the RGU and one or more federal agencies shall be jointly responsible for its preparation. Where federal laws have environmental document requirements in addition to but not in conflict with those in Minnesota Statutes, section 116D.04, governmental units shall cooperate in fulfilling these
requirements as well as those of state laws so that one document can comply with all applicable laws.

Subp. 3. Federal EIS as draft EIS.

If a federal EIS will be or has been prepared for a project, the RGU shall utilize the draft or final federal EIS as the draft state EIS for the project if the federal EIS addresses the scoped issues and satisfies the standards set forth in part 4410.2300.