Notice letters went out recently to over 70,000 Minnesota landowners for a transmission project with over 1,000 miles of transmission that is expected to cost from $1.3-1.6 billion. The Application just arrived in my mailbox late last week.
What is CapX 2020?  This is the biggest project ever proposed — it will forever change energy policy in Minnesota. The problem is that it’s a “big picture” project that isn’t needed. The utilities want it because it will generate much revenue for them, but we’ve not yet come to knowledgable agreement about the policy direction this project represents. We don’t need this for local load service, it’s only necessary for the utilities to send a lot of Dakota coal generated electricity through Minnesota to points east. CapX 2020 is going to be built on the land of Minnesotans and the backs of Minnesota ratepayers… that is… unless we say NO!

This conveys the magnitude of CapX 2020 — from a power point:

Until this site is up and running, go to www.legalectric.org and search for “CapX” or “transmission” and “need” and also check out, on the righthand side, “Transmission for Dummies.”

For the official PUC site, go to www.puc.state.mn.us and then to “eDockets” and then to “Search Documents” and search for docket 06-1115.