{"id":1860,"date":"2010-04-27T12:17:25","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T19:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/?p=1860"},"modified":"2010-04-29T14:07:07","modified_gmt":"2010-04-29T21:07:07","slug":"greetings-from-cannon-falls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/?p=1860","title":{"rendered":"Greetings from Cannon Falls!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first meeting of the northern area Advisory Task Force for the Hampton – Alma (LaX)<\/strong><\/a><\/span> part of the CapX 2020 transmission project.\u00c2\u00a0 Here we go again.<\/p>\n

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Going?\u00c2\u00a0 Here’s how it’s going — only 7 members showed up, and there were only 10 chairs, only 10 spots allocated per their “charge.”\u00c2\u00a0 This Task Force may be the one with NO regular people and only government officials and NGOs — yes, that’s confirmed!\u00c2\u00a0 I spoke with Charlie, the “moderator” or “facilitator” about this, and he said that it was from a “land use perspective” and these are “land use professionals” and would NOT address that there are no regular people, only local government officials and NGOs.\u00c2\u00a0 He got defensive and repeated that he’d done 11 of these, this was his 12th, and it was always from a “land use perspective.”\u00c2\u00a0 I’m amazed… he refused to deal with the public participation issue I presented, and diverted and dodged.<\/p>\n

So then after it was over I had a brief chat with Ray Kirsch, who is the “Public Advisor” on this docket.\u00c2\u00a0 He also was not concerned, said this was the way it was.\u00c2\u00a0 I reminded him that he is the “Public Advisor” and that I didn’t think that an Advisory Task Force without members of the public who are not representing local governments or NGOs (there are no NGOs appointed here either) met the statutory Public Participation requirements of Minn. Stat. 216E.08<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, one member is concerned about so many townships that were missing, and first asked if she was responsible for contacting others who were not there, and later asked if she could contact missing townships — they agreed that it was OK to try to bring them in and they’d bring them up to speed.<\/p>\n

“Land Use Perspective” eh? Where did that come from?\u00c2\u00a0 Here’s the statute:<\/p>\n

216E.08 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.<\/strong>
\nSubdivision 1.Advisory task force.<\/a><\/p>\n

The commission may appoint one or more advisory task forces to assist it in carrying out its duties. Task forces appointed to evaluate sites or routes considered for designation shall be comprised of as many persons as may be designated by the commission, but at least one representative from each of the following: Regional development commissions, counties and municipal corporations and one town board member from each county in which a site or route is proposed to be located. No officer, agent, or employee of a utility shall serve on an advisory task force. Reimbursement for expenses incurred shall be made pursuant to the rules governing state employees. The task forces expire as provided in section 15.059, subdivision 6. At the time the task force is appointed, the commission shall specify the charge to the task force. The task force shall expire upon completion of its charge, upon designation by the commission of alternative sites or routes to be included in the environmental impact statement, or upon the specific date identified by the commission in the charge, whichever occurs first.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here’s the composition of the Task Forces per MOES:<\/p>\n