{"id":5254,"date":"2014-04-23T15:10:45","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T22:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/?p=5254"},"modified":"2014-04-23T15:23:07","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T22:23:07","slug":"center-for-rural-affairs-is-silent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/?p=5254","title":{"rendered":"Center for Rural Affairs is SILENT!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Center4RuralAffairs\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What’s so important about these ITC Midwest MN\/IA line, and the Draft Environmental Impact Statement meetings that the Center for Rural Affairs<\/strong><\/a> would send someone show up in Jackson, Minnesota, but rather than join the discussion, get paid to sit through this afternoon’s meeting like a bump on a log?\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, that’s right, they get paid to do this, it’s part of the RE-AMP transmission promotion program.\u00c2\u00a0 Really… ya should’a been there.\u00c2\u00a0 It seems Lucas Nelsen, the Energy Policy Associate at Center for Rural Affairs<\/strong><\/a> was here in Jackson, sitting right next to Duane Ninneman<\/strong><\/a> of CURE!\u00c2\u00a0 Duane, the company you keep, and I’d guess this is part of your “new duties” as RE-AMP\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Clean Energy Working Group leader for the next three years:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My job as RE-AMP\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Clean Energy Working Group leader is to facilitate interaction between top-level clean energy thinkers to keep us on target to reach our global warming pollution reduction goals,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ninneman stated.\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No wonder it was so quiet back there — and hey, why’d y’all leave so quickly?<\/p>\n

\"LucasNelson_CRA\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lucas Nelson, Center for Rural Affairs, is the principal named as author on the “Energy From the Ground Up” report:<\/p>\n

Energy From the Ground Up<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This report is a review of media coverage of transmission projects, looking at how to handle objections to transmission:<\/p>\n

100 discrete media pieces, examining a total of 14 different transmission projects. Each piece was then analyzed and organized based on the clear concerns identified within.\u00c2\u00a0 Those concerns were used to inform the common themes used in the review section, and to provide data that gives insight into the general views of stakeholders.\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

why are you focused on handling objections?\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, that’s right, it’s part of the RE-AMP transmission promotion work.\u00c2\u00a0 What projects were you interested in?\u00c2\u00a0 “My” projects, and more:<\/p>\n

\"Untitled\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Of these projects, I’ve worked on half of them — the only ones I’ve not worked on are the Reynolds-Topeka, Grain Belt Express, Rock Island Clean Line, Illinois Rivers, Plains and Eastern, Center-Grand Forks, and Gateway Power.<\/p>\n

What conclusions did they draw?\u00c2\u00a0 Center for Rural Affairs<\/strong><\/a> takes the position in this report, for example,\u00c2\u00a0 ono p. 8, that “As transmission serves a public need, utilities and developers serve as agents of the government and can receive this power.<\/strong><\/a>“\u00c2\u00a0 NO!!!\u00c2\u00a0 Much transmission does NOT serve a public need, and in particular, this ITC Midwest serves a PRIVATE desire, not need, the desire for profit.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled2\"<\/a>And in the section on “need” there is utter disregard for the statutory criteria for need!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Untitled3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ahhh, yes, we know what complaint they’re talking about now, don’t we (haven’t read the article, but I’m a bettin’ it’s us):<\/p>\n

\n

Booted out of FERC<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The bottom line of this “report” is an exercise in figuring out how to best handle objections, get these projects through, circumvent the obstacles, or as Beth Soholt says, “remove the impediments,” (I say, speaking as a proud impediment!),\u00c2\u00a0 inherently presuming that the projects should go through — and what should be disclosed in this “report,” and which is not, is full disclosure of the Center for Rural Affairs’ motivation for publishing this, i.e., did they get paid for this, and why would they take money to do this?\u00c2\u00a0 If they’re agriculturally focused, shouldn’t they be furthering landowners’ interests, helping explain eminent domain and helping landowners protect themselves from egregious developer\/utility eminent domain practices?\u00c2\u00a0 I could go on and on, but you can see for yourself by reading this report that it’s a RE-AMP transmission promotion puff piece.\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing more.<\/p>\n

Center for Rural Affairs<\/strong><\/a> has also weighed in specifically on this ITC Midwest MN\/IA transmission line:<\/p>\n

Two-State Transmission Project Takes Important Regulatory Step<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s unfortunate that they don’t contribute to this need or routing process, don’t help landowners, farmers, and agricultural interests.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re the Center for Rural Affairs<\/strong><\/a>, but they’re not furthering their mission, and instead are working against it, and in favor of, and for, utilities and transmission developers.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s their mission?<\/p>\n

Establish strong rural communities, social and economic justice, environmental stewardship, and genuine opportunity for all while engaging people in decisions that affect the quality of their lives and the future of their communities.<\/em> <\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then there’s this RE-AMP promotion of transmission and revenue generation –\u00c2\u00a0RE-AMP_Foundations_Master_Grant_List.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/a><\/strong>How does that fit in to their mission? \u00c2\u00a0<\/a><\/strong> Center for Rural Affairs<\/strong><\/a>‘ budget is over $5 MILLION annually.\u00c2\u00a0 Do they “need” the money that badly?\u00c2\u00a0 I think the term “Affairs” is off point, and a little baser word would be more apt… we know what y’all are and we have an idea of your price!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What’s so important about these ITC Midwest MN\/IA line, and the Draft Environmental Impact Statement meetings that the Center for Rural Affairs would send someone show up in Jackson, Minnesota, but rather than join the discussion, get paid to sit …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5254"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5273,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5254\/revisions\/5273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nocapx2020.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}