January 27, 2011by Jacob WheelerEnvironmentComments Off
A bill to remove the moratorium on the expansion of nuclear power in Minnesota cleared the Senate Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee today. Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, who authored the legislation, and Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, offered comments about the bill during committee debate.
“This legislation is moving Minnesota in the wrong direction,” said Anderson. “Developing new nuclear facilities will take away from our renewable energy and energy efficient industries. Renewable energy means jobs now. Nuclear power promises jobs 20 years from now; if ever. We need to keep our focus on renewable energy. Ratepayers can’t afford to pay exorbitant cost overruns that have led ratepayer revolts in other states trying to build nuclear plants.”
Minnesota State Rep. Kate Knuth (DFL – New Brighton) today released the following statement on HF 72, a bill that would repeal a key element of the Next Generation Energy Act passed in 2007 and signed into law by former Governor Tim Pawlenty. HF 72, which was presented and discussed in the House Energy committee today, would repeal bipartisan provisions that limited new electricity from coal until the state adopts a comprehensive plan to offset emissions that contribute to climate change.
“Coal power is not the future for energy in Minnesota. It is inefficient, expensive for Minnesota ratepayers, and releases more pollutants that contribute to climate change than any other source of electricity. Innovative companies throughout our state are putting Minnesotans to work building our 21st century renewable energy economy. Why would we pull the rug out on job providers on the cutting edge in order to return to a dirty, expensive technology of the past?
Working with both parties we paved the way for a 21st century clean energy economy over the last four years. It was the right policy then, and it is now. Turning back the clock to build new coal plants puts Minnesota’s economic and environmental future at risk.”
A bill to repeal the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area in passes the Minnesota Senate Environment Committee on an 8-6 vote. All the Republicans voted for repealing the environmental protection. All of the Democrats (DFL) voted against the repeal. The companion bill in the House has yet to have a hearing.
Research paid for by taxpayers isn’t in, but Minnesota House Republicans apparently aren’t going to wait for it before changing environmental regulations. A bill intended to speed permitting and environmental review passed the House Environmental and Natural Resources on a voice vote Thursday morning.
HF1 would set an 150 day goal for the completion of a permit application, require special justification for state regulations exceeding federal standards, allow companies to prepare their own environmental review documents, and move challenges to permit decisions directly to an Appeals Court.
Earlier in the week, the Committee heard from a number of industries who complained that the process of permitting and environmental review is too long and arduous. Representatives of the mining and ethanol industries described what they view as excessive, duplicative, and unnecessary regulation. Wednesday, David Smiga from US Steel testified that the expansion of their Keetac mine in northern Minnesota was delayed by a slow environmental review process. Rep. David Dill (DFL – Crane Lake) declared that this delay had cost the state “north of 125 to $150 million” in revenue, though he wondered aloud if he was “even close on that” and that he got the figure from “the [Rep. Tom] Rukavina book of numbers.”
More than a third of all Minnesota’s air pollutant emissions come from cars and trucks. With gas prices rising, electric vehicles are an increasingly important part of an energy system that is efficient, independent, affordable, and clean. EVs have zero tailpipe emissions and if the electricity to charge an EV comes from 100 percent solar or wind power, no air pollution of any kind is created during the generation of the electricity or the EV’s use.
Those are some of the reasons that the city of St. Paul decided to purchase three electric cars. They were unveiled Tuesday at the St. Paul RiverCentre.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, Representative Betty McCollum, Paul Moss (MPCA), Mary Culler (Ford Motor Company), and Judy Poferl (Northern States Power) all spoke at the unveiling.
With the three new additions the city will reduce it’s carbon emissions by 3.5 tons and save an estimated $1,300 per vehicle on gasoline.
The vehicles addition was made possible through a partnership between Xcel Energy, Ford Motor Co, and Azure Dynamics.
Issuing a permit to build a power plant isn’t as easy as issuing a fishing license. And it shouldn’t be according to Jeff Smith of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. A permit “isn’t just an agreement between the regulated party and the regulating agency. It’s an agreement between the public, the agencies and the regulated community”.
The permit process gives the public the right to be involved. “This is a public process,” said Smith. “It was meant to allow the public a chance to look at, review and comment on permits.”
That public input takes time and Minnesota Republican lawmakers say they want to speed up the permitting process.
On Tuesday, representatives from two state environment agencies presented an overview of the regulatory process to the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee. In the first of three hearings culminating in a vote on a bill intended to speed and streamline the regulatory process, Republican committee members expressed frustration over specific situations from their districts while arguing that current regulations defy common sense.
Smith told the committee of existing efforts to increase the speed of permit decisions. He stated that MPCA made over 15,000 permit decisions and only 640 took more than 150 days, the deadline that would be set by the bill being considered. Of those 640, Smith stated that only 84 delayed construction or expansion of facilities, since the remainder were updating old permits that were allowed to remain in place while the updated permits were considered.
Opponents say nuclear power is the most expensive kind of energy to build and there’s no safe place to store the waste. Despite those objections, a bill that could lead to building Minnesota’s first new nuclear power plant in decades got the approval from the House Committee on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources late this morning.
The bill, otherwise known as House File 9, would lift the moratorium that has prevented the Public Utilities Commission from issuing a certificate of need for the construction or expansion of a nuclear power plant. It has failed to pass through this committee twice before when the DFL held the majority in the House. The Republican chair of the committee, Rep. Denny McNamara, said the bill “is not symbolic. This is about doing what’s right for Minnesota.”
Others, including DFL Reps. Jean Wagenius and Bill Hilty, ardently opposed the bill because they believe it would be costly to the state economically and environmentally. The bill passed to the Commerce Committee with 10 ayes to 6 nays.
By making the nuclear issue one of the first bills likely to be passed in the House and Senate, the Republican majority is testing just how well the DFL minority will stay unified. A few DFLers have indicated they are open to lifting the ban, and might possibly vote with the Republican majority. The real question is whether those same DFLers would vote to uphold a veto from Governor Dayton.
A veto from Dayton is likely. During the campaign Dayton said, “It would be highly irresponsible to subject future generations for thousands of years to come to our irresponsible inability to develop alternative energies that are going to require them to inherit that waste with no resolution at all.”
Should there be a Dayton veto, House Minority Leader Paul Thissen is confident the veto will be upheld. “The Republicans are far from a veto-proof majority,” Thissen said at the start of the session, ”and so I am confident that we are going to uphold any vetoes, the legislature is going to uphold any vetoes that Governor Dayton might issue.”
Press release from Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton’s office:
St. Paul—Today Governor Dayton appointed Tom Landwehr as Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources. Landwehr brings both an insider’s knowledge and an outsider’s perspective to the agency. He has served as a City Council Member and as an Instructor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Natural Resources. He also served for seventeen years at DNR both as a scientist and as a Wildlife Manager. With a Master’s Degree in Business, Landwehr understands that conservation and resource management must be properly balanced to promote economic prosperity and support jobs. Landwehr is widely respected by people in the conservation, recreation and business communities. He brings to the agency a reputation as someone with creative and innovative solutions to many of Minnesota’s top natural resource issues.
“I believe that Tom Landwehr has the years of experience in resource conservation and management, as well as 17 years of service in the DNR, to bring strong leadership to that vitally important agency,” said Governor Dayton. “No other agency of state government affects as many Minnesotans’ lives directly as the DNR. At its best, the agency is viewed as a wise steward of our state’s natural resources for the benefit of all our citizens and for future generations. Tom’s mandate from me is to bring out the best in the agency and all of its people.”
“I am honored to serve Governor Dayton and the citizens of Minnesota in this critical position”, said Landwehr. “By bringing together all those with a stake in the future of our state’s resources, I hope to show that sound conservation and vital communities are a natural combination. We need to have a Department of Natural Resources that works for all Minnesotans.”
Former Vikings Coach and outdoors supporter Bud Grant was at Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton’s inaugural. Grant said he was there because Dayton is a friend and a supporter of the environment. Grant and Nick Coleman talk about what it will take to get a new Vikings stadium and what the Vikings should do about a quarterback for next year.
A plan to lift Minnesota’s moratorium on building new nuclear power plants is on the Republican majority’s agenda for the 2011 legislative session. However, it is unlikely to become law.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch reminded reporters that Republicans campaigned on removing the nuclear moratorium that has been in place since 1994. Last session, a similar proposal from Republicans passed in the Senate but failed on a 70-62 vote in the House because there is still no permanent storage solution for nuclear waste. But that was when the DFL was held majorities in both the House and the Senate.
Should such a measure pass in the 2011 session, it faces opposition and a likely veto from Governor-Elect Mark Dayton. During the campaign Dayton said “It would be highly irresponsible to subject future generations for thousands of years to come to our irresponsible inability to develop alternative energies that are going to require them to inherit that waste with no resolution at all”
Republicans would not be able to override Dayton’s veto. “The Republicans are far from a veto proof majority” said House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, ” and so I am confident that we are going to uphold any vetoes, the legislature is going to uphold any vetoes that Governor Dayton might issue.”
Senator Al Franken announces the “Understanding The True Cost Of College Act” that would require colleges to use easier to understand language in their financial aid package offers to students.
Hindia Ali, Youth Leadership Development Coordinator at Somali Action Alliance is a delegate the the 2012 National Democratic Convention, the first Somali-American to be a delegate.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, President Obama ripped into Republicans for their lack of compromising and for the first time mentioned his likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, by name.
Minnesota women in healthcare predicaments met with with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Al Franken, Rep. Betty McCollum and Governor Mark Dayton on Friday — the two year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
President Obama says many of the factors that are driving up gas prices are out of our control such as unrest in the Middle East. However, he points out there are some things that are in our control such as fraud and manipulation that can cause prices to spike even further.
President Obama talks about an all-of-the-above American energy strategy at a Daimler manufacturing plant in North Carolina that’s making trucks that run on natural gas.
Senator Al Franken is used to close elections. This time he didn’t beat his opponents, but had to settle for a tie with Representative Chip Cravaack in the second annual Minnesota Congressional delegation hotdish cookoff.
President Obama would like to reform taxes so we reward companies that invest in the US, not ones that send jobs overseas. But there are some barriers, such as Congress.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu uses his photo op with President Obama today to talk up how the US and Israel are united against Iran, which is suspected of trying to create a nuclear bomb.
President Obama warns that “loose talk” of war was only helping Iran, while pushing back against charges from GOP presidential contenders that he has been less than a loyal ally to Israel.
3M shareholders at annual meeting were asked to stop all corporate contributions to political campaigns and to disclose corporate political lobbying efforts. As expected, the resolutions were voted down, but the activists pledged to continue efforts.
After the six-week US-Dakota War of 1862, 38 Dakota men were hung in one of the largest mass executions in US History. Many argue that the trials were a sham, that is was the largest injustice in the nation’s history. Today, Representative Dean Urdahl, Chair of the Legacy Committee in Minnesota and the Civil War Task Force, seeks to, “rub a little salve in the wound,” by seeking a pardon for one of those warriors who was hung on that fateful December day. His name is Chaska.
The Minnesota House and Senate have each approved different versions of a Vikings stadium proposal. So now it is up to a conference committee to reconcile the differences.
Principle or politics? On Friday, Governor Mark Dayton went heavily with principle and imperiled the politics of his top legislative priority — thousands of jobs from building a new Vikings football stadium.
A bill that would give business owners a tax cut is hailed by Senator Geoff Michel (R-Edina) as the “best piece of legislation” to be considered his year. Senator John Marty (DFL-Roseville ) counters it deserves a “smoking’ hot veto pen” because it isn’t paid for.
A Minnesota Senate attempt to override Governor Mark Dayton’s veto of a bill expanding the kinds of fireworks that can legally be sold in Minnesota fails to get the 2/3rds majority needed.
Nearly a year after the tornado that ripped through North Minneapolis, opinions vary greatly on what the poverty-stricken community needs most from local and state government. Should the City introduce “pie in the sky” ideas or focus on more immediate problems?
Representative Bobby Jo Champion talks about the challenges facing some of his constituents in North Minneapolis almost a year after a devastating tornado.
Rebuild It Right, an organization made up of architects and designers from Minneapolis, is helping homeowners advocate for quality design in the wake of the May 22nd Tornado.
The Vikings stadium deal got the support of Minneapolis City Council members. Council member Don Samuels says that this is a good deal for his constituents. It will provide jobs to a part of the city that has the highest rate of unemployment.
Embattled homeowner Monique White took one more step Friday toward what could become an improbable victory that would let her stay in her North Minneapolis home. Judge Mark Labine will decide on Monday whether White will get a jury trial in District Court.
Through negotiations and persistence and the good will of all, Phil Freshman and Jim Roth have worked with Beth El Synagogue and obtained a weekend (5/18-20)in residence of a Torah Scholar, Rabbi Kahn-Troster, on the issue of human rights and torture. The issues will be addressed from religious, legal, medical, ethical and practical perspectives. Open to the […]
