One of the most controversial coal plant proposals in the country just took yet another big hit.
Minnesota's two administrative law judges on the hearings for the Big Stone II plant in South Dakota, Steve Mihalchick and Barbara Neilson, recommended today that the state Public Utilities Commission deny a certificate of need for the plant's transmission lines in western Minnesota. If adopted by the PUC, the ruling will kill the highly controversial project.
According to the ALJs' recommendation [PDF], the sponsors of the plant "have failed to demonstrate that their demand for electricity cannot be met more cost effectively through energy conservation and load-management measures ..."
In September 2007, two of the co-sponsors of Big Stone II, representing about 27 percent of the plant's capacity, pulled out of the project. The withdrawal rocked the project, but the remaining sponsors announced plans to redesign it and continue seeking permits.
Today's ALJ recommendation, which has been closely watched by the broad multi-state coalition that had gathered against the plant, is not curtains for Big Stone II -- but we may be in the final act. The demise of the plant promises to unlock the huge wind potential of the Upper Midwest region, which to date has scarcely been tapped.
Copenhagen, U.S.A. December 7
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Michael Noble Posted 3:04 am
10 May 2008
The problem is cost. The central issue in hundreds of hours of testimony and expert witness documents is whether efficiency and renewable energy will be cheaper. The regulatory costs of carbon loom large, and largely unknown. As I have said, the utilities CEOs backing the plant seem to have the attitude about the cost of the power: "we don't know what it will cost, and we don't care, 'cause we ain't paying it, our customers will."
Key players in the victory (alphabetically):
Clean Up Our River Environment, Clean Water Action, Fresh Energy, Izaak Walton League (Midwest Office), Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Sierra Club Northstar Chapter (and national Coal Campaign), Union of Concerned Scientists, Wind on the Wires.
Michael Noble
Executive Director
Fresh Energy, Saint Paul, MN
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