Carol Overland - Legalectric

.

On Monday, we had Eric Eichorn (Eichorn Installation, LLC, P.O. Box 562, Red Wing, MN  55066) remove the old awful floor in the kitchen, and put in a nice new one.  He did a great job.  Except when it was done, and there was a pile o’ crap on the deck, and he was packing up to go, I pointed at the pile and said, “That’s going too?” and he said removal wasn’t covered in the estimate.  When setting it up, I’d left a message asking for verification that removal was included, and then forgot about it… grrrrrrrrr… so we agreed that I’d pay an extra $20 and he’d remove it, and he committed to bring his trailer the next morning and take it away.  That was Monday.  That was three days ago…

Here’s the side yard now, THURSDAY!  It’s still there!  Now it’s a wet mess.  Alan left a message Wednesday morning (651-301-3029) after it didn’t disappear Tuesday, I left a message on Wednesday afternoon, and I’ve left a message this morning.  He’s not returning calls, he’s not taking the crap as promised and as paid to do.

I’ll take this down when he takes the pile o’ crap!

It’s one of those mornings, had a long bath in the bestest tub in the world, then got the doggies fed and out and pooped, and ready to commence work, fired up the machine, got maybe two emails opened and suddenly… SILENCE and DARKNESS (it’s dark on the side of a bluff).  No computer, no light, no ceiling fan… There goes Xcel again, they know I’ve got work to do, and they sent out their terrorist army.

NOT… it was a squirrel.  Alan hear the fuse on the distribution pole across the street go, and saw something drop, I said, “it’s a squirrel.”  Damned if it wasn’t a squirrel he saw fall, a brave soul who gave is life to Xcel to bring everything to a halt this a.m.  Power is back.  And neener, neener, neener, neener, Xcel, I got to office in Prestigious West Red Wing withwireless, Greek Strata and unlimited coffee.

I remember when Joan Ericksen was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court.  At that time, we were in the throes of fighting Target in Northfield, and her parents, Claire and Gerald Ericksen were so tickled and proud.  At that time, I thought that she was a good choice.  Later, she was appointed to the 8th Circuit Federal Court, appointed by none other than George Bush with the blessing of then Sen. Norm Coleman.   Is that really the same Joan Ericksen?

Now I’m having third and fourth thoughts…

Today I saw the STrib’s report of the City of Minneapolis settling on the “Zombie” case, and it triggered a recollection of another recent case Erickson had tossed out — one of the RNC raids suits.

Here’s today’s report on the “Zombie” case:

Minneapolis will pay $165,000 to zombies

In the “Zombie” case,  Judge Joan Ericksen had tossed out their suit against the City, which was remanded by the Federal Appellate Court.  Here’s the Appellate remand:

Baribeau v. City of Minneapolis 578-F.Supp. 2d, 1201-1224 (Minn. 2008)

… and remembered that it was Judge Joan Ericksen who also recently tossed out a suit by one of the RNC defendants whose home had been raided the day before the start of the convention:

Federal judge throws out lawsuit over RNC police raid

August 10, 2010

St. Paul, Minn. — A U.S. district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a St. Paul man who sued police officers for entering and searching his duplex a day before the Republican National Convention in 2008.

Michael Whalen alleged in his lawsuit that police violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights when they searched the St. Paul duplex he owned. He also argued that their search warrant contained incorrect information.

But U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen dismissed the lawsuit by granting a request for summary judgment from the defendants. She wrote in her ruling that none of Whalen’s claims had any legal merit.

I don’t have time today to dig any deeper, but when I get around to it, I’ll post more about her record.  What I’m seeing here, though, is very disturbing… but these two dismissals really shouldn’t be a surprise given she’s a Bush appointee.

How uptight can they get?

The R’s sure have been hilarious at times:

… and…

… and…

Learn something every day… there’s a day and night relay going on right now along Hwy. 35 in Wisconsin, it’s called the RAGNAR Relay.  They run day and night in teams doing a relay until they’ve made it from Winona to Minneapolis or drop dead in the process… Check this route:

.

As inevitable as the tide, the Minnesota winter snows, mosquitos, death and taxes…  This is way too predictable!  Charlotte Neigh, of Citizens Against the Mesaba Project, is dead on again with her trajectory of Excelsior Energy’s weaseling out of their financial responsibilities in this Mesaba Project boondoggle.  A deadline is approaching where Excelsior Energy has to make a payment on its financing from the Iron Range Resources Board:

MCGP Exhibit 5023 - IRR & Excelsior Convertible Debenture Agreement

A little birdie just sent this, literally hours after Charlotte had mentioned that the next payment was coming due and wondering what they were going to pull this time to get out of it (it’s ALWAYS something):

Published August 18 2010

Excelsior asks for more time to repay Iron Range loans

Excelsior Energy’s plans to build a coal gasification power plant known as the Mesaba Energy project on the Iron Range have suffered numerous delays.

By: Steve Kuchera, Duluth News Tribune

The Iron Range Resources Board will consider a request Thursday to give Excelsior Energy more time to pay back nearly $9.5 million in loans.

Excelsior’s plans to build a coal gasification power plant known as the Mesaba Energy project on the Iron Range have suffered numerous delays.

“Development plans originally contemplated that the project would have been under construction prior to 2010 and repayment would have begun,” IRR Commissioner Sandy Layman wrote in a memo to board members requesting the extension of the loan and delay in interest payments. “Sufficient funds are not available to meet repayment requirements under the existing loan terms at this time.”

The IRR has two outstanding loans with Excelsior: one for $1.5 million approved in December 2001 and one for $8 million approved in June 2004. Excelsior has paid back $45,038 of the loans’ principal.

If approved, the new loan agreement will require annual principal payments of $100,000 due Dec. 31 beginning this year and running through 2017. Interest on timely payments will be figured at 5 percent for the preceding 12 months. With IRR approval, Excelsior can repay all outstanding principal before Dec. 31, 2017, at a reduced interest rate.

In exchange, Excelsior would agree to pay the IRR 5 percent of the proceeds from any sale of equity in the Mesaba Energy project in excess of Excelsior’s liabilities from the project.

There’s been change afoot as the facts of the infeasibility of CO2 capture and storage filters up to the higher regions of the cesspool, and as the financing nightmares and high capital costs of IGCC are paraded in public as the Indiana Duke IGCC project moves forward, and as, of course, the DOE’s EIS (here’s the DOE’s project page) for Excelsior Energy’s Mesaba Project drags on and on and on as the agency refuses, thankfully, to issue the Record of Decision on that… and slowly, painfully slowly, the truth about this IGCC pipedream is coming out.

A few telling tidbits, first, that they’ve given up on FutureGen IGCC, YEAAAAAAAAA:

DOE to provide $1B to revamped FutureGen

Katherine Ling, E&E reporter

The Energy Department today announced $1 billion in stimulus funding for a carbon capture and sequestration retrofit project it is labeling “FutureGen 2.0.”

The new project would retrofit a mothballed unit of an Ameren Energy Resources coal-fired power plant in Meredosia, Ill., to capture 90 percent of carbon dioxide and other pollutants using “oxy-combustion” technology, and then transport and sequester the CO2 in a regional storage site in Mattoon, Ill. The Mattoon location — the site of the original FutureGen project — would also house a training facility to teach oxy-combustion technology and retrofitting skills.

DOE is providing the $1 billion to the FutureGen Alliance, Ameren, Babcock & Wilcox and Air Liquide Process & Construction Inc. to develop the facility. The total cost of retrofitting the plant and building a “collection facility” for carbon dioxide, a training facility and CO2 pipelines will be about $1.13 billion in federal investment, with the expectation of up to $250 million in private investment, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters. Durbin has been a strong advocate for the project and repeatedly requested appropriations for it.

The project would be a significant change from the original FutureGen clean coal project announced by President George W. Bush and DOE in 2003. The original project supported by DOE and the FutureGen Alliance — a consortium of major coal and utility companies — aimed to build a new coal power plant on 444 acres in Mattoon that would use integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology, produce hydrogen and electricity, and capture and sequester CO2. Bush and then-Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman announced in 2008 that they were walking away from the project because of skyrocketing costs (Greenwire, June 12, 2009).

“Today’s announcement will help ensure the U.S. remains competitive in a carbon-constrained economy, creating jobs while reducing greenhouse gas pollution,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement.

“This investment in the world’s first, commercial-scale, oxy-combustion power plant will help to open up the over $300 billion market for coal unit repowering and position the country as a leader in an important part of the global clean energy economy,” Chu added.

Oxy-combustion technology utilizes oxygen and CO2 instead of air to produce a concentrated CO2 stream for safe, permanent storage, DOE said. The technology also eliminates almost all of the mercury, SOx, NOx and particulate pollutants from plant emissions and could be potentially the lowest-cost approach to clean up existing coal-fired facilities and capture CO2 for geologic storage, according to the National Energy Technology Laboratory.

“It really didn’t make any sense to prove a technology that has already been proven” and move forward with IGCC, Durbin said. “I think this is going to build way beyond the original FutureGen concept.”

Durbin said the plan is to conduct engineering and land acquisition this fall and start on construction next spring.

The construction of the pipelines, facilities and retrofit will create about 900 jobs in southern Illinois and another 1,000 jobs at suppliers across the state, according to DOE.

This study was released last June, which shows that leakage of CO2 is a major problem, and which makes sequestration not feasible:

Long-term Effectiveness and Consequences of Carbon Dioxide Sequestration - Shaffer

Can’t have information like that getting out, so USA Today, of course, plays it with the following headline — DUH, of course critics pan the study — and this is the best they could come up with and it took two months!

Critics question carbon storage study

Worries about leaks from buried greenhouse gasses unearthed in a recent climate study look overblown, say critics.

Carbon sequestration, burying carbon dioxide in underground reservoirs, has emerged in recent years as one option for continuing to burn coal and other fossil fuels from power plants while addressing global warming. A 2004 Science journal report by Princeton researchers, for example, pointed to carbon sequestration as one strategy, among many, for humanity dodging the climate consequences of pumping global warming gases into the atmosphere.

A June Nature Geoscience report by Gary Shaffer of the Danish Center for Earth System Science, however found such carbon dioxide reservoirs would have to leak less than 1% per millennium to help the climate. “The dangers of carbon sequestration are real and the development of (carbon sequestration) should not be used as a way of justifying continued high fossil fuel emissions,” Shaffer said in a statement, alluding to a debate over whether “clean coal” power plants, which would store their greenhouse gas emissions underground, are a worthwhile goal for addressing climate change.

The study made news in climate circles, but some have since pointed out problems with Shaffer’s study. “I feel that this calculation adds little to the question of whether we should use carbon capture and storage,” wrote Nature assistant news editor Richard Van Noorden, suggesting that researchers need to figure out whether carbon can be safely pumped underground in the first place before worrying about 20,000 years from now, an end point of the study.

This month, an Energy Department analysis from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) of the study found “two deeply flawed assumptions which combine to grossly overstate the impacts associated with society using carbon dioxide capture and storage.”

First, the Nature Geoscience analysis suggested that carbon sequestration would be used to bury enough greenhouse gas to stave off all future climate warming. At best, carbon sequestration could store only about half of the carbon dioxide emissions responsible for global warming, notes the PNNL critique, and likely much less. And those carbon dioxide emissions are only partly responsible for projected future average surface temperature increases (anywhere from 2 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit depending on actual emissions, according to March National Research Council reports) alongside deforestation, and other greenhouse gasses:

“The assumption that (sequestration) is the only mitigation technology available is therefore highly questionable as a simplifying assumption as it leads to a dramatic overestimation of the amount of CO2 required to be sequestered. This significant overestimation of CO2 stored leads directly to the enormous volume of leakage and the resulting harm from imperfect retention reported by Shaffer.”

Second, the whole point of carbon sequestration underground is that the carbon dioxide would chemically bind to the rock layers there, preventing it from leaking, over decades and centuries.

“My study was not meant to propose if and how much (sequestration) to use but rather to look for the first time at the long term consequences of any leakage back to the atmosphere of any CO2 sequestered,” Shaffer says, by email. “My results show that high emissions with (sequestration) is not the same as low emissions without (sequestration) because of the leakage and its consequences.”

But the amount of sequestration contemplated in the study is “off by at least two orders of magnitude,” says MIT’s Ruben Juanes. “I’m as skeptical of carbon sequestration as anyone — the energy penalty it incurs is substantial — but the assumptions made in this (Nature Geoscience) paper are very hard to justify.”

Princeton’s Michael Celia, another sequestration researcher, notes that research already shows that 95% of any carbon injected into a reservoir would become trapped within 1,000 years. “In general I agree with the PNNL comments,” Celia says, by email.

Carbon sequestration critics often make over-sized assumptions about the technology to write it off, Juanes adds, such as objecting to the amount of pipe needed to immediately equip every existing power plant in the nation with it, making a one-time purchase out of an economic process that would play out over decades. “No single technology can immediately bridge the gaps in climate,” Juanes says.

By Dan Vergano

HA!  I love it when this happens.  Just before National Park Service public hearings (schedule below), PSEG screws up and an application gets tossed back in their face!

I’m representing Stop the Lines against PSEG”s Susquehanna-Roseland transmission project in New Jersey.

PSEG thought they’d be “smart,” and given the length and intensity of process for the federal environmental review of its proposal to cross the federally designated Wild & Scenic Delaware Water Gap with massive transmission…

… they tried to divide the line in half for its News Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection wetlands application and other DEP applications too.

First the DEP rejected that maneuver, short and sweet, and rejected their wetlands application:

PSEG Deficiency Letter July 28, 2010

Here’s the meat of it, first the funny part:

… and then, the substantive issue…

So then, PSEG withdraws their other DEP applications:

PSEG Letter of Withdrawal July 29, 2010

I love it when that happens… and what great timing.  Bring on the National Park Service hearings!

Here’s an Alert from the New Jersey Sierra Club:

Urge the National Park Service to Select the “No Action” Alternative!

The National Park Service will be hosting 3 public meetings to present the Preliminary Alternatives for the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line as part of its NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) review for this project. The meetings will consist of an “open house” portion where information will be available and NPS staff can answer questions and a formal “public hearing” portion. The meetings will be held:

Tuesday, August 17
Fernwood Hotel and Resort
US 209 North
Bushkill, PA
Open House: 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Public Hearing: 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Stroudsmoor Country Inn - Terraview
North 4th St
Stroudsburg, PA
Open House: 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Public Hearing: 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Thursday, August 19, 2010
Farmstead Golf and Country Club
88 Lawrence Road
Lafayette, NJ
Open House: 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Public Hearing: 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

The proposed alternative routes can be viewed here.  Click on the “Preliminary Alternatives Newsletter” for details and mapping of the 6 proposed routes.

Please come to these meetings and voice your support for the “No Build Alternative”!  If you are unable to attend the hearings, comments can be submitted online here.  NPS will accept comments on these alternatives August 8- September 7.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And word is getting out:

Opponents of powerline upgrade are happy that project is delayed

BY COLLEEN O’DEA • STAFF WRITER • August 5, 2010

Opponents are cheering the news that Public Service Electric and Gas Co.’s transmission line upgrade will be delayed by three years because of problems with environmental permits.

But they are still urging people to comment on the National Park Service’s proposed alternatives to the line, which would span 47 miles in New Jersey. Some of those options would bring the line south into areas of Morris County that are more congested.

The utility had hoped to begin work this summer to add 500-kilovolt lines on towers as high as 195 feet, along its existing 230-kilovolt Susquehanna-Roseland line. It received approval from the state Board of Public Utilities and was awaiting OKs from the state Department of Environmental Protection and NPS.

Last week, PSE&G’s second quarter earnings statement disclosed that the utility would not complete work on the eastern half of the line, from Hopatcong through portions of Morris County to Roseland, until 2014 and on the western section to the Delaware Water Gap until 2015.

“We are disappointed by the delay, but look forward to meeting the region’s reliability requirements in partnership with our regulators and PJM,” PSE&G President Ralph Izzo said in a press release. PJM is the regional electricity transmission organization.

“The delays are due to ongoing environmental permit reviews,” according to a statement from the utility.

PSE&G on July 29 withdrew its flood hazard application for the eastern half of the project, citing the DEP’s determination that its wetlands permit for the western half was administratively incomplete because the BPU approved the line in its entirety, not in two separate parts.

Those opposed to the line upgrade were cheered by the news.

“I can’t tell you how absolutely elated I am. I’m just so happy for the people living under those lines,” said East Hanover Mayor Joseph Pannullo. “The fight is not over but this is definitely a victory for us.”

East Hanover had refused to take settlement money from PSE&G. Most towns along the route had agreed to take settlement money in return for not opposing the project.

“These lines are not necessary,” said Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club Director. “The delay shows that this line is completely unnecessary and will undermine New Jersey’s attempts at clean and renewable energy. This line is a waste of money and would cause destruction to environmentally sensitive areas and public lands.”

Tittel said the line could be delayed past 2015 because the utility also needs to get permits to do work on a portion that crosses Picatinny Arsenal.

Deann Muzikar, a PSE&G spokeswoman, said the utility hopes to submit new permit applications to the DEP soon.

The utility’s announcement of the delay followed closely on the heels of the park service’s announcement of its alternate route proposals and the opening of a public comment period –including three public hearings — to consider them.

As part of its review process, which is expected to last into 2012, the NPS developed other prospective routes to minimize the project’s impact on the park’s resources. The park service said other options include no line upgrade or using the power company’s planned route for the new lines.

Of the park service’s five suggested optional routes, two would not change the line’s location through Morris County. The remaining three would take the transmission line completely out of Delaware Water Gap National Park and would bring it further south through New Jersey and through more of Morris County: one route would parallel Route 80 and two would take it just north of the Flanders Valley Golf Course and south of Route 10 into Roseland.

People can comment on those alternatives via the NPS website at http://parkplanning.nps.gov or at three public hearings. One hearing is being held in New Jersey at the Farmstead Golf and Country Club in Lafayette on Aug. 19, with an open house beginning at 2:30 p.m. and the hearing at 6 p.m.

In its update last week, the park service wrote that it “is not dictating or directing where the power companies can, will or might choose to place their transmission lines outside of lands and waters of the National Park units involved. The portions of alternatives displayed outside of park lands are shown only as examples of potentially viable and feasible alternative routes that these power companies could choose to complete a transmission line between their two identified end points along other existing rights-of-way.”

“We still maintain the route we proposed is the best one to minimize impacts on the local communities,” Muzikar, of PSE&G, said.

Opponents are urging people to support the park service’s first alternative, which would not allow any upgrade in any location.

“The more, the better,” said Dave Slaperud of the Stop the Lines citizens group. “We need to continue the public outcry on this.”

PSE&G says the line upgrade is still necessary to prevent power outages that could begin in 2012 and had hoped to have the work completed by then. Its $750 million project would cross from Pennsylvania through the Water Gap, then proceed through Warren, Sussex and Morris counties before ending in Roseland. More than half the line would traverse Morris County, through Jefferson, Rockaway Township, Kinnelon, Boonton Township, Montville, Parsippany and East Hanover.

Ratepayers would foot the bill.

The project was challenged in BPU hearings by the citizen and environmental groups, several municipalities and the Montville School District. The environmentalists and citizens group have launched legal challenges against the BPU’s approval of the plan.

Xcel is trading a bunch of paper for a bunch of money, 21,850,000 pieces of paper to be precise.  How much money is that?  Seems to be $469,775,000,  or $408,500,000, gross, or $396,245,000 net to Xcel, depending on what numbers you look at, or what they sell at!

Xcel’s 424B2 filed with SEC August 4, 2010

What will they do with it?  According to the prospectus, and an article written about it:

“Xcel Energy intends to use any net proceeds that it receives upon settlement of the forward sale agreement described above, or from the sale of any shares to the underwriters to cover over-allotments, to repay outstanding commercial paper and make capital contributions to its operating subsidiaries.”

Here’s an article from Marketwatch:

Xcel Energy Announces Pricing of Common Stock

Doesn’t this have the feel that they’re desperate for cash flow?  We know they can’t get their construction capital to build the Brookings transmission line, and they’re hot to trot both about PUC ordained rate recovery, which they did not get and their Motion for Reconsideration (PUC Docket 09-1048) went nowhere.

Here’s Seeking Alpha’s Xcel 2Q Earnings Call Transcript!

Seeking Alpha Xcel 2Q Earnings Call Question & Answer

And a choice answer snippet from the Q&A:

Ben Fowke

Transaction transmission will be a very big part of our capital profile as you get to the middle and latter part of the decade it’s a result of all the years of efforts we’ve already put into project like CapEx 2020. It takes a very long time to get these things done.