FREE SPEECH ZONE | LS Power natural gas power plant scheme going down in Chisago County

LS Power has been promoting a combined cycle gas plant in east central Minnesota.  The project, called Sunrise River, is a 780 MW (summer rating) combined cycle natural gas plant with oil as a secondary fuel.  Public opposition is fierce.

On October 20, 2009, in Lent Township, Chisago County, Minnesota, population about 2000, about 500 people turned out to a public meeting.  Bob Cupit of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission said he'd never seen so many people at a meeting about a power plant:  "in my 30 years I've never seen a crowd this large."

Craig Afeldt of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency tried to instill confidence in the Minnesota state " environmental review" process, not mentioning that efforts are underway to "streamline" the process.  MPCA officials have written:

"Stall tactics: ... there will always be instances where the NIMBY approach takes effect.  In these cases the public may use the ER process to create delays and to stall the RGU's decision making process.  In these cases, no answer by the proposer or RGU is adequate in their eyes and they will use all possible options to slow or stop the project.... This situation can sometimes be mitigated by a strong public engagement effort by the proposer."  [That is, some uppity citizens actually want a say about what happens.]

Per usual practice, the MPCA has been meeting with the project promoters for months without public notice.

With the exception of construction trades guys saying they needed the work, almost every speaker at the meeting said he or she didn't want it.  They didn't want the water consumption, the air pollution, the noise, the eyesore, the change in the character of a rural area.  Some talked about the unwisdom of burning more fossil fuels. 

One person said to the county and township officials sitting at a table in the front of the room "There will be a job loss--yours!"  Another said "This is not YOUR backyard, this is OUR backyard." (LS Power is headquartered in New York City or New Jersey).  One said "Chisago County is not a bunch of yokels."  (Very true, the testimony was articulate and well-informed.)  Another pointed out that "Gas is not a totally clean fuel."  Another said "Lets do solar, geothermal, wind...."  Another noted "it would be immoral for us to burn more [fossil fuels].  And so on for three hours.

Mike Bull, Resource Manager for Xcel Energy, Minnesota's largest electric/gas utility, said:  "in the short run, our resource needs are pretty well met ... we don't plan to buy from the facility."

I had the opportunity to ask LS Power representative a few questions including:

What would be the output of this plant? Answer:  780 MW summer rating.  Over 800 winter rating.  [Gas turbines make more power when the air is colder and more dense.]

How many generating units would there be?               Answer: Don't know/haven't decided.

Who would be the manufacturer of the combustion turbines?       Answer: Don't know/haven't decided.

Who would be the manufacturer of the steam turbines?    Answer: Don't know/haven't decided.

How many smokestacks would the plant have?      Answer: Don't know/haven't decided.

How gallons or barrels of oil would be stored on the site:         Answer: Don't know/haven't decided.

How much oil would be burned in a year?         Answer: Don't know/haven't decided.

In your air permit application, how many pounds per year of regulated air pollutants would you be asking permission to put up your smokestacks? Answer:  Don't know/haven't decided.

And so on .....

It's all too common for elected officials to buy into a scheme without knowing much about it.  Often, they just don't know what questions to ask.

Opposition seems to be headed up by Concerned River Valley Citizens (CRVC, no website but they know what they are doing) and Friends of the Sunrise River.

Township and County officials have been negotiating a "Development Agreement" with LS Power per the provisions of a special tax exemption given to LS Power by the state legislature.  These officials are resisting an intervention by CRVC under the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act (MERA).

For more information on this project and the opposition to it, see Carol Overland's blog post.

Alan Muller