Hello Minneapolis, Crown Hydro
On Weds evening the Minneapolis Park Board voted a 4 for the project (Diedzick, Fine, Kummer, Olson) and 4 against (Erwin, Young, Graves, Mason), Hauser was absent and did not vote on the Crown Hydro project. They voted 7 to 1 (Mason the only against vote) in favor of reconsidering the project on Weds May 19th. I spoke at the meeting in favor of the project because it seems like a very good project for everyone. According to the Metropolitan Council Minneapolis will have an additional 30,000 household that will need electricity by 2030, additional electricity will also be needed for businesses in our city. We have to begin to plan for that additional need, if we want that electricity to be renewable energy instead of more coal, nuclear and large-scale hydro. All of these power supplies have very serious negative impacts on communities. Coal is one of the biggest contributors to global warming, asthma and numerous other health issues. Will Steger documents arctic climate change while bobsledding across the artic territory and meeting Inuit Elders and students. Indigenous are already being impacted people will be most impacted by global warming. You can find out more by visiting www.polarhusky.com Nuclear power does not release emissions but an accident would be catastrophic and again indigenous (native) people would be most impacted. You can visit these following sites; http://www.blackmesais.org/, native communities fighting big coal and depleted uranium (Arizona), http://www.endaum.org/, http://www.prairieisland.org/, Prairie Island has a nuclear power plant and waste stored on the banks of the Mississippi near Red Wing. Skull Valley http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jan/01062003/utah/17715.asp, http://www.wsdp.org/, http://www.ratical.org/ratville/IPEIE/YuccaMtn.html, Western Shoshone people. Minnesota electricity consumer already purchase hundreds of millions of dollars of large-scale hydropower from Manitoba every year, which has had numerous negative impacts on Cree and Metis people including impacting their commercial fishing and trapping industry creating unemployment rates between 70% to 90% and some of the highest suicide rates in the industrialized world. You can visit http://www.justenergy.org/, to find out more. I have been to numerous communities impacted by these dams and heard many tragic and devastating personal stories from the people who are directly impacted by our energy use everyday. Aquaries Media is currently working on a documentary about these peoples plight you can view video clips at http://www.greengreenwater.com/video.html, I would encourage folks to view and listen to Vivian Moose�s interview. I find it difficult to be sympathetic to the condo owners concerns about impacts, because the Crown Hydro impacts seem minimal and insignificant in comparison to the dams in Northern Manitoba. The Crown Hydro project will be a low-impact, run of the river project, which will use preexisting infrastructure and many people believe it will restore the historical integrity of the area. Others have argued that the process of excavation will disturb important historical and archeological treasures. I want to be sympathetic to this argument but we already by hundreds of millions of dollars that disturb important archeological and historical treasures everyday. They are Cree, Metis and other indigenous peoples history and very few consumers think twice about it. I encourage you to visit http://www.justenergy.org/images/0803trip/index.html, you will witness numerous photos of burial sites that have and are eroding away every year. Crown Hydro Proponents 1) Numerous environmental and public policy organizations agree this is a very good renewable energy project and will provide a positive impact on the environment including the Green Institute, Izaak Walton, Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ME3), and many, many more. 2) The project will provide the Park Board with $30,000 to $90,000 a year in revenue. (None of our current energy suppliers provide revenue to our Park system or any other government agency). After 10-years the Park Board has the potential to make $400,000 a year from this project. This is after the debt has been paid. 3) The project will improve access to the area, and provide greater access to the river. 4) The project will be a wonderful educational tool for everyone that will provide the public access to see how the generates operate. (The Ford and St. Anthony dams do not provide this to the public) Main opposition points vs Crown's Hydro Project include 1. FERC 50 year contract with automatic 50 year renewal is too long and ties up park land, etc All FERC licenses are for 50 years because of power planning and other reasons (meddling by opponents, etc); Crown has stipulated in lease with Park Board that 5 years before the end of 50 years the parties will meet to decide if another extension is appropriate. If not the lease will end. FERC also allows 1 year extensions if any issues need to be worked on. I have been told that the Ford dam is in process of securing 35-year licenses, so this may be a negotiable issue. I am not aware of the process for licensing and what is negotiable. 2. Aesthetic flows over the falls/spillway. A minimum of 2000 cu. ft /sec was established in 1993 as a minimum. The Crown Hydro folks support this as a permanent standard. Only 50% of the time in a given year is 2000 or more available. So this is an arbitrary figure not in relation to reality. It was established to prevent Xcel from confiscating all available water to add 10 additional megawatts in 1987. Park Comm. Commissioner Erwin has suggested 500 as a minimum with more available during the tourist season. Crown Hydro has agreed to do this by programming its computers to slow its water intake and produce less power, but keep the spillway adequately covered. It does not seem like the condo owners believe this and apparently Commissioner Erwin accepted this before he decided against the project for other reasons. 3. Even if the entire plant is underground, it will cause vibrations to affect the geology of the area and cause the condo buildings to collapse. There is no vibration possible because turbines cannot operate - and will shut down - if any vibration is detected. They are firmly anchored in concrete and set to stabilize themselves like a gyroscope. Three different engineering studies have been conducted to determine the stability of the area and the tunnels. They once distributed 5X as much water for 50 years to the 13 mills in the area before the mills were shut down in the 1930's. The St. Anthony dam is significantly bigger than Crown Hydro and buildings have not crumbled into the river. 4. The plant should go on the other side of the river. This is possible but the Mills Ruins Park tailrace will be deprived of water because Park Board has a lower priority for water than even Crown Hydro. So the purpose of the park is defeated. The RDF Board picked this project for a $5.1 million grant because of the Mill Ruins area and not in spite of it. 5. The economics are bogus and a waste of ratepayer and taxpayer money. The RDF process determined otherwise and the power agreement with Xcel/Crown is in line with other renewable producers; and the contract was approved by the PUC (2003). The government already gives out billions of dollars in subsidies and incentives to the coal, petroleum, and nuclear power industry; the incentives for renewable energy do not even come close to comparing to the subsidies for those fuel industries. As a ratepayer and tax payer people should be outraged that we currently subsidies polluters! 6. Condo owners and others have argued the historical integrity of the Mill Ruins will be ruined. Apparently Crown Hydro and State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) had numerous long meetings about this project. Crown has agreed after a lease is approved to allow Park Board to approve an Archeology Plan, which will deal with preserving the area and making it more accessible to the public. This is the place where hydroelectric was first produced in the US and therefore has tourism value. 7. Why is the project on Parkland? Park Board staff and Crown Hydro determined the Cataract Mill area was the best site; and Park Board approved the selection of the area (1999) and offered to do a lease with Crown Hydro in 2001. 8. The deal with Crown for the benefit of the Park Board is not enough. Crown offered to build the headrace area into a park, extend the Stone Arch Bridge, build a plank road, (about $1 million). Apparently none of this is necessary merely to produce electricity. In addition Crown has offered to pay Park Board $100,000 up front at start of construction; $30,000 annually for park maintenance (escalated), plus share excess revenue when the river produces more than normal year flows. This can range from $0 to $75,000 additional. 9. The powerhouse is a visual eyesore and an industrial use of land zoned commercial. The powerhouse is entirely underground as seen from River road and follows the slope of Portland Ave. The top can be covered with trees, flowers or other vegetation and will look like a garden from the higher reaches of the condos in the area. Utilities do not fit the definition of industrial, but the zoning can be adapted if required. The fact that the entire operation is underground and invisible is an important factor. This is a point of contention with SHPO apparently they would like a full excavation of the area and then decide how much historic fabric would be impacted. It is my opinion that the parking lot and lock and dams is not historical significant but it was approved for construction many years ago. Numerous other changes have happened to the area since European settled the area, and important indigenous and native archeology and history was impacted by the original and proceeding developments of the river. This area is important but Europeans did not show concerns for indigenous history when they decided to develop the area. It appears that Crown Hydro is willing to work with archeological folks on this issue. Is it possible that a full excavation could happen and then the Crown Hydro project could be built? Archeological folks believe that opening up the area and leaving is the appropriate way to look at the archeology. 10. Condo owners have argued their property values are in jeopardy. They paid $600,000 - $1,000,000 for their condos. Again, many people in Northern Manitoba have had their entire homes burned to the ground and flooded so we can have electricity. I might be wrong, but it would appear to me that constructing a new park and providing money to improve the area will improve property values. The area now is run down in certain parts and dominated by a parking lot in the headrace area. The city has planned to build a water park here since 1983. Crown Hydro fulfilled that plan which called for using the water flows for a small hydro. I have been told that is the reason Crown started this project in 1991. Ken Bradley Corcoran Neighborhood 612-728-8962 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
