According to the S'Trib, the Crown Hydro project just got a 45 day
extension.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4995488.html
They should have named it "Crown Hydra" I think.
Emilie Quast SE Como.
A very appropriate nickname, I think.
This is the 4th extension Crown Hydro has received on deadline to file an acceptable conveyance of property from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The other 3 extensions were January 13, May 3 and July 15 of this year, although Crown Hydro's FERC application is more than 13 years old.
The FERC letter granting the extension sets some stringent requirements for evidence of progress being made before they will further extend the deadline. (Use Docket Number 11175 at the following web address to search for and read FERC correspondence with Crown Hydro for yourself: http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/search/fercgensearch.asp)
One has to give Crown Hydro credit for tenaciousness. One also has to wonder -- just who is behind Crown Hydro that they would persist when the Park Board has voted decisively against leasing the land at St. Anthony Falls to Crown Hydro for this use?
Who would dare to even think about using eminent domain -- the only remaining way to get the property without a lease from the Park Board? Even if they succeeded in getting the property this way, their names would be mud in this town for the next 100 years. Imagine how many extremely angry citizens and bureaucrats there will be if some private entity plunders our beloved riverfront and park land via an obscure federal law that sometimes allows for eminent domain takings by such an entity, not the government? (And note that both the Park Board and the FERC believe that this clause in the law does not apply in this case, but that FERC is being generous in allowing Crown Hydro to retain their own eminent domain attorney to get their own legal opinion on the matter.)
What kind of people are behind Crown Hydro who would steam-roll popular dissent without qualm? What kind of people would risk endless lawsuits from private citizens and government agencies? I cannot speak for anyone who lives around the St. Anthony Falls area, but many of the names read like a Who's Who of wealthy movers and shakers in town. It seems like they would be the last people one would want to antagonize and insult by forcibly taking park property near their homes.
What part of "NO" do the people behind Crown Hydro not understand? Who are they that they don't care that the public and the Park Board have said no?
More articles about Crown Hydro here: http://www.mplsparkwatch.org/taxonomy/page/or/9
Chris Johnson - Fulton
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