By T.W. Budig
ECM Capitol reporter
The spectre of new power line towers as high as 170-feet tall poking through his district brought Rep. Ken Tschumper, DFL-La Crescent, and other CapX2020 critics to the Capitol last week.
“What concerns us the most is that through this process it’s becoming increasingly clear to us that the power lines may not be needed,” said Tschumper on Tuesday, Sept. 9.
A joint proposal of some 11 utilities including Xcel Energy, Great River Energy, and Dairyland Power Cooperative, the first phase of the CapX2020 proposal — a proposal the utilities argue is needed because of increasing demand for power — calls for the construction of four new power lines costing up to $1.7 billion.
One 150-mile line is proposed from the southeast metro to Rochester and then over to La Crosse, Wis. This is the route that could cut through Tschumper’s district and the southern part of the city of La Crescent.
Another possible Mississippi River crossing point for the line is Winona.
Another line is envisioned as running from Fargo, N.D., to St. Cloud and Monticello and yet another from South Dakota to the Twin Cities.
The fourth and shortest line is proposed from Bemidji to Grand Rapids.
Costs are obscure
Tschumper and others argue the cost of the CapX2020 proposal to ratepayers is obscure, that lines could threaten wildlife refuges, that the proposal is based on ‘overinflated” energy demand assumptions, and that the proposal runs counter to the spirit of new energy policies in Minnesota.
“The CapX proposal will lay the groundwork of exactly the opposite thing,” Tschumper said of the idea of the increased use of local, alternative energy.
George Crocker, co-founder of the North American Water Office, called CapX2020 a “bait and switch.”
Building the new power lines, critics argue, will allow utilities to transmit coal-derived electricity across Minnesota to energy markets in Milwaukee and Chicago.
“What does Minnesota get,” rhetorically asked Paula Maccabee, an attorney for Citizens Energy Task Force.
“We get the pollution. We get the transmission lines — we pay for the transmission lines,” she said.
Additionally, the cost of CapX2020 was an “ever moving target,” Maccabee argued.
Erickson Ropes skeptical
Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes, DFL-Winona, said in a statement she was “extremely skeptical” of the need for the CapX2020 proposal and applauded Tschumper’s efforts at trying to increase public awareness.
Currently, the CapX2020’s certificate of need proposal is under review by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.
The CapX2020 proposal is also before Administrative Law Judge Beverly J. Heydinger, who is reviewing evidence and will make a recommendation to the public utilities commission.
But the commission does not have to act on the recommendation, opined Maccabee.
Tim Carlsgaard, a spokesman for the CapX2020 initiative, said over 200 public hearings have been held over the past two years on the project.
“It’s a bit frustrating for us,” he said of some of the criticisms voiced against the project.
As for coal-derived electricity being transmitted across Minnesota to Wisconsin from the Dakotas, Carlsgaard said federal law prohibits utilities from excluding forms of power — hydro, nuclear, coal, others — from transmission.
Unwitting middleman?
“I think it’s completely false,” he said of the argument that Minnesota will become an unwitting middleman in the spread of coal-fired electricity.
Indeed, Minnesota imports power — 24-hours a day, Carlsgaard argued.
Action is needed, he argued.
The power grid has not had a major upgrade in 30 years — like a congested highway needing additional lanes so the power grid sometimes need additional lines, he explained.
The demand for power has nearly doubled since the 1980s, he said.
“We meed to address the reliability and growth issue,” he said.
Carlsgaard senses the CapX2020 project is on track.
“I think we’re doing a pretty good job,” he said of keeping the public informed.
“Right now we’re pretty much on schedule,” said Carlsgaard.
Tschumper and others are urging the public to send letters and emails to the Judge Heydinger to detail their concerns about the CapX2020 project.
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