Better Footing For Minnesota's Energy Future
11/9/2009 11:50:24 PM
The controversial Big Stone II power plant project
collapsed earlier this week, highlighting the considerable energy
challenges facing Minnesota. Anyone claiming victory or acknowledging
defeat would be, at least partly, wrong. Despite considerable
shortcomings, the project was grounded in a very real future need for
more electrical power.
Progressives must think long and hard
about this project's lessons. Opposition, while important, is no
substitute for forward-thinking public energy policy. Only real
innovation drives a sustainable Minnesota future.
Big Stone II
was a proposed "clean coal technology" power generation plant sited in
Milbank, South Dakota. Despite its location, half the plant's power
would've been transmitted to the Twin Cities, powering an estimated
600,000 homes.
Minnesota lacks the high voltage transmission
capacity necessary to carry that much new juice. Because Big Stone II
conveniently fell under the more coal power friendly South Dakota
Public Utilities Commission's jurisdiction, the proposed transmission
line became project opponents' focal point.
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