PUC Promotes Distributed Power Generation, Clean Air, Clarity Online

Darn near had to invoke open meetings laws here yesterday: South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner Dusty Johnson dropped by to boost small wind and distributed generation (read more on the PUC's Small Renewable Energy Initiative... and Russ, you'd better be voting for this!).

Commissioner Steve Kolbeck very generously shared his time (and studiously followed the comment nymity policy!) to explain his comment about how Big Stone II could have led to a net decrease in air pollution around Big Stone Lake and the Whetstone Valley. Evidently the Big Stone II backers were voluntarily offering to upgrade Big Stone I to win regulatory support for the new coal plant. If that's the case (and Minnesota Clean Water Action wasn't convinced), I'm surprised that the BSII artists didn't make bigger hay of that point in their press to persuade us hippies that BSII would indeed have been good for the earth.

Of course, now that BSII is dead, Otter Tail, MDU, and Northwestern could still carry out those upgrades and really clean up the air around Big Stone.

Now if we could just get Commissioner Hanson to drop by, we'd have a full house!