Basin Electric Suspends NextGen Coal Plant; DoE Cancels EIS

Last year Basin Electric said it was "re-evaluating the timeline" for its NextGen coal-fired power plant near Selby. Looks like the re-evaluating is over: NextGen is nixed.

From today's Federal Register:

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Western Area Power Administration

Notice of Cancellation of Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed NextGen Project Near Selby, Walworth County, SD (DOE/EIS-0401)
AGENCY: Western Area Power Administration, DOE.
ACTION: Cancellation of Environmental Impact Statement.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Western Area Power Administration (Western) is issuing this notice to advise the public that it is cancelling the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on an interconnection request by the Basin Electric Power Cooperative (BEPC). BEPC proposed to design, construct, operate, and maintain a 500- to 700-megawatt base load, coal-fired generation facility near Selby, Walworth County, South Dakota, and interconnect it with Western's transmission system, thus triggering a NEPA review of Western's action to allow the interconnection. BEPC has notified Western it is suspending further action on its proposed project [Timothy J. Meeks, Administrator, FR Doc. 2010-32121 Filed 12-21-10; 8:45 am, BILLING CODE 6450-01-P].

Basin Electric's webpage for the project is gone; you can still read up on NextGen's specs on the WAPA's site and in the South Dakota PUC docket. That's 700 more megawatts of coal-fired power the industry has decided we just don't need. That's also $2.5 billion in construction dollars, 1700 temporary construction jobs and 150 permanent jobs that won't be coming to Walworth County.

Not getting nixed: Basin Electric's Prairie Winds SD1 wind farm, scheduled to start pumping out 150 megawatts of clean wind power in 2011. Estimated cost: $350 million.

Again, check that math: $350 million gets 150 MW in wind power. That's $2.3 million per megawatt. NextGen would have cost $2.5 billion to get 700 MW in coal power. That's $3.6 million per megawatt. As I've said before, it's not envirowhackos driving the industry away from coal power. It's good old economics.

Update 10:31 CST: Plains Justice is also pleased.

TransCanada Notes: Nebraska Regulations, SD Pipe Yard... and Oily Wind?

At least some Nebraska counties are taking action to keep TransCanada in line if it builds the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline through their territory. In York County (down where US 81 meets I-80), corn producers are asking the county commission to regulate the construction timeframe, pipeline depth, and pipeline reclamation to protect local agriculture. Holt County in north central Nebraska has already passed some significant pipeline regulations in anticipation of Keystone XL.

Meanwhile, TransCanada keeps trying to force landowners into silence about the project, something one Ernie Fellows of Keya Paha County doesn't much care for:

Fellows, a Keya Paha county landowner who lives near Mills, said he believes the company’s tactics and closed meetings with Landowners for Fairness (LFF) violate his rights.

“I belong to LFF. I have the right to say no. I have the right to speak. Having to sign a nondisclosure statement violates my civil rights,” he said [LuAnn Schindler, "Proposed Pipeline Has Some Property Owners Asking Questions," Norfolk Daily News, 2010.10.26].

Meanwhile, TransCanada is still getting its Keystone XL ducks in a row here in South Dakota. TransCanada rep Michael Calhoun checked with Butte County commissioners last week to make sure his company had the right permits for a pipe yard that mostly out-of-state workers will use as a staging ground for construction of the pipeline. Butte County has no zoning regulations, so TransCanada is good to go...

...assuming, of course, that the State Department approves TransCanada's permit request. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made some pro-Keystone XL noise last month, which earned her guff from both of Nebraska's U.S. Senators and some other folks... but no word that I've heard from South Dakota's Congressional delegation.

On the bright side, even as TransCanada threatens to profit from prolonging our addiction to dirty foreign oil, the Canadian company is also boosting wind power here in the States. At the beginning of the month, TransCanada finished construction on the 132-megawatt Kibby Wind project in Eustis, Maine. When those windmills are at full tilt, they'll provide enough juice for 50,000 homes.

Dang it: even those land-grabbing Canadian fossil-fuel peddlers can do something right every now and then.

That Darned Stimlus: Boon for South Dakota Wind Power

The stimulus is working. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act isn't just about creating immediate jobs, ending the recession, and restoring confidence... although South Dakota unemployment is sliding back down, the economy has grown every quarter since Q3 2009, and rural bankers' confidence in the economic outlook for the next six months has risen over 11 points since August. The stimulus is also about laying the groundwork for long-term jobs and economic growth.

Consider wind energy. Mitchell Technical Institute just announced their receipt of $1.17 million in federal money to buy into a wind turbine on the White Lake PrairieWinds site. The state also kicked in stimulus dollars in the form of bonds to the Mitchell School District, which oversees the technical school. MTI students will get to train on that turbine. Those students, including a cadre of Native American students mandated by the federal money, will come out of MTI better equipped to compete for jobs in the growing wind energy field.

The stimulus also kept a lot of American wind energy jobs alive by saving the renewable energy tax credit:

At a time when the Great Recession threatened some 40,000 American wind construction, manufacturing and other jobs, the 1603 tax credit program included in the Stimulus legislation passed by the Congress restarted stalled projects and preserved these jobs. This year, a study by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory (LBNL) found that the 1603 tax credit supported shovel-ready projects and over 50,000 American jobs. The 1603 program led to a record-breaking year of 10,000 megawatts (MW) of new wind in 2009 [Mike McDowell, "Tax Credits for Renewable Resources Must Be Renewed," HeartlandCPD Blog, 2010.10.15].

Protecting those jobs doesn't just keep tens of thousands of workers buying groceries and paying the mortgage. Protecting those jobs keeps the momentum going in renewable energy. Without the stimulus, we would have fallen further behind China and other forward-looking countries in the race to get our economy oriented toward the energy of the future.

And about China: Republicans are trying to trick you into believing that the stimulus only boosted wind energy in China. Ha!

• According to data from the International Trade Commission (ITC) China currently represents less than 5% of the imported value of turbine components for the U.S. market.
• Today, only 3 out of 33,000 (0.009%) wind turbines installed across the U.S. were sourced from China while there are American wind turbine manufacturing facilities coming online including brand new facilities beginning operation is several states
• U.S. International Trade Commission states: “Overall, imports peaked as a share of the market in 2006 and U.S. production in 2008 and 2009 was significantly higher than in 2005, indicating a growing role for domestic producers. If planned U.S. manufacturing plants come online in the next few years, U.S. production capacity will continue to expand” [McDowell, 2010.10.15].

Remember, if wind-energy jobs are going to China, you can't blame the stimulus. Blame Senator John Thune and Republican obstructionists.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has helped the American wind energy industry weather the economic storm. It is laying the groundwork for students like thoe at Mitchell Tech to get the skills they need to compete in the new-energy economy that's only going to grow in the next five, ten, twenty years.

The ARRA stimulus has helped the recovery. But we're going to be seeing the Reinvestment portion of that legislation working through our economy for much longer.
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Update 2010.10.24 09:33 CDT: More forward-looking stimulus investment helping South Dakota: Governor M. Michael Rounds cheers another $3.8 million in ARRA money to support a broadband mapping project that will gather data vital to improving South Dakota's information technology infrastructure.

Board OKs Madison New Gym, HS Renovations; Angles for Green Vote

The Madison Central School Board green-lighted (green-lit?) the new gym and high school renovations project at its regular meeting last night. The Madison Daily Leader also continued its campaign of spin and obfuscation, referring solely to "renovations" and "new space" and not once mentioning the biggest single item in the $16M package, the new gym.

The school board is clearly alarmed by the bad press here in the blogosphere. In an effort to stanch opposition and bring Madison's busiest blog on board with the project, architect Jeff Nelson is throwing an obvious bone to the green commentariat:

Jeff Nelson, Baldridge and Nelson president, told the board members that his firm could start working on a "full-blown package." He said that the package would include a complete floor plan and an energy study that would consider utility cost savings and possible renewable energy use, such as solar and wind generation [Chuck Clement, "Madison School Board Says Yes to Renovations," Madison Daily Leader, 2010.10.11].

Oh! Solar panels! Wind turbines! Well, I'm totally on board now. Forget I said anything bad about building a luxury gym or trying to hide this unnecessary project behind educational necessities. Slap a solar panel on top, and I'm all for it, right?

Actually, I wold be quite pleased to see our high school follow the City of Colton's lead and move toward energy self-sufficiency. But watch: someone will discover that the low thrum of the wind turbines would distract our Bulldog free-throw shooters, and then the turbines are out.

Scotland to Achieve 100% Homegrown Green Power by 2025

The City of Colton now has three municipal buildings running mostly on solar and wind power. That's no small achievement.

But here's something to really put the wind under your kilt: Scotland plans to get all of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025. All of it:

"Scotland has unrivalled green energy resources and our new national target to generate 80 percent of electricity needs from renewables by 2020 will be exceeded by delivering current plans for wind, wave and tidal generation," [First Minister Alex] Salmond said.

"I'm confident that by 2025 we will produce at least 100 percent of our electricity needs from renewables alone, and together with other sources it will enable us to become a net exporter of clean, green energy," he said a statement ahead of a renewable energy investment conference.

Last week, Scotland raised its 2020 renewable electricity target from 50 to 80 percent of total demand, much of which is expected to be met by offshore wind despite costs soaring over the last few years [Daniel Fineren, "Scotland to get 100 pct green energy by 2025," Reuters, 2010.09.29].

Perspective on American wimipiness on renewable energy:

• South Dakota's renewable energy "standard" is a fluffball paperwork charade that gently asks South Dakota's utilities to get 10% of the electricity they sell from renewable sources by 2015 or to write a letter saying they won't.
• Our national lawmakers think it's a big deal to work for passage of a 15% renewable energy standard by 2021.

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Bonus Green Power Note: Wind and other renewable energy projects are great, but switching to electric cars would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on foreign oil even more. So let's do both! Get Tesla to set up a factory just outside of Colton, and juice it with wind power from Iberdrola's proposed Minnehaha West Wind Project!

Colton Uses Stimulus to Build Energy Independence

Visitors survey the renewable energy and energy efficiency upgrades to the Colton City East Shop.

It's the patriotic thing to do!

Twelve solar panels. Two wind turbines. It's not Sarnia or Buffalo Ridge. But those twelve panels and two turbines are enough to make Colton, South Dakota, the first energy-independent municipality in our fair state.

Mayor Erik Miller and Colton city staff hosted a ribbon-cutting yesterday afternoon to officially kick off their Energy Independent Community Initiative. Mayor Miller explained to a packed meeting room in the Taopi Hall that Colton has used American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars (you know, that nasty, useless stimulus money) to install enough solar and wind power production capacity to run city hall and the east and west city shops without grid power. Colton also used the money to weatherize the buildings, with new doors, windows, and insulation. Mayor Miller says their EIC Initiative has allowed the city to double its working shop space with no increase—and possibly a decrease—in energy cost.

Ken Hitzeman cuts the ceremonial ribbon for Colton's Energy-Independent Community Initiative.

Mayor Miller did not take credit for this forward-looking energy project. The "spark" behind the whole project is local resident Ken Hitzeman. The mayor said Hitzeman, a local renewable energy expert, brought up the idea of putting Colton on the map with wind turbines—"whirlybirds"—and other energy-producing and energy-saving projects. Hitzeman's passion for the project, said Miller, came from a simple commitment to the idea of energy self-sufficiency. Hitzeman is driven by the dread of seeing American energy dollars go overseas and buy even one bullet that might kill one American soldier. For his patriotic commitment to making energy here in small-town South Dakota, Mayor Miller made Hitzeman blush, just a little, by declaring yesterday "Ken Hitzeman Day" in Colton.

Eletrical equipment turning wind and solar power into usable juice in the Colton City East Shop:

1. wind-solar hybrid converter
2. excess power sink
3. inverter
4. smart meter
5. battery pack
   

City officials took time to show us the nuts and bolts at the "East Shop" next to the Taopi Hall. The small wind turbine sits atop an old windmill tower which used to support a town emergency. How's that for recycling? (A city employee also mentioned his dad once towed that tower, upright, a couple blocks across town to its current location.) Three solar panels lie on the south side of the roof. Inside, a converter combines the wind and solar power for use. Excess power is stored in four batteries. The battery pack in the East Shop can hold two hours of power. They should last fifteen years, with a replacement cost of about $2000.

To extend the life of the batteries, a controller shuts off the wind turbine when the batteries are fully charged and doesn't switch it back on unless the batteries have been drained to 50%. The controller also shuts off the turbine if the wind exceeds 65 miles per hour. When the batteries run out, power switches automatically to the grid with just the barest flicker of the lights.

East Shop smart meter shows zero power input from the grid. That's a zero we like!

A smart meter shows exactly how much power the system is producing and how much additional power the system is drawing from Sioux Valley Electric. Yesterday's grid power intake reading, with the wind turbine quiet and only the three solar panels juicing the shop: 0.0 kW. Ah, self-reliance....

Colton's EIC Initiative is bigger than just energy self-sufficiency for three city buildings. Ken Hitzeman is helping organize a community task force to promote conservation and recycling in Colton. That citizen group will also look for ways to promote energy self-sufficiency for Colton businesses and residents. The EIC Task Force will storm up some ideas at its first organizational meeting on October 19 (7 p.m., Daybreak Express in Colton). They will also start a dialogue about local energy independence on a new Facebook page, which they plan to launch in the coming weeks.

Mayor Miller may be new to Facebook—he said he just learned it for this project, and there were plenty of chuckles from city employees when the mayor asked at the press conference if the shop staff had all updated their Facebook status. But he already gets that the Web and blogs can support real conversation and exchange of ideas both within a community and with communities around the state.

State Senator Scott Heidepriem congratualtes Colton on its pioneering energy-independence initiative

And Colton's EIC Initiative will generate lots of conversation. Gubernatorial candidate and fellow Minnehaha County resident Scott Heidepriem was among the dignitaries who stopped by to congratulate Colton on the EIC Initiative. He noted that Colton will now face the challenge of being a pioneer in energy independence. Pioneers charge forward and solve problems, and then, said Heidepriem, they have to field all the calls and questions from other communities who will want to follow their lead.

Colton's EIC Initiative is a truly visionary, groundbreaking project. Colton's green innovation isn't just about saving the planet (though they're helping!). Colton is showing communities much bigger than itself that we can build the infrastructure now to produce our own power and build energy security at home.

West Shop solar panels and wind turbine

City Hall solar panels

East Shop solar panels and wind turbine

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Update 10:40 CDT: See more coverage of Colton's push for energy independence on KDLT.

Colton Aims for Energy Independence. Colton!

You can take the Kristi Noem position and contend the stimulus has failed. Perhaps Noem would like to double down and say the stimulus has driven folks crazy.

Exhibit A: Colton, South Dakota, which is announcing its plan to become the first energy-independent city in South Dakota:

The City of Colton has broken ground on it's Energy Independent Community (EIC) Initiative with the start of project construction at all city facilities. Recovery Act funding through the U.S. Department of Energy and S.D. Department of Energy will allow Colton to become the first city within the State of South Dakota to subsidize and offset electricity consumption of all city facilities by the use of small wind and solar hybrid system technology! In addition to producing a majority of the electrical energy needed to power city operations through renewable energy, grant funds will also be utilized to increase the energy efficiency at city facilities with improved insulation, upgraded doors and windows, radiant heat sources, upgraded electrical services and improved efficiency lighting. The project will drastically improve the viability and energy efficiency of city facilities, and effectively double city shop square footage without increasing and possibly even reducing current energy demands of city operations [City of Colton, 2010].

A whole city producing as much power as it uses from wind and solar. Crazy, right?

Wrong. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act wasn't just about keeping and creating jobs. It was about inspiring long-term investment in really good ideas, like building renewable energy infrastructure and making improvements that allow us to produce more of our own energy and use it more efficiently.

Colton is thinking big. They're hosting a ribbon-cutting to showcase their big-thinking initiative at the Taopi Hall in Colton on September 28 at 3 p.m. Perhaps candidate Noem will come to Colton to learn what the stimulus is really doing for her fellow South Dakotans.

Herseth Sandlin vs. Noem: Renewable Energy Standard

Part 6 of the Madville Times' South Dakota State Fair Congressional Debate analysis

Question 5 in Sunday's debate: Where do you stand on the national renewable energy standard?

Herseth Sandlin said she helped get the votes for the renewable energy standard in the 2007 energy bill. She said energy efficiency is the easiest part of meeting such a standard. She said she will support an even higher standard and that our electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities have led the way in this area. A national renewable energy standard, she said, is essential for our wind industry.

Herseth Sandlin then returned to bipartisanship. She pointed to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham's proposal for a broader clean energy standard. She said Graham and other lawmakers from the South want nuclear and hydroelectric power included with efficiency, wind, and solar in meeting any energy standard. Herseth Sandlin says there's a workable bipartisan compromise to be had there.

Kristi Noem agreed that the renewable electricity standard is good. She said she's heard people across the state say it's good for South Dakota. Noem does not support raising that renewable standard to 20% or 25%. She said very few co-ops could meet that high of a standard without raising utility rates, and we can't pass costs on to consumers in the middle of a recession when they can't afford it. Noem said we can't pass any legislation that would take more dollars out of our pockets. (Hmmm... can't take money from Americans, can't raise the debt ceiling... so in terms of paying down the debt, that leaves only one option: shutting down the federal government for six years.)

Assessment: Bipartisanship is one of Herseth Sandlin's favorite talking points. She ties this question to bipartisanship with a specific proposal and lawmaker. Not taking money out of people's pockets is one of Noem's talking points. She returns to it by appealing to an arbitrary number.

(A number of states, including Minnesota, have already adopted renewable energy standards in the 20–25% range. But the debate judge is supposed to judge the round presented, not the facts he can Google later. ;-) )

Herseth Sandlin approves of current measures and offers a roadmap for workable future action. Noem accepts the status quo, criticizes moving further, but offers no vision for the next step. If you don't want a next step, then Noem's your gal. But in terms of using the debate time to lay out specific plans for action, slight advantage Herseth Sandlin.

Recession Slows Plans for Brandon Wind Tower Plant

The wind power news isn't all rosy: the recession is stalling wind tower production in Brandon.

Broadwind Energy subsidiary Tower Tech Systems doesn't build the turbines; they build the 200-foot towers that hold those whirling turbines up. Tower Tech has built a plant just north of I-90 by Brandon, the company's third such facility, to build these towers. The building is 1150 feet long—that's three football fields, plus endzones! Materials go in one end, long towers come out the other, just like Play-Doh! Tower Tech picked the location due to good road access and proximity to wind projects. (I can't wait to see them try snaking those towers up the ramp at Exit 406.)

So Tower Tech has the building and equipment, they have the location.... now they just need contracts. Jill Meier at that Sioux Falls paper reports that Tower Tech had a big contract with General Electric, but that GE backed out. Just two years ago, GE was saying we had a wind turbine shortage. But then the recession hit and slowed all sorts of construction down, including green projects. (So, it wasn't enviro-hippies who slowed down green power; it was the gambling bankers who crashed the economy.)

The Tower Tech folks are saying optimistic things to the locals, assuring them the economy will turn around and the plant will be ready to create 150 new jobs soon. Their optimism may be warranted. The green stimulus is kicking into gear. Vestas Wind just landed its fifth big contract of the year (after landing none in gloomy 2009). GE is expanding its investment in wind in Europe and Idaho. GE is also supplying turbines to some other big projects.

So keep your fingers crossed and hardhats ready, Brandon workers: 150 green jobs may be a-comin'!

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Related: Even amidst the recession, green power made up more than half of the new electrical generation capacity constructed in the U.S. in 2009.

Iberdrola Planning 350-Megawatt Wind Farm for Lake, McCook, Minnehaha

Orland Township: soon to be home to the biggest wind farm in South Dakota?

When Heartland and its big-dreaming utility pals failed to get investors to back their coal-fired Big Stone II power plant, Governor Rounds said the loss of the new coal plant was a loss for wind power. The gloom and doom from the right made it sound as if we environmentalists would be typing our blog posts by candlelight for the foreseeable future.

So didn't Iberdrola get the memo that wind power is dead without Big Stone II? They are Spanish: maybe they missed the translation. All they seem to hear is ¡En Dakota hay mucho viento! ¡Mucho, mucho viento! ¡Arriba!

Crazy Spaniards. So crazy that they want to build the biggest wind farm in the state, 350 megawatts, part of it right here in Lake County. So says the lead story in Friday's print MDL. Iberdrola already operates MinnDakota and Buffalo Ridge I in Brookings County, wind farms with 54 and 50.4 megawatt capacities, respectively. Iberdrola expects to finish Buffalo Ridge II, a 210-megawatt project in Brookings and Deuel counties that by the end of this year will be the biggest wind farm in the state. Iberdrola has proposed another 170 megawatts of wind power with Buffalo Ridge III.

Iberdrola plans to hook into transmission to the south, probably these big lines about ten miles to the south that run from the Big Bend Dam and slant ESE across McCook and Minnehaha counties to Sioux Falls.

The proposal announced Friday, called the Minnehaha West Wind Project, would stretch across two Lake County townships, three in McCook, and three in Minnehaha. Iberdrola is talking with landowners in Lake County's Orland and Franklin townships, just four miles south of Madison. The landowners, I'm sure, are bound by super-secret non-disclosure agreements—that's why none are quoted in Elisa Sand's Friday report and why we don't get any more specific about sites than township. (Remember, farmers: go for the lease, not the one-time payment!)

These power lines running north to Madison through Frankling and Lakeview townships just got upgraded this past year. Maybe Iberdrola will let us hook in and juice up Madison and the lakes with some clean wind power?

But just four miles south of Madison. That's funny: Mayor Hexom told me last October that Lake County isn't an appealing place to build wind farms, since our wind potential is lower than other places in South Dakota, like Wessington Springs where Heartland is involved in a 51-megawatt wind farm. Now Iberdrola's going to bring almost seven times that clean generating capacity right to Madison's doorstep. Looks like Lake County can compete in the wind market after all. Or the Spaniards are just crazy.

Let's see... Iberdrola told the press last week that their projects so far have generated or supported over 1700 temporary jobs and created 64 permanent jobs in South Dakota alone. Building perhaps 175 wind turbines just ten miles south of my house should keep a lot of folks busy... and send a lot of workers to Buffalo Trading Post, Montrose, Colton, and Chester for lunch. Fire up the grill, Aunt Virginia!

The rural water tower near the Orland Hutterite colony, just east of the Vermillion River, could get some spinning company on the horizon.

As I review the numbers, I see South Dakota has 413 megawatts of wind power installed, another 300 megawatts under construction. (See this map of South Dakota wind projects from last fall.) Public Utilities Commissioner Dusty Johnson tells Elisa Sand that by Christmas, we'll have enough wind capacity to power half the homes in South Dakota. (Yes, Mike, I know, wind doesn't blow all the time, so divide by two.) Dakota Wind has applied for 300 megawatts of the transmission intended for Big Stone II. Moody County may attract a 100-megawatt project. And the South Dakota Wind Energy Association is looking into developing another 1000 megawatts (that's a gigawatt!) of South Dakota wind energy.

Boy, if this is wind power growth when it's stymied, I can't imagine what full-throttle wind power growth looks like.

The Vermillion River Valley, home of the nicest curvy road in the tri-county area, could add some wind turbines to its scenery.

Herseth Sandlin Spotlights Green Jobs; War College Does Silly Photo Edit

Did you catch the complete devastation of the Herseth Sandlin campaign wrought by Dakota War College this week? On Wednesday, conservative blogger Pat Powers borrowed a photo of the Congresswoman, stripped it of context, pasted it next to Michael Dukakis's tank shot, and exulted, Look! They're both wearing helmets! She's a loser!

(Photos edited and posted by Pat Powers, "Separated at Birth?"
Dakota War College, 2010.07.14)

Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha—oh, wait. Let's put the context back, shall we?

The full photo (uncredited and unlinked on DWC) appeared in the Brookings Register on Wednesday.

(Courtesy photo, no author cited, "She's on Top of the World!"
Brookings Register, 2010.07.14)

It shows Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin on a visit home to Brookings County last Friday. She went to Spanish wind energy company Iberdrola's Buffalo Ridge wind farm got her picture taken atop the nacelle of one of the turbines. She climbed 25 stories to get there.

25 stories. I wonder how many of the DWC commenters so mirthfully deriving irrational conclusions from the photo about SHS's fitness for office have the fitness to hike to the top of that turbine, climb out on the nacelle, and take a picture themselves.

Oh yeah, the news accompanying the photo pointed out that Spanish wind-energy Iberdrola estimates its wind farms have generated over 1700 construction and related jobs and established 64 permanent jobs in South Dakota alone.

But Dakota War College wouldn't want to highlight the benefits of green jobs for South Dakota. Heavens no. A picture and a silly visual association are much more interesting, much more informative... much more soothing to a conservative worldview that's getting kicked in the head daily by the facts.

Independence Day Requires Clean Energy -- Get to Work, Senate!

My friends Matt McGovern and Rick Hauffe from Repower South Dakota swung through Madison Monday to talk energy policy. We talked lots of details—last year's House bill, the Bingaman bill, the Kerry-Lieberman-Graham bill, the Lugar bill, and Krugman's Third Depression.

But here are the big things we need to understand as the Senate gears up to rock and roll on some sort of climate change and energy security legislation this summer.

The biggest: Passing a sensible energy policy now does not revolutionize the economy overnight... but it lays the groundwork for a long-term econoic revolution. Pass the strongest possible combination of the above proposals, and we'll still be burning coal and oil tomorrow and for years to come. But we start the long process of shifting our reliance to more domestic renewable sources, like the wind on our prairies, the geothermal heat beneath our feet, and the sun that shines on every American's roof. We start the process of using all energy sources more efficiently, so that every drop of oil and turn of the wind turbine pushes our cars and computers farther.

The sooner we get serious about basing our economy on clean domestic renewable energy, the less need there will be for us to go after the hard oil. The easy oil is gone: we're going to extremes like drilling 30,000 feet below the sea floor and squeezing oil from sand and shale. The price of extracting those fossil fuels will only go up; the price of processing the wind that keeps blowing and the sun that keeps shining will only go down. The sensible course is to start using those renewable sources now and engineer a smooth, long-term energy transition, while we still have some fossil-fuel wiggle room, rather than trying to manage a crash-course conversion to new energy sources when our fossil-fuel tank really is on E.

Some things can happen quickly. McGovern tells me that last summer's House bill targeted a 17% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020. He says just a couple years of recession has already gotten us halfway to that goal.

Of course, buying less, doing less, and leaving millions of Americans out of work aren't the most favorable options for energy conservation. Repower South Dakota would rather see us pass clean energy legislation now to unleash the industrial oomph that's just waiting for Washington to finally set the rules for the new energy economy and say Go! Pass legislation now, and the utilities will get busy with those transmission lines we need for the South Dakota wind industry. Utilities and big industry will start trading happily under a cap-and-trade system (just as they did, successfully, in the 1990s under the Clean Air Act). Energy projects would take off, bringing jobs and economic activity just when we need another big push to get the economy out of its rut.

Oh yeah: and strong clean energy legislation will cut pollution, save lives, and keep our kids from having to evolve gills and webbed feet.

Legislators will be home over the Fourth of July to help us blow things up in celebration of our independence. This patriotic holiday would be the perfect time to remind them we could boost American independence and blow fewer things up in the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East if we pass serious climate change and energy security legislation.

Madison's Next Subsidy: Downtown, Pavement, Utility Bills

The latest Madville Times poll shows readers split on what the ever-generous City of Madison should subsidize next. With handouts recently to Madison Farmers Elevator, East River Electric, Inter-Lakes Community Action Program, Rosebud, and James River Equipment, it seemed logical to ask what important project deserves the next round of funding from the City Commission. The five options presented in the Madville Times poll drew a divided response from 61 readers:

1. Renovating downtown storefronts: 16 votes (26%)
2. Paving gravel streets: 15 (24%)
3. Reducing utility rates: 15 (24%)
4. Building wind turbines: 8 (13%)
5. Restoring Masonic temple: 7 (11%)

Votes were evenly split among the top three suggestions. A quarter of respondents would like to renovate our downtown storefronts, perhaps by ripping out the chintzy tin work and other shoddy signage and restoring some of that lovely old brick work, not to mention looking up and fixing the old architecture that's crumbling all along the second level of our downtown buildings.

Another quarter would like to pave our gravel streets—as my mother has pointed out, folks on those gravel streets have paid for curb and gutter; they deserve some effort by the city to civilize the rest of their street.

Another quarter say everyone in Madison should get a subsidy in the form of a reduction of their utility rates. I'm actually surprised more readers didn't mark this option, given that the city raised electric rates 10% in this year's budget. I find it interesting (and heartening!) that, amid the din of the 9-12 Project hollering for smaller government, three in four readers are willing to keep paying their bills and directing their tax dollars toward projects to benefit the general welfare. (Then again, my sample consists of Madville Times readers, who surely include a disproportionate number of Communists and other unsavory elements, right? :-) )

The remaining quarter are split between providing incentives to build wind turbines around town and getting the Masonic temple back into shape. Alas, I'd like to see the Masonic temple at the top of that list, but that's why we have the discussion, to find out where the popular will lies. Too bad local government doesn't do more of that.

Thanks for voting, dear readers! Stay tuned for more fun, exciting, and locally relevant polls throughout the summer!

SD Wind Farms Growing; Aberdeen News Blows Conservative Smoke

So I'm reading through a nice little article in the Aberdeen American News about the continued growth of wind farms in South Dakota. 413 megawatts installed, another 300 megawatts under construction, still lagging other states, need for transmission and customers to drive more development... the usual. Public Utilities Commissioner Dusty Johnson does note that by the end of the year, South Dakota will have enough wind power capacity to keep the lights and laptops on in more than half of our homes. Not bad!

But then I hit a speed-reading bump:

Many planned wind farms were going to tap into the Big Stone II coal-burning power plant that was going to be build near Milbank. Before it was stymied by out-of-state environmental groups, it was to include extra transmission capacity for locally produced wind energy [Emily Arthur-Richardt and Scott Waltman, "Slowly growing: Wind farms gradually increasing in South Dakota," Aberdeen American News, 2010.06.13].

What?!? The allegedly objective professional journalists of the AAN get to drop this ideological talking point into their report as an unsubstantiated dependent clause? Did Emily crib this line from AAN salesman and conservative blogger Dan? Is all of South Dakota's press in bed with the fossil-fuel industry?

For the umpteenth time: Big Stone II was not killed by hippies, Luddites, or envirowhackos. Big Stone II died because backers failed to make the business case. Project backers consistently underestimated costs. Otter Tail and other investors saw they could meet growing power demand with wind and conservation for less cost than sinking money into a big new coal plant. Their thinking matched the thinking of sober-eyed capitalists like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett who see big fossil fuel projects don't promise a sustainable return on investment.

And for what it's worth, environmentalists were trying to help by pushing to pass a clear energy policy, but Senator John Thune and his obstructionist pals have held up the legislation that the Big Stone backers themselves were saying would have been good for their project.

Of course, the loss of Big Stone II was not accompanied by the sound of wind turbines grinding to a halt. Killing Big Stone II was good for wind power, for the environment and the economy. One report says there's twice as much new wind power in development in Minnesota than would have been generated by Big Stone II. Just last month, Dakota Wind Energy received initial approval to use 300 megawatts of the transmission reserved for Big Stone II. Onward and upward, thanks to entrepreneurs and environmentalists who won't let ideology (or biased press) stop them from getting the job done.

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Update 2010.06.16: But wait, there's more: The PUC just approved another South Dakota wind farm, Basin Electric's PrairieWinds SD1. With 101 turbines turning out 150 megawatts, PrairieWinds SD1 will succeed Basin Electric's big North Dakota wind farm as the largest cooperative-owned wind farm in the U.S. They'll build 13 miles of new transmission to hook into WAPA's current grid.

New Advertiser: Cleaner Greener Energies!

Hey, look at that—I'm making money! And, we hope, so is Cleaner Greener Energies, which has bought some ad space here on the Madville Times. The Sioux Falls company, run by fellow MHS alum Robert Westall, sells and installs wind turbines (including the funky vertical axis machines!) and solar panels. If you'd like to plunk some green power on your roof, Cleaner Greener can hook you up!

Now, dear readers, if you're concerned about my editorial independence here, remember the ad policy: $25 a month buys a rectangle in the sidebar, not propaganda in the main section. I write good news about wind power not because I want to sell ads, but because I really like wind power... and because there is good news about wind power. But if wind turbines start exploding, killing 11 workers after their wealthy owners lobby against safety regulations, you'll hear about right here.

Now click on that ad, and see if Cleaner Greener's got the power you need!

Dakota Wind Energy Gets 300 Megawatts of Big Stone II Transmission

Once upon a time, the Big Stone II power plant was going to need 600 megawatts of electrical transmission capacity. Then Otter Tail and other backers backed out, realizing like numerous other investors that since the business case for coal doesn't make as much sense as the case for wind.

But Big Stone II was supposed to be a Pyrrhic victory for environmentalists, according to various conservative commentators and governors desperately propping up their fossil fuel fetish. With Big Stone II dead, wind energy would lose access to the big transmission capacity needed to make more wind farms feasible.

What's that sound I hear? Wind picking up?

Dakota Wind Energy, along with its managing member, National Wind, announces today the acceptance by the Midwest ISO (“MISO”) of its 300 megawatt (MW) interconnection request into the Big Stone II Transmission backfill study group. Regional electrical transmission operator, MISO, identified wind projects that can utilize, or “backfill,” the electrical capacity once reserved for the Big Stone II coal plant. As a result, Dakota Wind Energy’s interconnection request will move into a more advanced MISO study phase, in which additional required system upgrades will be identified. Once all of the upgrades are studied and established, Dakota Wind Energy can enter into a generator interconnection agreement, allowing us to interconnect the initial 300 MW portion of the Dakota Wind Energy project to the transmission grid [press release, National Wind, 2010.05.05].

Note the word initial. Dakota Wind Energy has leased 60,000 acres in Day, Marshall, and Roberts counties, with the intention of building up to 750 megawatts of wind energy generation capacity. 750 megawatts. That's more than Big Stone II. And that's community-owned South Dakota power. From a fuel source that transports itself. A fuel source that will be as plentiful 10, 20, or a 133 years from now.

I know, I know, Mike, contrary to our experience walking slantwise this week, the wind doesn't always blow, and that plays heck on meeting load requirements. But I imagine the development of wind power will go somewhat like the development of ethanol (as a Republican friend suggested to me earlier this week). Both renewable energy sources require significant technological improvements (wind: massive storage; ethanol: cellulosic fuel stocks). But as we develop wind and ethanol in their imperfect forms now, we'll build the momentum and market for engineers and entrepreneurs to develop the technologies that will make renewables more efficient and profitable.

And contrary to the wishful whimpering of the coal criers, the collapse of Big Stone II doesn't seem to have slowed down wind development one bit. Forward!

Maybe Knight and Carver Can Bank on Offshore Wind Power

Knight and Carver's announcement of layoffs and possible temporary closure is depressing for more than the folks in Howard. The three-year-old facility has been hit by a "lull" in the wind power industry.

The action at tonight's Madison City Commission meeting could bring Knight and Carver's blade production crews a little work: one of K&C's products, the LS56-100 8.3-meter blade, fits 100-kilowatt turbines, which would meet the 150-kW maximum our new wind turbine ordinances would allow. Now if only an enterprising wind power enthusiast can find someplace to erect a turbine that will satisfy the setbacks....

Maybe better news for the wind industry comes from Cape Cod, where the feds have finally approved America's first offshore wind farm. Cape Wind will start producing electricity in time for Barack Obama's reinauguration, with a planned capacity of 468 megawatts. Given that this offshore energy source won't explode or leak 5000 gallons of oil a day, Cape Wind is probably on the right track.

Besides, when one of the only externalities is that the turbines will disrupt the view from the mansions of rich liberal East Coast elites, my conservative readers should be all about more wind power.

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By the way, the Washington Post notes that the wind industry is taking a hit from the recession and from uncertainty over the energy security and climate change bill. Wow, if the Senate would have gotten in gear and passed that bill last year, we might have avoided those layoffs in Howard and the death of Big Stone II. Think about that, Senators Thune and Johnson!

Sunshine Sign Will Fall on Your Car Before Amerts' Wind Turbines

This afternoon's Madison Daily Leader covers the Madison City Commission's first reading of its proposed wind turbine ordinances. The online version of the story omits what was surely the sharpest comment of last night's commission meeting.

Don Amert attended last night's meeting. He and his brother would like to put up a couple wind turbines out by their Ready-Mix cement plant on the southeast edge of Madison (where those turbines would look fantabulous to all the wayfaring travelers on Highway 34... if only they wouldn't distract from our beautiful Madison sign and artificial waterfall). Don questioned the setback ordinances, which require turbines be placed at least 1.1 times their hieght back from property lines, utility lines, electrical substations, roads and homes.

My friend Don suggested such setbacks seem a bit "onerous," especially when you consider that Madison retailers are allowed to situate their tall signs well within toppling distance of roads, property lines, public roads, your parked car, and my bike.

An interesting point! Anyone care to mark off the fall zone of, say, the big Sunshine sign in the middle of town? Or the big flag pole? Or all the lightpoles in the parking lot?

The paper reports city engineer Chad Comes responded by saying such setbacks are standard for wind turbine regulations. In other words, everyone else does it, so don't ask the city complicated questions.

Wind turbines do occasionally tip over... just like signs, cranes, trees, and people. If the city is really worried about tall things falling into the road, we're going to be clearing a long, ugly swath through the center of Madison.

But I'll say this: if Amerts build a wind turbine, it will not, not, NOT fall over. Ever.

Green Notes: Amerts, Army, Urban Agriculture!

As we enjoy what feels like one of the nicest, calmest springs (oh, to run track again in an April like this!), here are some notes on good green news:

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Amert Construction of Madison is doing some good green work in Sioux Falls. They donated some time and effort to pour the slab for the straw bale shed that will be built as part of the Plain Green Conference next week. (The City of Madison still hasn't gotten back to Amerts on their plan to build wind turbines to greet folks coming to Madison on Highway 34. The city's answer should be heck yeah! But the city is discussing its new wind ordinances tonight... which include a proposed prohibition on small wind producers selling their clean electricity to anyone and cutting into the city's monopoly. Hey, what kind of communism is that?)

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Operation Free veterans aren't the only military folks gung ho about green. The United States Armed Forces are recognizing the connection between resource conservation and national security. The Army has cut water use at permanent bases worldwide by 31% since 2004 and energy use per square foot by 10%. They've spent $100 million on spray foam insulation to reduce losses from air conditioning on tents in Iraq and Afghanistan (wait a minute: air conditioning... in tents?). That insulation investment pays for itself in 90 days. The Pentagon is spending $2.7 billion this year on energy efficiency. And before you shout solar panels are for sissies, not Marines, consider: using less fuel means fewer trips for military fuel trucks, which means fewer targets for insurgents and roadside bombs... which means more soldiers making it home with two good legs on which to run to their kids. (Go ahead, Bob: tell me the whole United States military is a bunch of gullible socialist dupes. Better yet, tell the soldiers you know.)

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This editorial notes how a push for urban agriculture could solve a wealth of environmental woes. Consider that 40% of the energy used in agriculture goes to making fertilizers and pesticides. Sure, those chemicals help you get larger yields, but at the expense of flavor and nutrition. Urban organic farmer K. Rashid Nuri notes with pride the growing number of city folks getting away from that addiction to chemicals and quantity by "growing crops on vacant lots, in abandoned fields, in greenhouses, on balconies, by schools, in prison yards, in nursing homes and in countless other creative and engaging places." He notes numerous benefits to urban agriculture: "economic savings, environmental improvement, lifestyle enhancement, increased exercise and family and community bonding." City folks growing rooftop rutabagas may not look quite like Jefferson's yeoman farmer, but when 4 out of 5 Americans live in town, urban farming is a practical way to, as Nuri urges us, "reclaim our agricultural heritage."

Day County Wind Online! 99 New Megawatts, No Smoke

It was so sad last fall when plans for the Big Stone II coal-fired power plant collapsed. My conservative friends were so eager to holler that enviro-whackos had shot themselves in the foot, denying good Americans of the expanded electrical production they deserve. What, oh what would we do without the 600 megawatts of electricity Big Stone II would have produced?

But wait: what's that hum I hear? Oh, maybe it's the 99 megawatts of clean wind power pumping out of the 66 new turbines just switched on at the new Day County Wind Project east of Groton.

Now let's review: The PUC got the Legislature on board with most of its Small Renewable Energy Initiative to make it more affordable for South Dakotans to produce their own power. Iberdrola is expanding its wind power capacity by 306 megawatts by the end of this year and would like to add another 170 megawatts. SDWEA is studying developing another 1000 megawatts of wind power.

Gee, someone remind me: what did we need Big Stone II for?