6.1. ERMUSR 06-14-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Vol. 14, No. 13 May 26, 2011 On May 24, Gov. Dayton issued vetoes for the eight major omnibus finance bills and the omnibus tax bill, Chapter 38 of Minnesota 2011 Session Laws. The session may be considered a 'train wreck' by many, but far the state's municipal utilities the session was a mixed bag, but generally positive. One of Gov. Dayton's vetoes was the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Finance Bill (HF 1010). Among the provisions of this bill: • Transfer of $1.3 million from the energy and conservation account (into which all CIP assessments go) to the general fund. • A $500,000 grant to fund Clean Energy Resource Teams from the energy and conservation account. • Suspension of the standard for sulfate for class 4 waters and authority and funding for the MPCA to study a replacement standard. • Requirement for submission to the Legislative Coordinating Commission of all proposed rules related to water quality or water resource protection for review of necessity and consistency with other local, state and federal rules. The Legislature did adopt an omnibus energy policy bill: SF 1197. This Senate bill made less dramatic changes than the House version (HF 1025). With an eye on getting something done, the Senate language was adopted by the House. This bill passed both bodies and was presented to the Governor May 24. He is expected to sign it. The bill does a number of things, including: • Requires all utilities that are subject to the Renewable Energy Standard to file with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and the Legislature a report containing an estimation of the rate impact of activities necessary to comply with the RES, including, energy purchases, generation facility acquisition and construction, and transmission improvements. An initial report must be submitted within 150 days of the effective date of the law. After the initial report, a report must be submitted with each integrated resource plan. • Allows the OES to approve CIP plans for cooperative and municipal utilities with energy savings goals of less than the current 1 percent minimum when appropriate.