5.2. ERMUSR 01-13-2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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generating option that will meet the State's electric needs while complying with stricter environmental standards for carbon has led to an interest in rescinding the nuclear moratorium. The Minnesota Chamber and Great River Energy are known to be actively pursuing an end to the moratorium, and other utilities would support such a move. Unfortunately, it appears that there will be little support for this effort among the Democratic leadership in both houses until a permanent federal radioactive waste storage facility is in operation, which could be a decade or more away. There may be hearings on the issue during the upcoming session, which will offer an opportunity to begin what could be a multi-year effort to end the moratorium. Certificate of Need. The uneven performance of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and various elements of State Government in considering a certificate of need (CON) for Big Stone II transmission has led to unnecessary and costly delays in the project. It is apparent that other certificate of need proposals for important future transmission projects could face the same fate unless the process is streamlined and the timeline for CON consideration is strictly limited. Unfortunately, there is little appetite among the investor owned utilities, some of which have rate increase requests before the PUC, for supporting legislative action to secure these goals. Consumer owned electric utilities would likely have to take the lead in any effort to pursue certificate of need reform. Generation Performance Standards. Some time ago, the environmental community announced its support for a generation performance standard (GPS}, one of the more controversial proposals to come out of the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group (MCCAG), the committee appointed by the Governor to develop strategies for Minnesota's effort to deal with climate change issues. The GPS would prevent the construction of new fossil fuel generation unless it met prohibitively stringent green house gas (ghg) emission requirements. The GPS would effectively impose another severe restriction for new coal generation facilities in addition to the current legislative moratorium on coal until a regional ghg cap and trade program is operational. Recently, however, we have received word that the environmentalists' support for this idea has waned, at least for the upcoming legislative session. Salary Limits. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Governor's salary cap is affecting the ability of some municipal utilities to provide competitive compensation for their executives. Conditions permitting, MMUA will support the effort of larger municipals utilities to remove the cap. 3