Last week I was on Justice and Drew to talk about the government boondoggle wind turbine at the St. Cloud VA hospital. Enjoy! https://soundcloud.com/user-903193464/isaac-orr-st-cloud-va-to-demolish-dysfunctional-wind-turbine...
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The article below originally appeared in the Inforum, and it's spot on. Xcel's decision is about padding its ratebase, and thus its corporate profits, and if they have to team up with the environmental groups, then so be it. MINOT, N.D. — “Xcel Energy plans to shutter its two remaining coal plants in the Upper Midwest a decade earlier than scheduled — a move that will make the utility coal-free in the region by 2030,” Mary Divine reported for the St. Paul Pioneer Press this week. That’s big news. All the more so because it’s not the full measure of Xcel’s ambition. The...
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Some renewable energy advocacy groups claim that Minnesota should aspire to have cheaper and cleaner electricity by using more wind and solar. Of course, this logic makes no sense because wind and solar increase the cost of electricity in Minnesota, but it is worth looking at whether coal-fired power, which is among the most affordable ways to generate electricity in Minnesota, is actually dirty. According to data from the Energy Information Administration, it isn't. When most people think of coal, they probably think of the smog-filled skies of 1950's Pittsburgh or scenes from modern-day Beijing, but advanced pollution control technology at coal-fired...
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Today marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day, when more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. The United States could not have prevailed in World War II without the soldiers who stormed those beaches. Likewise, America could not have won the war without Minnesota's miners, who labored tirelessly to produce the iron ore that became the ships, aircraft, and rifles used achieve that feat....
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While liberal environmental groups continue to file lawsuits and obstruct permits for non-ferrous mining in Minnesota, Canada has approved another mine. The latest mine approved by our friends to the north will develop gold resources approximately 100 miles north of International Falls, Minnesota. It is unfortunate that groups like the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness eschew responsible mining in Minnesota in favor of an "abstinence only" mining policy. Doing so deprives thousands of hardworking Minnesotans of good-paying, family supporting jobs while also forcing mining to areas of the world where there are no protections...
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According to new information provided by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), monthly residential electric bills in Minnesota reached record highs in 2018, exceeding $103 per month for the first time. This is an increase of more than 26 percent, in inflation-adjusted dollars, since 2004, before the first utility in the state (Xcel Energy) was mandated to include renewable energy into its portfolio in 2005....
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The failed wind turbine next to the St. Cloud VA hospital will finally be dismantled this summer after sitting idle since 2012. Now that the fate of this boondoggle is sealed, let's look at how the financials penciled out....
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On Monday the Minnesota Court of Appeals stated an environmental review of Enbridge’s controversial Line 3 oil pipeline was “inadequate” because it did not consider the effects of an oil spill in Lake Superior’s watershed, according to the Duluth News Tribune. The ruling is the latest delay in replacing aging oil pipeline, which is operating at half of its potential capacity due to safety concerns. The ruling is bizarre because new pipelines, like new cars, are much safer than their older counterparts. In fact, according to data from the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), since 2010 there have been 1,300...
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Last weekend the Duluth News Tribune ran an editorial from Dean DeBeltz of Twin Metals which argued that anti-mining groups who say Twin Metals cannot operate responsibly are basing these claims on speculation and not science. He could not be more correct. Twin Metals has yet to submit a mining plan, which means anyone who opposes the mine now is not objecting to any potential technical shortcoming in the design of the project, but rather they are opposed to mining in general, and are projecting this opposition onto the Twin Metals project. Unfortunately, this is par for the course. Anti-mining groups like Friends...
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Sam Rockwell, who is the President of the Minneapolis Planning Commission, recently wrote an oped in the Star Tribune entitled "To Save the Planet, We Have To Get Over Cars," where he espoused his vision for a future where we must give up our cars and drastically reduce the number of vehicle miles traveled in order to save the planet. Fortunately, I firmly believe Mr. Rockwell's vision of the future is one which few others will find desirable. Mr. Rockwell's article was actually a response to another article, which advocated for more Minnesotans to switch to electric cars. I think this is...
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