July 23 & 24 — DOE & MN Dept. of Commerce Scoping

Scoping meetings — again — but this time it’s the DOE!  And Minnesota Dept. of Commerce for the Routing Permit.  You may ask why so many scoping meetings, it does get confusing.  The Dept. of Energy has been asked to issue a Presidential Permit for the border crossing for this project between Manitoba and Minnesota.  So in addition to the TWO proceedings before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, there’s another federal docket for this Presidential Permit (scroll down to bottom of this post for that application).  The Environmental Impact Statement for the state Routing Permit and the federal Routing Permit will be done by Commerce, and it will be more intense than their “Environmental Report” for the state Certificate of Need.

So here we go again, it’s time to show up/write comments for this much more thorough Environmental Impact Statement.

Comments are due by August 11, 2014.  Send comments to:

Julie Ann Smith                                                                  

Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE-20)

U.S. Department of Energy

1000 Independence Avenue SW.

Washington, DC 20585

Wednesday, July 23, 2014:

Kelliher, MN: Kelliher Public School, 345 4th Street NW., Kelliher, MN, 56650; Wednesday, July 23, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.

Bigfork, MN: Bigfork School, 100 Huskie Boulevard, Bigfork, MN, 56628; Wednesday, July 23, 2014, at 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, July 24, 2014:

Grand Rapids, MN: Sawmill Inn, 2301 South Hwy 169, Grand Rapids, MN, 55744; Thursday, July 24, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.

Grand Rapids, MN: Sawmill Inn, 2301 South Hwy 169, Grand Rapids, MN, 55744; Thursday, July 24, 2014, at 6:00 p.m.

Here’s the Federal Register Notice:

Federal Register — Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and conduct Public Scoping Meetings, and Notice of Floodplains and Wetlands Involvement; Great Northern Transmission Line