New plants test state's vow to cut emissions: Critics say facilities will put greenhouse gas targets out of reach

Sep 17 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Dennis Lien Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

On the final day of the 2007 legislative session, Minnesota took an aggressive approach to global warming.

By overwhelming margins, the Senate and House set long-range targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, with interim targets of 15 percent by 2015 and 30 percent by 2025. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, an avowed champion of clean energy, signed the bill.

Several recent steps taken by state agencies, however, could undermine that effort.

On, the Department of Commerce backed a plan to build a large coal-fired power plant just inside the South Dakota border. Almost two weeks ago, the Pollution Control Agency Citizens Board approved an air-quality permit for a huge steel plant in northern Minnesota. An environmental group quickly sued, saying the Department of Natural Resources erred in its environmental review of the Minnesota Steel Industries' project by not considering the impact of increased global warming emissions.

Collectively, the two projects would increase state-related greenhouse gas emissions by 8 million tons a year, or 5 percent of the existing 150 million-ton contribution. Heat-trapping greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, both products of burning fossil fuels.

That's going to make the task more difficult for a 55-member group charged with developing strategies to reach the state's reduction targets. The group has a February deadline.

"We have a hard enough job to meet those goals, but it's going to be extremely difficult when the starting line is so much farther back than it was a year ago," said state Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul. "How are we ever going to get there? This indicates our state leaders aren't serious about this. We are moving backward."

Last week, lawmakers voiced some of that frustration. At a Legislative Electric Energy Task Force hearing, they sharply questioned Deputy Commerce Commissioner Edward Garvey about a deal the agency reached with seven utilities proposing to build the 630-megawatt Big Stone II power plant in South Dakota.

Many contended that a provision outlining how the utilities would offset carbon emissions is meaningless. They said it allows the utilities to pay themselves $10 for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit over a four-year period without requiring specific steps or even saying what would be done with the money.

Garvey defended the deal, saying the utilities also were taking steps to reduce energy consumption and to make their operations more efficient.

"We expect these offsets to be true offsets," he said.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to decide next month whether transmission lines from the plant are in the public interest and, if they are, where the lines should be built. Among other things, opponents have said there are better alternatives to the large plant, most of whose customers are in Minnesota.

The legislative hearing was held the day after Pawlenty, as chairman of the National Governors Association, pushed for broader regulation of greenhouse gases among the states.

Anderson and several environmentalists contend that his public stance is inconsistent with what's happening in Minnesota.

"The governor, to his credit, has said we don't want these new power plants to dig the hole deeper," said Kevin Reuther, a lawyer for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. "The problem is, this negotiated settlement really does allow the hole to be dug a lot deeper."

Pawlenty's spokesman, Brian McClung, defended the Big Stone II settlement, saying the plant is being proposed during a transition period when more power is needed and next-generation, clean-coal technology isn't available.

"We are working aggressively to move this facility and others that may come along in the direction of a cleaner energy future, recognizing the need for additional capacity and positioning our state for significant and revolutionary progress in the future," McClung said.

Bill Grant, associate executive director of the Izaak Walton League, a national environmental group with an office in Minnesota, agreed with Anderson that the 55-member Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group's job is now more daunting.

"I can tell you it's going to be very difficult to come up with a set of recommendations that achieve those levels, even before we make those additions to the base," said Grant, a group member. "Now that we have ... it's making a difficult job that much more challenging."

Dennis Lien can be reached at dlien@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5588.