Sierra Club poll shows support for new energy sources

May 02 - Duluth News-Tribune (MN)

A poll conducted for the Sierra Club shows that most Minnesota Power customers surveyed support a "fundamental change" in the generation of electricity, away from coal and toward solar and wind power and energy efficiency.

On Wednesday, the environmental group released results of the poll that was conducted by the Colorado-based Peak Campaigns from April 6-9.

The poll was conducted as the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission reviews the Duluth-based utility's long-term energy plan. It found that eight of 10 Minnesota Power customers agreed with the statement that "we need to fundamentally change the way we get our energy in Minnesota by modernizing the electric grid to maximize energy efficiency and wind and solar energy use."

The poll surveyed 401 registered voters in the Minnesota Power service area of Northeastern Minnesota. It was said to have a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.

In February, Minnesota Power announced that it will stop burning coal in one unit at its Taconite Harbor plant and convert its Laskin coal plant in Hoyt Lakes to burn natural gas in the next few years. But rather than phasing out coal at Unit 4 at its Boswell plant, the utility's largest generator, Minnesota Power announced plans to invest more than $350 million

to retrofit the unit with pollution-control equipment to make it comply with current and coming state and federal laws.

Environmental groups are pressing hard to have Minnesota Power retire the Boswell unit sooner and move away from coal, which critics say produces greenhouse gas carbon emissions that are spurring long-term climate change. If carbon eventually is regulated, as some expect, that could cost Minnesota Power customers even more down the line.

"As the Public Utilities Commission considers Minnesota Power's long-term energy plan, the utility must be held accountable for the money they will pour into expensive retrofits and continued dependence on coal," said Jessica Tritsch, organizing representative with the Sierra Club Beyond Coal campaign.

Sierra Club officials called on the utility to work with taconite plants to reduce their huge appetite for electricity "24/7/365." Heavy industry makes up 70 percent of Minnesota Power's customer demand.

Joshua Low, a Sierra Club organizer in Minnesota, said taconite plants could recover waste heat from their pellet furnaces to generate electricity on-site and could move to more efficient forms of crushing rock.

Low noted that taconite mines are exempt from the state's energy-efficiency requirements. And he highlighted a 2008 U.S. Department of Energy report on an energy-saving project at U.S. Steel's Minntac Plant in Mountain Iron that saw the facility save $750,000 annually in energy costs, reduce natural gas use and reduce emissions -- all with a 1 1/2 -year payback.

"In talking with steelworkers up there, they all had great ideas on how their plants could save a lot of energy," Low said. "But it's more than just new lighting. ... They would be capital-intensive projects that would take a few years to pay back."

Minnesota Power has said that the utility is moving to reduce its dependence on coal-generated electricity, increasing renewable energy from 5 percent in 2005 to 20 percent renewable today. The company hopes to hit one-third renewable, one-third natural gas and one-third coal by 2030.

"The Sierra Club survey has basically reaffirmed the direction that Minnesota Power is already headed with its Energy Forward plan," Amy Rutledge, Minnesota Power spokeswoman, said. She said the utility already knew that "customers want us to change our energy mix, reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, add renewable sources of energy like wind and greatly reduce emissions at our current facilities, and our plan meets those expectations."

But company officials have said the effort to eliminate coal as an energy source now reflects a lack of understanding of the huge, constant demand created by Northland industry. They say wind, solar and hydro won't be enough to fill that demand and that other options are too expensive and could make regional industry uncompetitive.

They said they already are looking at ways to save energy for industrial customers.

"Our customers have a vested interest in reducing energy costs as they are a big part of their overall business costs, so they are constantly looking for ways to improve efficiencies and we partner with them on solutions," Rutledge said.

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