Minnesota PUC to hold Big Stone II hearing
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA - The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has scheduled final hearings on permits for transmission lines that would carry electricity from the coal-fired Big Stone II power plant, proposed to be built in extreme northeast South Dakota.
The commission will hear final arguments January 13 and is to start its deliberations January 15 in St. Paul, Minnesota. A ruling on the permits could be made that day.
Electric power providers, including Otter Tail Power, Montana-Dakota Utilities and Missouri River Energy Services, want to build the $1.5 billion, 500-megawatt plant next to an existing plant near Big Stone City.
Transmission line upgrades into Minnesota would be needed to handle the additional electric power as well as create more capacity for wind-generated power from South Dakota.
Environmentalists have urged rejection of the permits.
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New bill would close loophole that left hundreds of Kentucky miners with cold checks
HARLAN, KY - Following the high-profile bankruptcy of a coal company that left hundreds of Kentucky miners with bad checks last month, Sen. Johnny Ray Turner (D-Prestonsburg) said he will pre-file a bill Thursday aimed at closing a loophole that allowed the company to operate in violation of state law.
The bill would also compel state agencies to determine whether other companies are currently in violation of the law, and could revoke mining permits if the companies don't comply.
Turner's bill would amend an already-existing law that requires coal and construction companies that have been operating in Kentucky for less than five…
