HF 3519

1st Committee Engrossment - 86th Legislature (2009 - 2010) Posted on 03/19/2013 07:29pm

1.1A bill for an act

1.2relating to public health; establishing a work group to design a plan to monitor air
1.3and groundwater emissions from the Prairie Island nuclear plant; contracting for
1.4design of a monitoring network to measure thermal discharges from the Prairie
1.5Island nuclear plant; requiring reports; appropriating money.
1.6BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.7    Section 1. PRAIRIE ISLAND NUCLEAR PLANT MONITORING NETWORK
1.8WORK GROUP.
1.9    Subdivision 1. Establishment; membership. (a) The commissioner of health
1.10shall, by July 1, 2010, convene a work group to make recommendations to the legislature
1.11regarding the establishment of a monitoring network to measure the levels of radioactive
1.12emissions to air, surface water, and groundwater originating from the operation of the
1.13Prairie Island nuclear generating plant and the adjacent independent spent-fuel storage
1.14installation.
1.15(b) The commissioner of health shall appoint the members of the work group,
1.16which consists of:
1.17(1) the commissioners of health and natural resources, or their designees;
1.18(2) a representative of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services responsible
1.19for the department's Prairie Island Radioactivity Survey;
1.20(3) a hydrogeologist from the Minnesota Geological Survey;
1.21(4) an independent health physicist;
1.22(5) a person from the Pollution Control Agency with experience designing air
1.23monitoring networks;
1.24(6) a person from the Pollution Control Agency with experience designing
1.25groundwater monitoring networks;
2.1(7) ... representatives from the Prairie Island Indian Community;
2.2(8) ... representatives from the city of Red Wing;
2.3(9) one representative of the Xcel Energy Prairie Island nuclear generating plant;
2.4(10) one representative each from Goodhue County, Minnesota, and Pierce County,
2.5Wisconsin;
2.6(11) one representative representing Lake City and one representative representing
2.7each of the townships of Florence, Wacouta, and Hay Creek; and
2.8(12) one representative from an environmental organization.
2.9(c) The Department of Health shall provide logistical and administrative support
2.10to the work group.
2.11(d) A professional facilitator with experience in facilitating technical stakeholder
2.12processes shall be engaged to assist the work group in carrying out its duties under
2.13subdivision 2.
2.14    Subd. 2. Charge. The work group is charged with designing a comprehensive,
2.15continuous monitoring network to accurately measure the levels of radioactive emissions
2.16to air, surface water, and groundwater originating from the operation of the Prairie Island
2.17nuclear generating plant and the adjacent independent spent-fuel storage installation,
2.18including:
2.19(1) selecting appropriate monitoring technologies to be installed;
2.20(2) determining the proper number and location of monitors, taking site
2.21characteristics and the location of vulnerable populations into account;
2.22(3) selecting public and private wells to test for groundwater contamination;
2.23(4) selecting parameters to be measured at each monitoring site;
2.24(5) establishing protocols for testing monitor precision and accuracy; and
2.25(6) providing for regular reporting of emissions.
2.26    Subd. 3. Report. By February 1, 2011, the work group shall submit a report to the
2.27members of the senate and house of representatives committees with primary jurisdiction
2.28over energy policy and public health containing the work group's recommendations for a
2.29monitoring network that meets the requirements of subdivision 2. The report shall also
2.30contain estimates of the cost of the recommended monitoring network, for both capital
2.31acquisitions and operations, including the costs of laboratory analysis of samples.

2.32    Sec. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF MONITORING NETWORK FOR THERMAL
2.33DISCHARGES FROM PRAIRIE ISLAND NUCLEAR PLANT.
2.34(a) The commissioner of health shall contract with the University of Minnesota
2.35St. Anthony Falls Laboratory or other comparable independent experts to develop a
3.1comprehensive plan to monitor the thermal discharge from the Prairie Island nuclear
3.2generating plant to the Mississippi River to enable accurate analysis of the impacts of
3.3the discharge on aquatic ecosystems, dissolved oxygen levels, ice conditions, and the
3.4ecology of the Mississippi River and Lake Pepin. The plan must contain, at a minimum,
3.5recommendations on the number, type, and location of monitors to be installed, and the
3.6capital and operating costs of the recommended network.
3.7(b) The plan described in paragraph (a) must be contained in a report submitted no
3.8later than November 15, 2010, to members of the senate and house of representatives
3.9committees with primary jurisdiction over environmental policy and energy policy.
3.10The report must also contain a discussion of potential measures that can be taken to
3.11mitigate the thermal discharge from the Prairie Island nuclear generating plant, and the
3.12estimated cost of each measure. Potential thermal discharge mitigation measures must be
3.13provided to the Pollution Control Agency for consideration as potential conditions to be
3.14incorporated in a permit modification requested by the Prairie Island nuclear generating
3.15plant as a result of its proposed power uprate.

3.16    Sec. 3. TRANSFER; APPROPRIATION.
3.17(a) The public utility that owns the Prairie Island nuclear generating plant shall
3.18transfer $....... from the revenues transferred to the renewable development account under
3.19Minnesota Statutes, section 116C.779, to the commissioner of health for deposit in the
3.20special revenue fund.
3.21(b) From the money transferred to and deposited in the special revenue fund under
3.22paragraph (a), an amount sufficient to cover the costs associated with the work group
3.23established in section 1 and the contract required in section 2 is appropriated to the
3.24commissioner of health for the purposes of sections 1 and 2.

3.25    Sec. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
3.26Sections 1 to 3 are effective the day following final enactment.