2nd Engrossment - 85th Legislature (2007 - 2008) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am
A bill for an act
relating to energy; establishing Legislative Energy Commission; abolishing
Legislative Electric Energy Task Force; making conforming correction;
appropriating money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 216B.2424,
subdivision 1; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 3;
repealing Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 216C.051, subdivisions 3, 4a, 6, 7, 8;
Minnesota Statutes 2007 Supplement, section 216C.051, subdivisions 2, 8a, 9.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
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The Legislative Energy Commission is established.
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The Legislative Energy Commission is composed of six
senators of the majority party appointed by the president of the senate and four senators
of the second largest political party in the senate appointed by the leader of that party in
the senate, and six representatives of the majority party appointed by the speaker of the
house and four representatives of the second largest political party in the house appointed
by the minority leader of that party in the house of representatives. Appointees from
both the house of representatives and senate must include the chair of the committee
with primary jurisdiction over energy policy; the chair or another member of each of the
committees with primary jurisdiction over environmental policy, agricultural policy, and
transportation policy; and a legislator who is a member of the NextGen Energy Board.
Vacancies must be filled in the same manner. The commission shall elect cochairs, one
member of the house of representatives and one member of the senate from among the
committee chairs named to the commission. The commission members from the house
of representatives shall elect the house cochair, and the task force members from the
senate shall elect the senate cochair.
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The commission may establish subcommittees as
necessary to perform its duties.
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The commission may employ full-time and part-time staff and
contract with consultants as necessary to enable it to perform its duties. Any state
employee subject to the civil service laws who is assigned to the commission retains civil
service status without interruption or loss of status or privilege.
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The commission shall continuously evaluate the energy
policies of this state and the degree to which they promote an environmentally and
economically sustainable energy future. The commission shall monitor the state's
progress in achieving its goals to develop renewable sources of electric energy under
section 216B.1691, subdivision 2a, and the progress of energy-related sectors in reducing
greenhouse gas emissions under the state's greenhouse gas emissions-reductions goals
established in section 216H.02, subdivision 1. The commission may review proposed
energy legislation and may recommend legislation. The commission shall when feasible
solicit and consider public testimony regarding the economic, environmental, and social
implications of state energy plans and policies.
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The commission shall hold hearings on the following plans
and reports when they become available:
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(1) the resource plan filed under section 216B.2422 by the utility owning a nuclear
power plant at Prairie Island, and the resource plan of any other utility the commission
deems necessary to review;
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(2) the transmission projects report filed under section 216B.2425;
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(3) the state energy policy and conservation policy report prepared by the
commissioner of commerce under section 216C.18; and
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(4) any other report or study that the commission deems necessary to review.
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A state agency shall reply promptly to a request
for data from the commission, subject to the requirements of chapter 13 and section 15.17.
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The commission may issue a subpoena under section
3.153 to any person for production of information held by that person that is relevant
to the work of the commission.
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Upon request by the cochairs of the
commission, the commissioner of commerce shall assess the amount requested for the
operation of the commission, not to exceed $250,000 in a fiscal year, from the following
sources:
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(1) all public utilities, municipal utilities, electric cooperative associations,
generation and transmission cooperative electric associations, and municipal power
agencies providing electric or natural gas services in Minnesota; and
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(2) all bulk terminals located in this state from which petroleum products and liquid
petroleum gas are dispensed for sale in this state.
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The commissioner of commerce shall apportion the assessment amount requested
among the entities in clauses (1) and (2) in proportion to the respective share of energy
sold within the state by those entities, measured in BTU's, during the most recent calendar
year, while ensuring that wholesale and retail sales are not double counted.
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The entities in clauses (1) and (2) must provide information to the commissioner
of commerce to allow for calculation of the assessment.
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The assessments under this subdivision are in addition to assessments made under
section 216B.62. The amount assessed under this section is appropriated to the director of
the Legislative Coordinating Commission for the purposes of this section, and is available
until expended. Utilities selling gas and electric service at retail must be assessed and
billed in accordance with the procedures provided in section 216B.62, to the extent that
these procedures do not conflict with this subdivision.
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Any funds appropriated to the Legislative Coordinating
Commission for use by the Legislative Electric Energy Task Force under section
216C.051, subdivision 6, that are unexpended as of June 30, 2008, are available to the
commission for the purposes of this section.
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This section is effective the day following final enactment.
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Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 216B.2424, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
(a) For the purposes of this
section, "farm-grown closed-loop biomass" means deleted text begin biomass, as defined in section
216C.051, subdivision 7deleted text end new text begin herbaceous crops, trees, agricultural waste, and aquatic plant
matter that is used to generate electricity, but does not include mixed municipal solid
waste, as defined in section 115A.03new text end , new text begin and new text end that:
(1) is intentionally cultivated, harvested, and prepared for use, in whole or in part,
as a fuel for the generation of electricity;
(2) when combusted, releases an amount of carbon dioxide that is less than or
approximately equal to the carbon dioxide absorbed by the biomass fuel during its
growing cycle; and
(3) is fired in a new or substantially retrofitted electric generating facility that is:
(i) located within 400 miles of the site of the biomass production; and
(ii) designed to use biomass to meet at least 75 percent of its fuel requirements.
(b) The legislature finds that the negative environmental impacts within 400 miles
of the facility resulting from transporting and combusting the biomass are offset in that
region by the environmental benefits to air, soil, and water of the biomass production.
(c) Among the biomass fuel sources that meet the requirements of paragraph (a),
clauses (1) and (2), are poplar, aspen, willow, switch grass, sorghum, alfalfa, cultivated
prairie grass, and sustainably managed woody biomass.
(d) For the purpose of this section, "sustainably managed woody biomass" means:
(1) brush, trees, and other biomass harvested from within designated utility, railroad,
and road rights-of-way;
(2) upland and lowland brush harvested from lands incorporated into brushland
habitat management activities of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources;
(3) upland and lowland brush harvested from lands managed in accordance with
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources "Best Management Practices for Managing
Brushlands";
(4) logging slash or waste wood that is created by harvest, by precommercial
timber stand improvement to meet silvicultural objectives, or by fire, disease, or insect
control treatments, and that is managed in compliance with the Minnesota Forest
Resources Council's "Sustaining Minnesota Forest Resources: Voluntary Site-Level Forest
Management Guidelines for Landowners, Loggers and Resource Managers" as modified
by the requirement of this subdivision; and
(5) trees or parts of trees that do not meet the utilization standards for pulpwood,
posts, bolts, or sawtimber as described in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Division of Forestry Timber Sales Manual, 1998, as amended as of May 1, 2005, and the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Timber Scaling Manual, 1981, as amended
as of May 1, 2005, except as provided in paragraph (a), clause (1), and this paragraph,
clauses (1) to (3).
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Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 216C.051, subdivisions 3, 4a, 6, 7, and 8,
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and
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Minnesota Statutes 2007 Supplement, section 216C.051, subdivisions 2, 8a, and 9,
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are
repealed.
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This section is effective the day following final enactment.
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