2004 Minnesota Statutes

     216C.051 Legislative Electric Energy Task Force. 

    Subdivision 1. Repealed, 1Sp2003 c 11 art 3 s 16 

    Subd. 2.    Establishment.  (a) There is established a 
 Legislative Electric Energy Task Force to study future electric 
 energy sources and costs and to make recommendations for 
 legislation for an environmentally and economically sustainable 
 and advantageous electric energy supply. 

    (b) The task force consists of: 

    (1) ten members of the house of representatives including 
 the chairs of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee 
 and Regulated Industries Subcommittee and eight members to be 
 appointed by the speaker of the house, four of whom must be from 
 the minority caucus; and 

    (2) ten members of the senate including the chairs of the 
 Environment and Natural Resources and Jobs, Energy, and 
 Community Development committees and eight members to be 
 appointed by the Subcommittee on Committees, four of whom must 
 be from the minority caucus. 

    (c) The task force may employ staff, contract for 
 consulting services, and may reimburse the expenses of persons 
 requested to assist it in its duties other than state employees 
 or employees of electric utilities.  The director of the 
 Legislative Coordinating Commission shall assist the task force 
 in administrative matters.  The task force shall elect cochairs, 
 one member of the house and one member of the senate from among 
 the committee and subcommittee chairs named to the committee.  
 The task force members from the house shall elect the house 
 cochair, and the task force members from the senate shall elect 
 the senate cochair. 

    Subd. 3.    Technical and economic considerations, 
 analyses, and recommendations.  (a) In light of the electric 
 energy guidelines established in subdivision 7 and utility 
 resource plans and competitive bidding dockets before the 
 commission, the task force shall gather information and make 
 recommendations to the legislature regarding potential electric 
 energy resources.  The task force may contract with one or more 
 energy policy experts and energy economists to assist it in its 
 analysis.  The task force may not contract for service nor 
 employ any person who was involved in any capacity in any 
 portion of any proceeding before the Public Utilities 
 Commission, the administrative law judge, the state Court of 
 Appeals, or the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
 related to the dry cask storage proposal on Prairie Island.  The 
 task force must gather information on at least the following 
 electric energy resources, but may expand its inquiry as 
 warranted by the information collected: 

    (1) wind energy; 

    (2) hydrogen as a fuel carrier produced from renewable and 
 fossil fuel resources; 

    (3) biomass; 

    (4) decomposition gases produced by solid waste management 
 facilities; 

    (5) solid waste as a direct fuel or refuse-derived fuel; 
 and 

    (6) clean coal technology.  

    (b) In evaluating these electric energy resources, the task 
 force must consider at least the following: 

    (1) to the best of forecasting abilities, how much electric 
 generation capacity and demand for electric energy is necessary 
 to maintain a strong economy and a high quality of life in the 
 state over the next 15 to 20 years; how is this demand level 
 affected by achievement of the maximum reasonably feasible and 
 cost-effective demand-side management and generation and 
 distribution efficiencies; 

    (2) what alternative forms of energy can provide a stable 
 supply of energy and are producible and sustainable in the state 
 and at what cost; 

    (3) what are the costs to the state and ratepayers to 
 ensure that new electric energy generation utilizes less 
 environmentally damaging sources; how do those costs change as 
 the time frame for development and implementation of new 
 generation sources is compressed; 

    (4) what are the implications for delivery systems for 
 energy produced in areas of the state that do not now have 
 high-volume transmission capability; are new transmission 
 technologies being developed that can address some of the 
 concerns with transmission; can a more dispersed electric 
 generation system lessen the need for long-distance 
 transmission; 

    (5) what are the actual costs and benefits of purchasing 
 electricity and fuel to generate electricity from outside the 
 state; what are the present costs to the state's economy of 
 exporting a large percentage of the state's energy dollars and 
 what is the future economic impact of continuing to do so; 

    (6) are there benefits to be had from a large immediate 
 investment in quickly implementing alternative electric energy 
 sources in terms of developing an exportable technology and/or 
 commodity; is it feasible to turn around the flow of dollars for 
 energy so that the state imports dollars and exports energy and 
 energy technology; what is a reasonable time frame for the shift 
 if it is possible; 

    (7) are there taxation or regulatory barriers to developing 
 more sustainable and less problematic electric energy 
 generation; what are they specifically and how can they be 
 specifically addressed; 

    (8) can an approach be developed that moves quickly to 
 development and implementation of alternative energy sources 
 that can be forgiving of interim failures but that is also 
 sufficiently deliberate to ensure ultimate success on a large 
 scale; and 

    (9) in what specific ways can the state assist regional 
 energy suppliers to accelerate phasing out energy production 
 processes that produce wastes or emissions that must necessarily 
 be carefully controlled and monitored to minimize adverse 
 effects on the environment and human health and to assist in 
 developing and implementing base load energy production that 
 both prevents or minimizes by its nature adverse environmental 
 and human health effects and utilizes resources that are 
 available or producible in the state. 

    (c) The task force must study issues related to the 
 transportation of spent nuclear fuel from this state to interim 
 or permanent repositories outside this state.  The task force 
 must also gather information on at least the following factors, 
 but may expand its inquiry as warranted by the information 
 collected: 

    (1) Minnesota's actual and projected electricity demand; 

    (2) electricity export potential; 

    (3) inventory of energy resources currently used to 
 generate all electricity sold in Minnesota and an analysis of 
 the social, economic, and environmental benefits and burdens 
 associated with each energy resource; 

    (4) electricity demand savings from greater efficiency; and 

    (5) job growth and economic development potential. 

    (d) The public utility that owns the Prairie Island and 
 Monticello nuclear generation facilities shall update the 
 reports required under section 116C.772, subdivisions 3 to 5, 
 and shall submit those updates periodically to the Public 
 Utilities Commission with the utility's resource plan filing 
 under section 216B.2422 and to the task force. 

    Subd. 4. Repealed, 1Sp2003 c 11 art 3 s 16 

    Subd. 4a.    Report and recommendations.  By January 15, 
 2005, and every two years thereafter, the task force shall 
 submit a report to the chairs of the committees in the house of 
 representatives and the senate that have responsibility for 
 energy and for environmental and natural resources issues that 
 contains an overview of information gathered and analyses that 
 have been prepared, and specific recommendations, if any, for 
 legislative action that will ensure development and 
 implementation of electric energy policy that will provide the 
 state with adequate, renewable, and economic electric power for 
 the long term.  The report shall also identify issues that must 
 be addressed to provide Minnesotans with adequate electricity 
 from in-state renewable energy sources for the long term and 
 export to adjacent states.  

    Subd. 5. Repealed, 1Sp2003 c 11 art 3 s 16 

    Subd. 6.    Assessment; appropriation.  On request by 
 the cochairs of the Legislative Task Force and after approval of 
 the Legislative Coordinating Commission, the commissioner of 
 commerce shall assess from all public utilities, generation and 
 transmission cooperative electric associations, and municipal 
 power agencies providing electric or natural gas services in 
 Minnesota, in addition to assessments made under section 
 216B.62, the amount requested for the operation of the task 
 force not to exceed $250,000 in a fiscal year.  The amount 
 assessed under this section is appropriated to the director of 
 the Legislative Coordinating Commission for those purposes, and 
 is available until expended.  The department shall apportion 
 those costs among all energy utilities in proportion to their 
 respective gross operating revenues from the sale of gas or 
 electric service within the state during the last calendar 
 year.  For the purposes of administrative efficiency, the 
 department shall assess energy utilities and issue bills in 
 accordance with the billing and assessment procedures provided 
 in section 216B.62, to the extent that these procedures do not 
 conflict with this subdivision. 

    Subd. 7.    Guidelines; preferred electric generation 
 sources; definitions.  (a) The Legislative Task Force on 
 Electric Energy shall undertake its responsibilities in light of 
 the guidelines specified in this subdivision. 

    (b) The highest priority in electric energy production and 
 consumption is conservation of electric energy and management of 
 demand by all segments of the community. 

    (c) The following energy sources for generating electric 
 power distributed in the state, listed in their descending order 
 of preference, based on minimizing long-term negative 
 environmental, social, and economic burdens imposed by the 
 specific energy sources, are: 

    (1) wind and solar; 

    (2) biomass and low-head or refurbished hydropower; 

    (3) decomposition gases produced by solid waste management 
 facilities, natural gas-fired cogeneration, and waste materials 
 or byproducts combined with natural gas; 

    (4) natural gas, hydropower that is not low-head or 
 refurbished hydropower, and solid waste as a direct fuel or 
 refuse-derived fuel; and 

    (5) coal and nuclear power. 

    (d) For the purposes of paragraph (c) within each clause, 
 the more efficient an energy source is in generating electricity 
 or the more efficient a technology is that utilizes an energy 
 source, the more preferred it is for use in generating 
 electricity for distribution and consumption in the state. 

    (e) For the purposes of paragraph (c), clauses (3) and (4), 
 the use of waste materials and byproducts for generating 
 electric power must be limited to those waste materials and 
 byproducts that are necessarily generated or produced by 
 efficient processes and systems.  Preventing and minimizing 
 waste and byproducts are preferred in every situation to relying 
 on the continued generation or production of waste materials and 
 byproducts. 

    (f) For the purposes of this section, "preferred" or 
 "renewable" energy sources are those described in paragraph (c), 
 clauses (1) to (3), and "subordinate" or "traditional" energy 
 sources are those described in paragraph (c), clauses (4) and 
 (5). 

    (g) For the purposes of this section: 

    (1) "biomass" means herbaceous crops, trees, agricultural 
 waste, and aquatic plant matter, excluding mixed municipal solid 
 waste, as defined in section 115A.03, used to generate 
 electricity; and 

    (2) "low-head hydropower" means a hydropower facility that 
 has a head of less than 66 feet. 

    Subd. 8.    Subpoena power.  The task force 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 task force. 

    Subd. 9.    Expiration.  This section is repealed June 
 30, 2007. 

    HIST: 1994 c 641 art 5 s 1; 1995 c 4 s 1; 1995 c 248 art 2 s 
 5; 1996 c 266 s 1; 1997 c 191 art 1 s 6,7; 1998 c 380 s 1; 1999 
 c 19 s 1; 2000 c 436 s 1; 2001 c 212 art 8 s 8,9; 1Sp2001 c 4 
 art 6 s 50; 1Sp2003 c 11 art 3 s 6-9