2006 Minnesota Statutes

216B.6851 UTILITY OPTION.
    Subdivision 1. Election. A public utility with less than 200,000 customers subject to sections
216B.68 to 216B.688 that owns two wet scrubbed units at a qualifying facility may opt to be
regulated under this section for those units in lieu of section 216B.682. Plans under this section
are subject to section 216B.682, subdivision 3. Except where otherwise provided, all other
provisions of sections 216B.68 to 216B.688 apply.
    Subd. 2. Supplemental unit. "Supplemental unit" means a coal-fired electric generation
unit at an electric generating power plant in Minnesota at which mercury emissions-reduction
measures are taken as part of an emissions-reduction plan under this section.
    Subd. 3. Plan for 90 percent reduction required. A public utility that elects to be regulated
under this section must file a mercury emissions-reduction plan that is designed to achieve total
mercury reduction at targeted and supplemental units owned by the utility equivalent to a goal of
90 percent reduction of mercury emissions at the utility's targeted units by December 31, 2014.
    Subd. 4. Alternative plans. The utility shall also submit one or more alternatives to the
90 percent reduction plan required under subdivision 3. Alternative plans must be designed to
come as near as technically possible to achieving the goal established in subdivision 3 without
imposing excessive costs on the utility's customers.
    Subd. 5. Early action; wet scrubbed units. The utility electing for regulation under this
section shall file an initial plan for mercury emissions reduction at one of its two wet scrubbed
units on or before December 31, 2007. The plan must provide for mercury emissions reduction to
be implemented at that unit by December 31, 2010. If the plan is approved by the commission,
and implemented by the utility, the utility may have until July 1, 2011, to file its plans for
reduction at its other wet scrubbed unit at the qualifying facility, and may have until December
31, 2014, to implement mercury emissions reduction at that unit.
    Subd. 6. Agency review and commission approval. (a) The agency shall review the utility's
plans as provided in section 216B.684.
(b) The Public Utilities Commission shall review and evaluate a utility's mercury
emissions-reduction plans submitted under this section. In its review, the commission shall
consider the environmental and public health benefits, the agency's determination of technical
feasibility, competitiveness of customer rates, and cost-effectiveness of the utility's proposed
mercury-control initiatives in light of the Pollution Control Agency's review under paragraph
(a). Within 180 days of receiving the agency's report, the commission shall approve a utility's
mercury emissions-reduction plan that the commission reasonably expects will come closest
to achieving total mercury reductions at targeted and supplemental units owned by the utility
equivalent to a goal of 90 percent reduction of mercury emissions at the utility's targeted units
by December 31, 2014, in a manner that provides for increased environmental and public health
benefits without imposing excessive costs on the utility's customers. If the commission is unable
to approve the utility's 90 percent reduction plan filed under subdivision 3, the commission, in
consultation with the Pollution Control Agency, shall order the utility to implement the most
stringent mercury-control alternative proposed by the utility under this section that provides
for increased environmental and public health benefits without imposing excessive costs on
the utility's customers.
(c) At each targeted and supplemental unit included in a plan under this section, a utility shall
propose to implement mercury emissions-control measures that will result in the greatest reduction
of mercury emitted from that unit that is technically feasible without imposing excessive costs.
History: 2006 c 201 s 11