Agencies studied Big Stone II inside and out

Published 8:52 am Thursday, December 11, 2008

During the past three years, state boards and regulatory agencies have put the Big Stone II Project under a powerful microscope. They’ve left no question unanswered, no issue unexplored. In each case, the project has prevailed

Most recently, the South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment unanimously approved the Big Stone II air quality permit application. The approval followed a public input session on July 17 in Milbank, S.D., and two weeks of technical hearings in Pierre during August and September.

The air quality permit is the sixth major permit granted to the Big Stone II Project. In addition to those six project permits, in late August 2008, the North Dakota Public Service Commission unanimously ruled that Otter Tail Power Company’s and Montana-Dakota Utilities Co.’s participation in Big Stone II is a prudent choice for helping meet their North Dakota customer’s future energy needs. The NDPSC regulates Otter Tail’s and Montana-Dakota’s retail rates.

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Besides the air quality permit, the applications approved to date include a siting permit to construct the plant in northeastern South Dakota, two water appropriation permits, a South Dakota transmission route permit and a solid waste disposal permit.

Most of those permits are environmentally sensitive, and they placed the project under rigorous scrutiny about how it will impact the environment, how it will blend with current land use, how it will responsibly use public natural resources and honor others’ rights, and other relevant considerations.

Nearly all of the permit applications were contested by opponents to the project. In fact, the siting permit was vigorously contested through the South Dakota court system before being unanimously upheld by the South Dakota Supreme Court earlier this year.

The project has one permit application remaining — the Minnesota transmission certificate of need. During the past two years, Minnesota has conducted three separate rounds of hearings. Dozens of witnesses representing all sides of the Big Stone II issue have given testimony and have been subjected to cross examination. The Big Stone II certificate of need proceeding is one of the longest, most comprehensive in Minnesota history.

While the certificate of need proceeding has been lengthy and determinedly challenged, I am confident the application will be approved because so much is riding on it. Not only are the transmission facilities needed to deliver unquestionably needed power from the Big Stone site, they are also critical to the region’s electric reliability and the further development of western Minnesota’s enormous wind energy potential. We expect the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to rule on the application in January 2009.

Mark Rolfes is the manager of the proposed Big Stone II Project. He is 53 years old and lives in Big Stone City, S.D.