Political Notebook

Walz and Paulsen urge Dayton to sign bill lifting nuke ban

DFL Congressman Tim Walz and  GOP Congressman Erik Paulsen sent Gov. Mark Dayton a letter today urging him to sign a bill that would repeal the state's ban on building new nuclear plants. In the letter, the two congressman argue that nuclear power needs to be part of the state's energy future.

The letter cites a survey saying that 70 percent of Americans favor nuclear energy and on average a nuclear plant created 1,400 to 1,800 high-paying jobs during construction and 400 to 700 jobs once the plant is in operation. It also states that Minnesota's two nuclear plant helped the state avoid releasing 13 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

"Repealing this antiquated public policy would allow the state to consider a range of factors in reaching decisions on building new nuclear plants, such as used nuclear fuel management and the financial impact on ratepayers," the letter states.

Walz and Paulsen also argue that scrapping the ban would help bring attention to the nuclear waste issue and allow for a "robust debate." Click here to Download Paulsen-Walz Letter to Dayton

Dayton has said he will only support lifting the ban if it will not create additional nuclear waste, includes protections for ratepayers and prohibits reprocessing the spent nuclear fuel to make weapons-grade plutonium.

Both the House and Senate approved bills lifting the ban.  A conference committee is working to hash out the differences between the two bills. The measure would then come back for a final vote before the House and Senate before heading to Dayton's desk.

Minnesota House to vote on lifting the nuke ban today

The Minneosta House is expected to debate a bill to lift the state's ban on new nuclear plants. This comes after the Senate earlier this month voted 50 to 14 in favor of lifting the ban. In recent years, similar measures won support in the then-DFL-controlled Senate but stalled in the DFL House.

With Republicans leading both chambers, this may very well be the year that a bill scrapping the 17-year-old ban heads to the governor. But DFL Gov. Mark Dayton appears cool to the idea of lifting the ban. In order to support it, he said it could have no impact on ratepayers, it would not increase the amount of nuclear waste and that it would not generate weapons-grade or near weapons-grade plutonium.

Several area lawmakers are on board with the proposal. Co-sponsors of the bill to lift the ban include Rep. Mike Benson, R-Rochester; Rep. Kim Norton, DFL-Rochester; Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa; Rep. Rich Murray, R-Albert Lea; and Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing.

If the governor were to veto the bill, it would require some Minnesota senators to switch their votes. Specifically, six senators would have to become "yes" votes to override the veto. The Prairie Island Indian Community in Red Wing has lobbied aggressively against lifting the ban citing concerns that there is not a solution yet to the nuclear waste storage problem. This comes as Red Wing's Prairie Island Nuclear Plant is looking to expand and store more waste on site.

The city of Red Wing has said they want any proposal to lift the ban to include efforts to solve the waste problem. The city would like to see the state attorney general sue the U.S. Department of Energy for its failure to abide by federal law in terms of nuclear storage and to open up the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The city also wants a comprehensive study looking at the cost of storing nuclear waste for potentially hundreds of years and to take steps to ensure that hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds from lawsuits filed by Xcel Energy are returned to ratepayers.

Franken rethinks position on nuclear power

A discussion with former Vice President Al Gore caused Minnesota Sen. Al Franken to change his opinion on nuclear power.

During a meeting with the Post-Bulletin Editorial Board, Franken said during the 2008 campaign he took the position that while he supported the idea of nuclear power there needed to be a solution to the waste storage issue before it should be expanded. That's changed.

Franken said he got a chance to talk with Gore about the issue and asked the former veep about the waste storage issue. Gore told him he believes that the advances in technology can keep up with increase use of nuclear power and lead to better ways to monitor and store the waste.

"Yes (the nuclear waste) will be around for hundreds of thousands of years but I am kind of hoping we will too and I am kind of hoping that just as we're going from a decade to map the human genome to a day or two days or whatever it is that we will be more and more sophisticated on storing the waste," he said.

Franken went on to say this position "represents something of a change for me." He said there are certainly pros and cons to the nuclear issue but he believes expanding nuclear power will be key to help solve global warming.

He added, "Nuclear has to be a part of the solution to that."

Franken's change in position comes as the Minnesota legislature is debating lifting the state's ban on building new nuclear plants.

Olmsted County solar bill signed by governor

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has signed a bill that will allow a proposed Olmsted County solar farm to move ahead. The measure allows Dairyland Cooperative to use energy generated from the farm to help meet state renewable energy standards. The project would transform a closed Olmsted County landfill near Oronoco into the state's largest solar farm.

But while the bill may sound simple, it ran into serious obstacles at the legislature this session that threatened to derail it. In the senate, bill author Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin, was caught off guard when a senator tried to amend a provision onto the bill to lift the state's ban on nuclear plants. The amendment, which threatened to kill the bill, caused Sparks to delay a vote on the measure.

Once that problem was solved, House sponsor Rep. Andy Welti, DFL-Plainview, found himself in a political fight over the bill. Rep. Jeremy Kalin, DFL-North Branch, had concerns about provisions in the bill that would impact conservation standards in the bill. There was concern about allowing Dairyland Power to be able to count energy purchased from the project towards its conservation plan. That lead to a long debate on the House floor.

But in the end, the proposal won the backing of the House and Senate.

Olmsted County teens get a taste of politics

A group of 90 Olmsted County teenagers have descended on the Minnesota Capitol today to get a taste of government in action. Turns out today is quite a busy political day.

Moments before heading to a press conference to show his support for lifting the state's nuclear ban, Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem chatted with students on the Senate floor. They had planned to meet in the Capitol Rotunda. But it turns out an abortion supporters were rallying while abortion opponents stood nearby holding up protest signs. Senjem's press conference comes in advance of a Senate committee hearing at 3 p.m. where members will vote on a bill that would lift the state's 16-year ban on nuclear power plants.

This is the first annual "Teens on Tour" event sponsored by the Youth Commission of Olmsted County, Olmsted County and the city of Rochester. Students from Mayo, John Marshall and Century high schools are represented along with some students form Golden Hills Education Center. The students are joined by Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede, Rochester City Council member Mark Bilderback, Olmsted Commissioner Mike Podulke and Olmsted County lobbyist Amy Caucutt.

Walz gains new friends, critics with nuke position

1st District Rep. Tim Walz is urging lawmakers to lift the 16-year ban on new nuclear plants. The Democrat and Republican 3rd District Rep. Erik Paulsen reiterate their case for nuclear power in an editorial in the Star Tribune.

Yesterday, the Minnesota Senate Energy, Utilities, Technology and Communications Committee listened to more than three hours of testimony from supporters and opponents of the state's ban. At one point, Minnesota Environmental Partnership's Executive Director Steve Morse ripped Walz for weighing in on the issue. The partnership opposes lifting the ban.

"My congressman is Rep. Tim Walz and I am greatly disappointed in the fact that he has decided he wants to leave Washington and work on state policy because I think he is out of his realm and he is certainly out of touch with his residents," Morse said.

An unusual ally came to Walz's defense during the committee meeting. Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, who some Republicans had been pushing to run against Walz, praised the congressman.

"I too am represented by Congressman Walz, and I do believe that he is representing his constituents," Rosen said.