Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 3
Stop playing games on Real ID legislation in Minnesota
Signs went up two months ago near the security queues at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport advising travelers that starting next January, Minnesota driver’s licenses won’t suffice as proof of identification for boarding a commercial aircraft.
We hoped those notices - and the response they generated - would finally get state lawmakers to focus on the need to act on Real ID, bringing state driver’s licenses into compliance with standards for their issuance set by Congress in 2005. Gov. Mark Dayton and the Legislature must give a green light to Real ID this year if air travelers are to be spared the need to carry a passport or other federally issued form of identification after Jan. 22, 2018. Already, Minnesotans must show more than their state driver’s licenses to be admitted to secure federal facilities.
Real ID bills are indeed moving at the Legislature. The Senate has its version on Monday’s docket; the House’s bill has been approved and is ready to meet the Senate’s in conference committee. But those bills have become entangled with what ought to be a separate issue - whether Minnesota should issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Those issues should be parted - the sooner the better. Minnesota is home to the 16th busiest airport in the country, a major economic asset for a multistate region. This state ought not risk disrupting the traveling public because of a partisan tiff over immigration. While this newspaper has long favored issuing driver’s licenses to all who operate vehicles on public roads, we think that policy should be addressed on its own merits, apart from Real ID.
Legislators in both parties have given lip service to a desire for a “clean” Real ID bill. But the GOP-backed House version of the bill includes language that would set in statute barring licenses for people who are neither U.S. citizens nor legal immigrants. (That bar exists as an administrative rule today.) The Senate’s version, sponsored by Sen. Eric Pratt, R-Prior Lake, disallows using Real ID rulemaking to open the door for licenses for undocumented drivers.
The DFL governor said last week that he wants just the opposite. He asked Senate DFLers - a few of whose votes will be needed to pass a bill - to press to add to the bill explicit permission for the state to issue driver’s licenses to all who meet age, residency and proficiency requirements, regardless of their citizenship status.
Dayton’s message may have been a negotiating ploy - a possibility made plausible by the fact that he did not threaten to veto a bill that does not allow driver’s licenses for all. But the longer lawmakers spend arguing about immigrant licensure, the more they invite the impression that this state does not take the Real ID imperative seriously and does not value the Twin Cities airport’s status as a major airline’s hub.
If legislators want to dispel that idea, they’ll remove all references to driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants from the Real ID bills. That’s the option that was offered without success on the House floor by Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul. We hope that version fares better as an amendment in the Senate on Monday and wins support from a conference committee. If a truly “clean” Real ID bill emerges, Dayton should not hesitate to sign it.
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St. Cloud Times, March 4
Gas plant answers, creates questions
On one hand: Bipartisan blockbuster. Clean(er) energy. Construction boon. Job-saver. Even community-saver.
On the other: Political power play. Oversight avoidance. Shutting out the public. Perhaps not the best deal - for consumers and the environment.
Welcome to the varying ways people describe a bill approved Tuesday that allows Xcel Energy Inc. to build a 786-megawatt natural gas-fired generating plant in Becker, largely without having to follow the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s normal review-and-approval process for such projects.
Introduced early in the session, this proposal zipped through the House and Senate with relative ease. Gov. Mark Dayton, who has recently clashed with the Legislature on various PUC matters, eagerly signed it Tuesday.
Good for region but …
From this board’s perspective, the fast-track approval is welcome to counter the economic blow of Xcel’s plans to shutter two of its three coal-fired plants at the Sherburne County Generating Station in the next 10 years. Sherco provides about 75 percent of the tax base for the city of Becker, and the shutdowns are expected to result in job losses for about half Sherco’s workforce. However, the new plant will provide short-term construction jobs and up to 150 permanent positions, which is better than nothing.
While that’s good, there is no denying this approach skirts established procedures, largely by not requiring the PUC ultimately issue the required “certificate of need.” Traditionally, that official state approval came after a lengthy review process that included siting decisions, examinations of other power options, and even how much a plant could cost to build.
Essentially, the role of PUC in this and similar projects is to find the best balance of energy, economic and environmental needs for all of Minnesota.
How Xcel fares in striking that balance without extensive PUC oversight will be watched closely - and should serve as a gauge for similar requests in the future, be they from Xcel or any other utility provider.
Why the need?
The plant, to cost between $800 million and $1 billion, is needed because Xcel, driven in large part by public pressure to reduce carbon emissions, is taking two of its three coal-fired plants at Sherco offline as it moves toward natural gas and renewable energy sources. The third, newer coal burner will continue to operate.
Xcel has said this gas-fired plant is needed in Becker to stabilize the electricity supply it provides through its grid system. Remember, that’s a lot. Built in the 1970s, Sherco has long been the largest power plant in the state. In fact, the 786-megawatt plant will provide only about half the power now generated at Sherco.
Good or bad
Again, this approach can be seen as good or bad, depending on your priorities.
From a purely economic viewpoint, it gives Becker (and much of the region) a sense of relief in knowing the community still will be home to a substantial Xcel operation - and the city’s tax base won’t be completely decimated.
As for consumer and public costs, perhaps the saving grace of the legislation are ratepayer protections that were added in early February after several key stakeholders raised concerns about how potential cost overruns could be passed to consumers. Changes made to the bill now require some PUC review as well as the PUC’s ability to stop Xcel from tapping ratepayers for excessive costs.
Of course, that also does not guarantee the cheapest nor most environment-friendly power plant.
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The Journal of New Ulm, March 5
Why does Trump need to tweet?
Just days ago President Donald Trump made a speech to Congress, and to the nation, that was notable for its civility, its inclusiveness and its seeming extension of an olive branch to Democrats in Congress. It was seen as a possible turning point for the president, who had spent his first month in office trying to convince everyone that he won the election, he won huuuge, and that things are now running like a fine-tuned machine.
Then on Saturday he fired off some early morning tweets accusing former President Barack Obama of tapping his phones during the campaign. He offers no proof or substantiation for the claim, but there it is, out where the public can see it. Any good will he might have generated with his speech on Tuesday is gone.
Why does the president feel the need to do this? Does he really think he is getting his message out to the American people without the filters of the media? And what is that message?
A day earlier, Trump had tweeted an old photo of Sen. Chuck Schumer with Vladimir Putin during a Putin visit to the U.S. 14 years ago and demanded an investigation into Schumer’s ties to Russia and Putin. What is the message here?
The message seems to be that Trump doesn’t like all the attention being paid to his administration’s contacts and connections with Russia. His speech didn’t make the Russia issue go away; in fact things heated up when Attorney General Jeff Sessions failed to mention a couple contacts with a Russian ambassador during his Senate confirmation hearings. Does Trump think he can make the issue go away by tweeting allegations of wrongdoing and duplicity about his enemies?
If he does, it’s not working.
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