Today (4/30/09) the Minnesota House of Representatives debated Senate File 550, the energy omnibus bill. A number of amendments were introduced and a good amount of time was spent debating provisions of the bill that affect landowners and C-BED projects.
To read the text of the bill and the house research summaries, visit the House of Representatives website.
The bill will go to conference committee, however I thought a brief description of the relevant amendments and proposed language may be of interest.
Amendment: Delete small project purchase requirement.
- Deletes section 7 of the bill that creates a small renewable projects purchase requirement on utilities of a total 200MW of renewable energy from projects no more than 5MW each.
This amendment was not adopted(58-73)
Amendment: Ownership limitation for small project purchase requirement
- For projects 5MW and under that utilities use to meet their 200MW purchase obligation for small renewable energy projects, no owner can financially participate in more than one of those projects.
This amendment was adopted (no roll call taken)
Amendment: Certification of residency for C-BED projects
- Requires each qualifying owner of a C-BED project to certify that the qualifying owner is a resident of Minnesota according to the C-BED statute.
This amendment was adopted (no roll call taken)
Amendment: Certification of compliance for C-BED projects.
- Requires each qualifying owner of a C-BED project to certify that they are in compliance with the requirements contained in the C-BED statute.
This amendment was adopted (no roll call taken)
Amendment: Public Data regarding C-BED projects.
- Requires that certain information regarding C-BED projects to be available to the public upon request, including the power purchase agreements, contracts between owner and developer, loans and financing documents, land leases, and incorporation documents.
This amendment was not adopted (no roll call taken)
Amendment: Proximity to C-BED projects required.
- Inserts a new section into the bill that modifies the current cirteria for C-BED projects to require the qualifying owners to reside near (within) the project itself.
This amendment was not adopted (54-77)
Amendment: Including easements for high voltage transmission lines
- Inserts that easements for high voltage transmission lines that are acquired through eminent domain may be discharged by the property owner if the easement is not being used as intended
This amendment was adopted (98-33)
Amendment: Delete appropriation for clean energy resource teams
- Would remove the provision appropriating funding for the state CERTs
This amendment was not adopted (no roll call taken)
Amendment: Lift moratorium on new nuclear facilities
- This would have removed the moratorium on building new nuclear facilities in Minnesota
This amendment was not adopted (60-72)
The bill, as amended, passed the house by a vote of 100 to 32. To read the amended lanugage, visit the House of Representatives site.