Friday, March 21, 2014

Pipeline Planned through Hubbard Township

The following is from our LLAA President, Sharon Natzel:

This is the Enbridge (June 2013) map showing the planned route through Hubbard Township.
(Enlarge the map by clicking on it.)
Please note that the pump station indicated is no longer part of the Sandpiper pipeline application: according to Enbridge email of 4/25/2014.
As President of the LLAA, I encourage you to submit comments based on your own research to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission regarding the Sandpiper Pipeline before 4/4/14 at 4:30 PM.  (It has been extended to May 30, 2014 at 4:30 pm) The PUC link below describes the proposal, has a map at the end and clearly states the format for comments, what can be commented on, along with the address to send to, etc.

Your LLAA Board of Directors submitted a request for extension of the comment period and additional public meetings to the PUC as did The Hubbard County Commissioners, some other lake associations & townships, & League of Women Voters because many seasonal landowners are unable to fully participate.  Our Request is denied so get your comments in now please!

Included below are links from the 1/7/14 panel discussion on the pipeline hosted by the League Of Women Voters plus a link to a new group with science-based maps with pipeline overlay.

In the PDF files attached you’ll see:
1)  An example comment related to Long Lake based on my own personal research in the dockets 13-473 Certificate of Need and 13-474 Sandpiper Pipeline Route regarding the potential Hubbard Pumping Station. (The pump station section is not relevant according to an Enbridge email of 4/25/2014 because of a change in pipeline size from 24 to 30 inches.) 

2)  A copy of my personal comments submitted to the PUC following the public meeting in Park Rapids, 3/12/2014.  I was only able to present 5 comments orally due to time constraints. These comments will appear in Docket 13-474 sometime.

Long Lake can’t form words - only waves!
Sincerely,  Sharon Natzel

Here are links for other resources including the Dockets link above:
1)  LWV Panelist 1:  Tracy M.B. Smetana, Public Advisor, Consumer Affairs Office, Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, 651-296-0406.  The MPUC link is above.
2)  Friends of the Headwaters is a group of local residents advocating for the protection of Northern Minnesota related to the pipeline: www.FriendsoftheHeadwaters.org 
 Science-based maps show pipeline.
3)  LWV Panelist 2:  Lorraine Little, Senior Manager of Public Affairs, Enbridge; for more information about the Sandpiper project go to:  www.enbridge.com/sandpiperproject
4)  LWV Panelist 3:  Presenter Winona LaDuke, Rural Development economist, author, and Director of Honor the Earth. She has earned degrees from Harvard, did graduate work at MIT and has a Masters in Rural Development.  http://www.honorearth.org/
5)  LWV Panelist 4:  Nathan Kestner, Regional Environmental Assessment Ecologist, MN DNR Division of Ecological & Water Resources, NW Region.  Email:  nathan.kestner@state.mn.us

Example_Comments PDF 1
Example_Comments PDF 2

Monday, March 3, 2014

Environmentally Safe Bacterium Effective Against Zebra Mussels

Zebra Mussels Photo from US Geological Survey
A biologist, Dr. Daniel P. Molloy, has found a way to kill zebra mussels using a bacterium that kills the mussels but apparently has little or no effect on other organisms.  Some of Dr. Molloy's research references Lake Carlos in Minnesota and included in the interesting NY Times article about his work (link below) is a video (less than a minute) showing zebra mussels floating in their larval veliger stage.

New York Times Article from February 24, 2014:
Science Takes on a Silent Invader
StarTribune Article from March 10, 2014:
Questions answered by Dr. Molloy