SARGEANT – Lance and Terry Wilson remain unconvinced the Great River Energy (GRE) 445 megawatt natural gas-fired power generation facility in Pleasant Valley Township is as good as it sounds.

Sunday, September 19, 1999

SARGEANT – Lance and Terry Wilson remain unconvinced the Great River Energy (GRE) 445 megawatt natural gas-fired power generation facility in Pleasant Valley Township is as good as it sounds.

Jim Hartson doesn’t object to it, but he does question the actual amount of taxes being exempted and he calls that exemption a "subsidy."

There are also concerns about adequate fire safety protection in the event of an emergency and ability of local volunteer fire departments to respond.

GRE officials explained the proposed project Thursday night at an informational meeting in the Sargeant Community Center. More than 50 people crowded into the meeting room for a presentation by the generation and transmission cooperative, which provides electrical energy and related services to 29 distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

GRE covers approximately 70 percent of the state and serves more than 500,000 members or approximately 1.4 million people, according to Richard R. Lancaster, GRE’s vice president for public affairs. Lancaster and Tim Steinbeck, the project engineer, and Gary Ostrom faced the Sargeant audience Thursday night.

Formed in January of this year, GRE combines the operations of 10 Minnesota generation and transmission cooperatives and is based at Elk River.

Early this summer, GRE officials announced plans to build a facility consisting of three, simple cycle, combustion turbines in Pleasant Valley Township in northeastern Mower County

The primary fuel for the facility will be natural gas, delivered to the site via the Northern Natural Gas pipeline that runs across the upper tier of townships in the county, according to Lancaster.

A backup fuel oil supply will be installed on site in case of interruption in the natural gas supply.

The Pleasant Valley Township site was chosen because of its close proximity to the Northern Natural Gas pipeline and a major transmission line also nearby.

GRE officials say they need 18 acres for the facility, but are seeking to purchase 160 acres primarily Section 19 of the township and owned by Lee Construction Corporation and Jerome Lee, plus Beverly Land Company. Now ag land, the 160 acres would see only the 18 actually taken out of agricultural production for the facility, while the rest would be rented for farming.

GRE offiails want to obtain all the necessary state and local permits by the spring of 2000 when it also hopes to begin construction. The initial startup could take place in the winter of 2000 with commercial operation by the spring of 2001.

It expects to be operational only 1,500 to 2,000 hours per year or at the peak times, mainly on hot summer days when consumers’ air conditioning units are in use.

It could also supplement area energy supplies, such as Austin Utilities.

Four permanent workers would be needed on site to perform maintenance task and monitor operations at the site.

The plant will cost $160 million to build and generate over $600,000 a year in taxes to local government units.

However, GRE wants a personal property tax exemption on the equipment at the facility. Without that exemption, it would have to pay $7 million in taxes each year and could not operate, according to Lancaster.

Unless GRE gets the exemption from the Minnesota Legislature, it will not build the plant in Pleasant Valley Township and could move to Wisconsin.

That was the threat made again Thursday night by GRE spokesman Lancaster.

He said the GRE request for a personal property tax exemption is not unprecedented and similar to one granted by the Legislature to another energy company, building a similar facility in Martin County.

The citizens asked many questions: What does the plant sound like when operational? Answer: A combine from a half mile away. How tall are the tallest smokestacks? Answer: 90 feet. Why all (twin 300,000 gallon storage tanks) water on the site? Answer: fire suppression and to use in pure form to operation the combustion turbines.

That, fire suppression, was the first concern raised by citizens, who questioned the capabilities of existing volunteer departments to fight such a fire. GRE’s Lancaster said the company would pay for training area firefighters to do that.

Wilson, an area pork producer, who also works in Rochester, asked most of the questions, including the obvious one on everyone’s minds. "What’s in it for us?" he wanted to know.

Lancaster said the benefits include pouring over $600,000 a year into the local tax base and support for local transmission systems, such as Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency’s client-municipalities and Freeborn Mower Cooperative Services.

At that point, Hartson, who farms with his son, Randy, and has made a reputation for questioning local government’s use of corporate welfare such as Tax Increment Financing at the expense of local government units, spoke up. He said the company was asking the state of Minnesota to, in effect, subsidize their Pleasant Valley Township operations.

"Personally, I welcome you. It’s good for the area, but I’m a little concerned about the taxes you say you will have to pay with or without the exemption," Hartson said. "By your calculations, they’re only about four-tenths of what I’m paying as a farmer. I don’t get that kind of treatment. No farmer does."

Lancaster had no direct answer to Hartson’s questions, but he did say, "We could build in Wisconsin and not pay the personal property tax."

"That’s blackmail," Wilson said, "You’re saying "If you don’t let us build here we’ll build it in Wisconsin’ That’s wrong."

The meeting ended with more one-on-one discussions between the GRE representatives and citizens.

Among those in the audience observing the presentation and asking his own questions was State Senator Kenric Scheevel (R-Preston).

Meanwhile, Sargeant mayor Chuck Hinsch supports the project.

I think it’s a good, safe thing for this area," Hinsch said. "Our energy supplier probably won’t be buying power, but we could get benefits at peaking time in the summer as they explained it."

"It’s an environmentally clean project and with the taxes they will pay, that will benefit the school district, the county and just about everybody will enjoy those benefits," he said.