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State Representative Paul Anderson
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4317
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Preparing for new majority
By Rep. Paul Anderson
House Republicans met in an all-day caucus Dec. 1, at which time additional leadership positions were selected. I was honored to be named the vice chairman of the Agricultural and Rural Development Policy and Finance Committee. Veteran legislator Rod Hamilton of southern Minnesota is the chairman, and it will be a pleasure working with him in running the committee.
In the past, agriculture and veterans affairs were part of the same committee, and there was one committee that dealt with finance and another that worked on policy. Under the new Republican structure, the number of committees has been cut from 36 down to 24 in the House. As a result, agriculture, which supports around 20 percent of the state’s economy, will have its own stand-alone committee. Veterans Affairs is now a division of the State Government Finance Committee.
Received an interesting letter from an organization in North Dakota called Partners for Affordable Energy. It detailed environmental improvements made to several coal-fired electric generating plants in the state. The first mentioned was the huge Coal Creek Station power plant near Underwood, North Dakota, which sells all of the 1,100 megawatts of energy it produces to Minnesota customers. Much of the electricity used in our part of the state, at least that which is sold by rural cooperatives, comes from this plant.
A new system called “DryFining” was invented and implemented at Coal Creek. The process, which reduces the moisture content in lignite coal and separates the lignite from heavier, more dense material, was originally intended to increase efficiency. But, it was learned the process also lowered emissions, as much as a 52 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide and mercury, along with lowering nitrogen oxides by 32 percent.
Completing this project was no small task, as 300 outside employees worked alongside the 200 regular Coal Creek workers for two years to complete the job on-time and on-budget. In laymen’s terms, what the process does is utilize waste heat to reduce the coal’s moisture level. In addition, another refining component segregates the lignite from heavier compounds that contain higher levels of sulfur and mercury.
My wife and I saw the movie “Unstoppable” recently, and it reminded me of something learned at a recent meeting of the Stearns County Municipal League. The movie deals with a runaway freight train and how difficult it is to stop one. At the Stearns County meeting, a discussion was held pertaining to traffic safety, and railroad crossings, in particular. We were told that a fully loaded freight train going 50 mph takes a full one-and-a-half miles to come to a complete stop! And, according to statistics from MnDOT, a motorist is 40 times more likely to die in a crash involving a train than one with another car.
As this was written before the November economic forecast was released, the thinking was that the deficit number would come in even larger than the most-recent figure of $5.8 billion. Economic conditions have not improved as much as earlier expected. Whatever the new number is, it will be used extensively in planning whatever action is taken to balance the state’s current two-year budget, which is mandated by law.
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