By passing Minnesota utilities regulators, Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bill Tuesday allowing Xcel Energy to build a large natural gas-fired power plant in Becker. The bill was pioneered by Rep. Jim Newberger and Sen. Andrew Mathews. 

 

On a local level, Becker City Administrator Greg Pruszinske, Council Member Rick Hendrickson and Mayor Tracy Bertram worked tirelessly with Newberger and Mathews to get the bill approved. Bertram, Mathews and Newberger — along with representatives from Xcel Energy, the IBEW and other legislators — were among the group standing behind Gov. Dayton as he put his signature on the bill.

 

Xcel Energy, the state's largest electricity provider, intends to build a 786-megawatt natural gas generator in Becker to supercede power that will be forfeited when the company puts the lid on its two big coal-fired plants there in Sherburne County.

 

With the closure dates looming in 2023 and 2026, Newberger and Mathews decided to “get the ball rolling” rather than wait on the PUC.

 

Last October, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved the closure of the two 680-megawatt coal generators in Becker after months of debate from opposers and supporters of the Becker power plant. Sherco, the nickname for the plant was targeted by environmentalists for years for  emitting dangerous outflow, blamed for health issues and even affecting Voyagers National Park — 260 miles to the North.

 

The PUC at the time did not seem keen to a gas plant as a replacement, but instead asked for more study of cost-effective renewable energy alternatives.

 

In January, Newberger and Mathews submitted bills to legislature enabling Xcel to begin planning  the new generator. Proponents say the legislation is necessary to stabilize the Sherburne County economy, which will be hurt by the coal generators' demise. Opponents say the legislation is an end-run around the PUC.

 

The bill made it through all the steps necessary to land on the governor’s desk and a little over a week ago, the Governor said he’d consider signing it should it proceed through legislature.

 

“This project is of critical importance for Becker and its surrounding area," Dayton said in a press statement. "It requires an immediate certainty that the PUC review process cannot provide."

 

Sherco is Sherburne County's largest taxpayer, and it currently employs about 300 people. The new gas plant would employ about 150. It is assumed many of the “jobs lost” will come through attrition and retirement. The new, gas-powered plant would open in 2025, midway between the planned 2023 and 2026 closure of Xcel's coal generators in Becker.

 

Xcel Energy Spokesman Randy Fordice says preliminary work will be getting underway soon, but it will be years before it’s up and running.

 

“The Becker natural gas plant is a key component of the Xcel Energy plan to cost-effectively transition our fleet (of power plants) to cleaner and more renewable sources," said Chris Clark, president of Xcel Energy — Minnesota in a statement. 

Gas-fired generators produce about half the greenhouse gases emitted by coal-fired plants.

 

The power plant legislation passed the House by a margin of 80-45; in the Senate, the vote was 39-25. It was amended in the Senate to provide protections for consumers through PUC review of cost forecasts for the new plant.

 

"We don't think this is the way (legislatively) to be making these kind of technical power plant decisions," said Annie Levenson-Falk, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group for energy matters that has opposed the gas plant bill.

 

“That said, the Senate bill has measures to protect ratepayers,” she said. 

 

The House eventually adopted the amended Senate bill.

 

Fordice says Xcel Energy has already done three similar conversions like this in the Twin Cities metro area, so it’s not like they are breaking new ground.

 

A third coal burning power plant at the Sherco facility, which is co-owned by Xcel Energy and the Rochester based Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, will continue operating.

 

“This is a big day for our community,” said  Pruszinske.