00166 MINNESOTA PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP: An Inventory of Its Records at the Minnesota Historical Society Finding aid prepared by Frank Hennessy Minnesota Historical Society

St. Paul MN.

Manuscripts Collection

Finding aid encoded by Dennis Meissner August 31, 2004Finding aid written inEnglish August 2008Converted from EAD Version 1.0 to Version 2002 by Monica Manny Ralston, Daniel Sher, and Joyce Chapman. OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION Minnesota Historical Society Minnesota Public Interest Research Group. MPIRG records. 1970-1982, 1992. A draft proposal (1970), reports, newsletters (1981), photocopied newspaper clippings (undated and 1981-1982), articles, correspondence, and legal records documenting the actions of a public interest group funded by college students in Minnesota. The organization's activities include research, professional lobbying, agency representation, litigation, and public education. 1.1 cu. ft. (2 boxes). See Detailed Description section for shelf locations. SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE RECORDS

The records represent MPIRG's intervention in hearings before the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (1981), which dealt with the amendment of state ambient sulfur dioxide and ozone standards, a petition by Northern States Power Company before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to raise electric rates (1980-1981), and an administrative hearing regarding the certification of need for the construction of an electric power plant in Sherburne County (Minn.).

ARRANGEMENT OF THE RECORDS

These documents are organized into the following sections:

Minnesota Rule APC-1/Acid Rain Northern States Power Company Miscellany OTHER FINDING AIDS

An inventory that provides additional information about this collection is available in the repository; filed in ALPHA notebooks under the heading: Minnesota Public Interest Research Group.

CATALOG HEADINGS

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics: Acid rain -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota. Acid precipitation (Meteorology) -- Research -- Minnesota. Acid precipitation (Meteorology) -- Economic aspects -- Minnesota. Acid precipitation (Meteorology) -- Research -- Canada. Air -- Pollution -- Standards -- Minnesota. Air quality management -- Minnesota. Electric power-plants -- Location -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota -- Sherburne County. Electric power-plants -- Environmental aspects -- Minnesota. Electric utilities -- Rates -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota. Electric power-plants -- Environmental aspects -- Wisconsin. Transboundary pollution -- Canada. Persons: Durenberger, David. Glass, Gary E. Harris, Byron, 1955-. Krupa, Sagar V. Propotnik, Carol J. Reagan, Patrick Lee. Simmons, W.S. Organizations: Clean Air-Clean Water Unlimited (Organization : Minn.). Environmental Research Laboratory (Duluth, Minn.). Minnesota Association of Commerce and Industry. Minnesota Atmospheric Pollutant Advisory Committee. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. Northern States Power Company (Minnesota) -- Trials, litigation, etc. Sherburne County Generating Unit No. 3 (Minn.). Places: Minnesota -- Industries -- Environmental aspects. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesota Public Interest Research Group Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples

Accession Information:

Accession number: 14,929

Processing Information:

Processed by: Frank Hennessy, June 1994

Catalog ID number: 09-00038530

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION Minnesota Rule APC-1/Acid Rain

The MPCA hearings dealt with a proposed revision to Minnesota Rule APC-1, 6 MCAR S4.0001, Relating to Ambient Air Quality Standards. State standards at the time of the hearings were stricter than federal standards and industry groups wanted them lowered, while environmental groups wanted to maintain the stricter state level.

Records in this series consist primarily of background material on the causes and effects of acid precipitation including a group of reports (undated and 1977-1981) co-authored by Gary E. Glass of the EPA Environmental Research Laboratory-Duluth; a group of reports and articles (1977-1981) dealing with acid rain in Canada and U.S./Canada trans-boundary air pollution; testimony from a briefing presented to Minnesota Senator David Durenburger by the Minnesota Atmospheric Pollutants Advisory Committee (April 7, 1980), which includes a copy of "The Causes and Effects of Acid Rain in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area," by MPIRG staff researcher Carol Propotnik; a folder containing a report entitled "Economic Assessment of Air Pollution Damage to Agriculture and Silvaculture Crops in Minnesota" (April 1981), background information on Sagar Krupa, one of the studies' chief investigators, and the project's contract; three reports issued by Clean Air-Clean Water Unlimited (1981); and the transcript of MPIRG staff economist Byron L. Harris' testimony at the hearings (April 27, 1981).

143.E.7.4F 1 Clearing the Air: APC-1 Update, February 16-August 5, 1981. Publicity, undated and 1980-1982. "Acid Rain Information Book," 1980. Atikokan Generating Station study, 1978. SO(2) sources in Minnesota and National Commission on Air Quality Twin Cities/St. Cloud regional study, 1978, 1980. Gary E. Glass/EPA Environmental Research Laboratory-Duluth: Miscellaneous reports on acid precipitation, 1977-1980. Wisconsin power plant impact study, undated and 1980. "State of Knowledge Survey-U.S./Canada Impacts Assessment," 1981. Canadian Information: CANSAP data summaries, 1977-1979. U.S./Canada transboundary air pollution, undated and 1979-1981. 2 folders. "Evaluation of Minnesota Ambient Air Quality Standards for Sulfur Dioxide," by Marlene C. Voita, 1979. Simmons study, 1979. Minnesota Atmospheric Pollutants Advisory Committee: Briefing for Senator David Durenburger, April 7, 1980. "A Needs Assessment of Tourism Firms Serving the BWCA Wilderness Vicinity," 1980. Economic data, undated and 1980-1981. 143.E.7.5B 2 Crop study/Krupa, 1980-1981. Northern States Power Co.: Acid deposition reports, 1981. Clean Air-Clean Water Unlimited: Reports, 1981. "Emission Feed and TERA: An Evaluation of Policy Alternatives in the Twin Cities," 1981. Byron Harris testimony, April 27, 1981. Northern States Power Company 143.E.7.5B 2 1980 Rate Case:

On May 1, 1980 NSP filed a petition with the MPUC to raise electric rates for retail customers in Minnesota by 12.66%. MPIRG's petition to intervene in the case was granted by the hearing examiner, Richard DeLong (July 28, 1980). The commission filed its Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order of Public Utilities on April 30, 1981 and ruled favorably on a majority of the issues MPIRG raised. MPIRG and other organizations involved in the case were not satisfied with the resolution of all the issues and petitions were filed for a rehearing, but were denied on June 17, 1981.

The records related to the rate case consist primarily of legal documents and correspondence included in three pleadings presented to the commission. A group of speeches (1972-1973) presented by NSP executives to securities analysts in New York and the Twin Cities; a trial notebook containing mostly manuscript notes on strategy, witnesses, and other organizations involved in the case; and 92 scripts from NSP's "Ask NSP" hotline are also included.

Presentations to security analysts, 1972-1973. Pleadings nos. 2-4, October 1980-July 1981. 3 folders. Trial notebook. "Ask NSP" scripts. Sherco 3 Stipulation Agreement, 1982.

An administrative hearing was held in 1982 regarding the issuance of a certificate of need for the construction of the Sherburne County Generating Unit No. 3 (Sherco 3) as proposed by NSP, Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, and the United Minnesota Municipal Power Agency. The objective of MPIRG in entering into the stipulation was to ensure that the utilities would recognize and work toward a future least-cost energy strategy, which would require a mix of electric generation, conservation, load management, and alternative energy development. The stipulation agreement (June 19, 1982) specified the commitments, expenditures, studies, programs, and installations related to MPIRG's objectives that the utilities would engage in when a certificate of need was issued and construction resumed.

Miscellany 143.E.7.4F 1 MPIRG proposal and case summaries, 1970, 1992.

A draft of MPIRG's proposal (1970) including a statement of rationale, objectives, and process, as well as summaries of the cases it was involved with in 1992.