Congress is back, but it's a very different world. And everyone is scrambling, for different reasons. Lame duck? Maybe the lamest. Get anything accomplished? Hardly. No need to, not now. TPP gonna pass, the president's Trans-Pacific Partnership landmark trade initiative,...
Read more This month’s Resource newsletter carries an article on new mercury limits for wastewater discharges in the Lake Superior basin. The limits result from the Binational Program to Restore and Protect the Lake Superior basin, which was signed in 1991. The expense of meeting this...
Read more I recently received two pieces of mail that gave me pause as a resident of an MMUA-member city. They also made me consider why it is increasingly difficult for different people to solve complex problems, and what I could possibly do about it. One letter, dated May 4, came from a Minnesota...
Read more MMUA wouldn’t be much without its members. That point was driven home again Saturday, April 2, at the national Public Power Lineworkers Rodeo, held at Canterbury Park in Shakopee. Sure, Shakopee Public Utilities (SPU) and MMUA were hosts of this American Public Power Association...
Read more MMUA and Shakopee Public Utilities salute the American lineworker . Can anybody tell me who the guy pictured here is? If you can, there is a major award (still to be determined) for you. You can watch lineworkers in action Saturday, April 2 at the APPA Public Power Lineworkers Rodeo....
Read more Something curious about the reporting in the Star Tribune Sunday, March 20 on a large new wind ‘farm’ and, in a larger article, “Nuclear sticker shock” for potential upgrades at the Prairie Island nuclear facility. The wind development story mentioned the amount of...
Read more In a phenomenon that reminds me of a modern youth sports ‘season,’ the political season is well upon us (did it ever really end?). Municipal utilities often seek to keep ‘politics’ out of the business--an ironic twist for utilities born of politics. The effort is...
Read more I was recently surprised when I saw a small telco in Minnesota invoke the rural exemption. This is a set of rules that was created by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In those days the rural telephone industry had an effective presence in Congress and this was added to that legislation as a...
Read more Municipal utilities and businesses that support them have a long and often mutually-beneficial relationship. Back in the mists of time, engine and generator manufacturers actually promoted municipal utilities. The sales pitch was that the city would get lower rates, more reliable service,...
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