All posts in the topic Crown Hydro update re Senate bill‏‏

Tommy Johnson: "Ah - the ol' NIMBY argument: "We like using electricity in
Minneapolis; we just want it generated elsewhere. ...  What Ms. Marks ignores,
is that EVERY city/locality on the Mississippi River claims to be "historic",
too. "Don't put this project in "historic Minneapolis"  ...  And I do note that
for said Tunnel Stabilization Project, no EAW was prepared by the Park Board
prior to construction. Where were all of the "concerned citizens" then?"




Would that my argument could be dismissed as NIMBY, but it cannot. I don't live
on the river, worse luck, but the reasons for keeping this project off the
space where Crown wants it to be are much deeper, and a great deal more
important, than NIMBY.



We have all witnessed the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hurricane was a
disaster because we have so screwed up nature's accommodation to hurricanes by
creating both a huge city and a six lane highway for deep sea vessels that the
water has nowhere to go.



As well, this particular river is on the New Madras Fault Line and while the
fault line has not kicked up a major fuss since the 1870s, it does have minor
tremors and could, of course, have another major shake up.



But the most telling point is that St. Anthony Falls is the only cataract on
the entire length of the Mississippi. The falls area is already undergirded by
2.9 miles of tunnels and when, in the 1870s, Eastman tried to burden the river
with yet another tunnel, the falls began to cave in. The Corps of Engineers
put, first, a wooden apron, and then, a concrete apron to hold the falls in
place.



It was at that point that it was acknowledged that there is only 1,100 feet of
cap rock left and that disturbing that cap rock could doom the falls into
rapids, rendering it unable to generate any electricity. Not even 10 years ago,
we replaced the Hennepin Av. Bridge, further shaking the cap rock. The 35W
bridge collapse, only a year ago, shook the entire river bed and building the
new bridge also disturbed the river bed.



The geologic history of St. Anthony Falls far outweighs historic places on the
Mississippi.



Mention of the tunnel stabilization project is a red herring. We have ample
evidence what not stabilizing the tunnels could mean in terms of disaster. No
one objected because we needed to do it for the sake of the entire river bed.



At what point do we concede that we screw with nature to our lasting detriment?
Those of us who oppose this project have so conceded and do not want to deal
with the possible aftermath of dinking around with the river bed again for the
very little electricity which could potentially be produced.