Crown Hydro Spins the Story to FERC
Having lost in their attempt to lease river-front park land from the Park Board, Crown Hydro spins the story to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in an attempt to keep their project alive. Crown Hydro's filing with FERC on May 28 is below:
Dear M. Salas:
On January 13, 2004, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff issued a letter requesting that Crown Hydro LLC ("Crown Hydro") file an acceptable lease or other acceptable conveyance of Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board ("Park Board") land in connection with the site for the above-referenced project. By correspondence dated April 15, 2004, Crown Hydro filed a letter requesting a sixty (60) day extension of the timeframe from the original due date for submitting evidence that the Park Board has conveyed the necessary property rights to Crown Hydro. The new date is June 11, 2004.
This is to advise you that on Wednesday, May 19, 2004, the Park Board voted 4 in favor and 5 against a motion to approve the lease of land to Crown Hydro for the above-referenced project.
Park Board law requires a supermajority - 6 of 9 votes - to approve a lease. Unfortunately, a 5--4 political split has made Park Board decisions the past two years difficult and 6 votes often impossible. When it became clear the political split on the Board would deny 6 votes for the lease, a member of the majority joined the minority in voting "no."
Crown Hydro is currently assessing its options with respect to further project development. Crown Hydro would respectfully request that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission delay any action on its Petition for Amendment to current license for ninety (90) days until Crown Hydro has had a chance to review its options for project development.
Crown Hydro will be reviewing the current draft of the lease to see whether there might be an acceptable approach to continuing project development on Park Board land. In addition, Crown Hydro is reviewing other options, including developing the project in the Crown Roller Mill Building, the original location for which the project was licensed. Crown Hydro also will be contacting the owners of other hydro facilities in the St. Anthony Fails area and elsewhere to explore the feasibility of developing the project on private land. It is Crown Hydro's intent to review these options as soon as possible and promptly report back to the Commission.
As the Commission and its staff are well aware, the Crown Hydro project has a lengthy history. Many difficult issues have arisen throughout the years with respect to locating the project on Park Board land because of its historic character. In addition, there have been concerns regarding the impact on the aesthetic integrity of St. Anthony Fails. Crown Hydro has successfully addressed these issues through the design and engineering of the project. We believe the project would make a significant financial, recreational and historical interpretive contribution to Mill Ruins Park.
The project has received support from Xcei Energy's Renewable Development Fund through a $5.1 million grant as well as support from key state and local officials and many citizens. Substantial grant funds have been expended, and the developers have made an enormous commitment in terms of time, effort and money. Crown Hydro is still confident that the project can be completed.
For these reasons, Crown Hydro would respectfiflly request that the Commission not act on a petition at the present time. We appreciate your patience. Enclosed for demonstrative purposes is a booklet explaining the project.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Very truly yours, O'NEILL, GRILLS & O'NEILL, P.L.L.P. Peter H. Grills
Above was converted automatically to computer readable format and may contain some optical character recognition errors. Original document on letter can be view here: http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/opennat.asp? fileID=10164749