As the month of March was drawing to a close, and as this issue of The Bridge went to press, Kandiyohi Development Partners was scrambling to meet the city’s requirements to purchase Minneapolis land for the company’s proposed Midtown Eco Energy (MEE) burner, just west of Longfellow and Seward neighborhoods.

Kandiyohi was to have an agreement by March 30 for another entity to purchase the power the MEE would create, Greg Goeke, the city’s director of property services, told The Bridge in late March. That deadline was extended last March, and other criteria — including proof that Kandiyohi has proper financing in place — must be met by October before the land sale is completed.

Lacking a power purchase agreement, Kandiyohi sent a letter on March 14 asking for another five-month extension, but the City Council took no apparent action on the request at its March 22 meeting — the last before the deadline. A group of about 40 people opposing the burner lobbied at that meeting. One opponent, Dave Bicking, was cautiously optimistic after the meeting. “I know that no project is ever really dead,” he told Twin Cities Daily Planet editor Mary Turck.

Three days later, however, Kandiyohi claimed to have an agreement for Xcel Energy to purchase its power, reported Steve Brandt for the Star Tribune. An Xcel spokesperson confirmed that the two companies were negotiating; as The Bridge went to press, city officials were reviewing the progress to see if it met the land purchase requirements.
Less than a week before, Brandt had penned another article detailing financial and political questions surrounding the project and its developers, two of whom have close ties to Ward 7 Council Member Lisa Goodman, who at one point sent a letter urging support for the project’s permit without disclosing that she was an investor in the project, Brandt wrote.

As the city vets Kandiyohi’s progress, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is conducting an environmental assessment worksheet (EAW) on the project. A required 30- or 45-day public comment period should begin in April or May, MPCA Project Manager Kevin Kain told The Bridge.

last revised: April 24, 2008

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