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3-2500-16554-2 MPUC Docket No. ET-2/CN-05-347 |
STATE OF
OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
FOR THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION AND
THE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY BOARD
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FIRST PREHEARING ORDER |
This matter came on for a prehearing conference before
Administrative Law Judge Kathleen D. Sheehy on May 2, 2005, at 1:30 p.m., in
the Small Hearing Room of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission
(Commission).
Michael J. Bradley, Esq., Moss & Barnett, 4800
Karen Finstad Hammel, Assistant Attorney General,
Dave Jacobson appeared for the staff of the Commission.
Bill Storm appeared for the staff of the Environmental Quality Board (EQB).
Based on the discussions during the prehearing conference,
and all of the files and proceedings, the Administrative Law Judge makes the
following:
1. The parties to
this matter as named in the Commission's Notice and Order for Hearing of April
8, 2005, are GRE and the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
2. The
final date for filing Petitions to Intervene is May 31, 2005. Any persons petitioning to intervene as a
party after that date may be restricted as to the scope of their
participation. Petitions to Intervene
must be filed with the Administrative Law Judge; the petition and any
objections thereto must be served on all existing parties and the Commission.
3. Any person admitted to this proceeding as an intervenor after the date of this Order shall be bound by the terms of this Order.
4. Members of the public need not become formal parties to be considered participants in the hearing. Members of the public may offer either oral or written testimony, and they may offer exhibits for inclusion in the record. Any person desiring to become a formal party to the proceeding, however, must file a Petition to Intervene.
5. The following schedule is adopted:
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Direct Testimony by all parties. GRE may supplement its application; it must
identify which witnesses are sponsors of each section of evidence. |
June 28, 2005 |
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Rebuttal Testimony by all parties. |
July 18, 2005 |
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Public Hearing |
July 26, 2005 |
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Evidentiary Hearing |
July 28-29, 2005 |
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Deadline
for receipt of written public comment Briefs
and Proposed Findings ALJ
Report |
July 28, 2005 August 12, 2005 September 12,
2005 |
6. The
above schedule will permit a Commission decision on or about October 12, 2005,
which is slightly longer than the six-month period allowed by statute for
certificate of need proceedings. GRE has
agreed to extend that period in order to accommodate this schedule.
7. The
public hearing will take place in
8. The evidentiary hearing will take place
beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the Commission offices at
9. The EQB anticipates that the
Environmental Assessment (EA) will be available to the public on or about July
18, 2005. The EA will be posted on the
EQB website as soon as it is available.
PROCEDURE
10. The Rules of the Office of Administrative
Hearings govern the conduct of the hearings, and the Professionalism
Aspirations adopted by the Minnesota Supreme Court will be observed.
11. Prefiled testimony and exhibits may be in
any reasonable format that is understandable, logically organized, and capable
of being cited by page and line number, paragraph number, or similar
identifier.
12. All documents filed, including prefiled
testimony, but excluding information requests and responses, shall be
filed as follows:
a. The original shall
be filed with the court reporter.
b. One copy shall be
filed with the Administrative Law Judge.
c. One copy shall be
served on the persons listed on the attached service list, in the number
indicated. An electronic copy, where possible, shall also be sent
by email to persons whose email address is provided on the service list. The Office of Administrative Hearings will
revise the list as necessary.
Service shall be made according to the most current service list
provided to the parties by the Office of Administrative Hearings.
d. Pursuant to Minn. R.
1400.5100, subp. 9, and Minn. R. 7829.0400, subp. 1, the effective date of
filing shall be the date the document is mailed to the Office of Administrative
Hearings or delivered to the Executive Secretary of the Commission. Filings to the Administrative Law Judge may be
accomplished by email, sent to Kathleen.Sheehy@state.mn.us, or facsimile
transmission, facsimile number 612-349-2665.
Any filing sent by email or facsimile transmission will be followed by a
hard copy.
e. Proof of service
shall be filed with each filed document or within three business days
thereafter.
f. An electronic copy
of prefiled testimony shall be served on the other parties and the court
reporter by 3:00 p.m. on the day it is due.
13. All requests for information shall be made
in writing, or electronically followed by writing, to the person from whom the information is sought, with a copy of the request mailed to
all parties of record. No such request
shall be provided to the Administrative Law Judge. The party responding to the information
request shall provide the information requested to the requesting party within
eight business days after receipt of the request, unless the requesting party
agrees to provide additional time. There
shall be a continuing obligation to update and supplement information
responses. The information need not be
supplied as a matter of course to all other parties unless specifically
requested by a party. Information
requests or responses received after 3:00 p.m. on
business days or on weekends or State holidays shall be considered as being
received on the following business day, except that any U.S. Mail received
during business hours shall be considered as being received on the same day.
14. In the event the information cannot be
supplied within the eight business days, the responding party shall notify the
requesting party within four business days of the reasons for not being able to
supply the information and attempt to work out a schedule of compliance with
the requesting party. All disputes
concerning the reasonableness of discovery requests and the timing and
sufficiency of responses shall be resolved by the Administrative Law Judge upon
motion of a party. Notice of such a
motion should be made by email if possible and may be made be heard by
telephone conference among the Administrative Law Judge and affected parties.
15. Prefiled testimony shall be marked and
received as exhibits. Prefiled testimony
that is amended or that is not offered into the record shall be considered
withdrawn and the sponsoring witness may not be cross-examined concerning the
withdrawn testimony. Except for cause
shown, all substantive revisions or corrections to any prefiled testimony shall
be made in writing and served upon the Administrative Law Judge and the parties
by email no later than three days before the evidentiary hearing starts.
16. Except for good cause shown, any new
affirmative matter that is not offered in reply to another party's direct or
rebuttal evidence shall not be offered in rebuttal or surrebuttal testimony and
exhibits.
17. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the
order of testimony and questioning in the evidentiary hearings shall be: GRE
first, then the Department.
18. Witnesses shall be allowed ten minutes to
summarize their prefiled testimony.
19. Parties shall examine and cross-examine
witnesses through their attorneys, if they are represented by counsel. Any party not represented by counsel may
examine and cross-examine each witness through any one representative chosen by
the party.
20. Except for good cause shown, objections by
any party relating to the qualifications of a witness or the admissibility of
any portion of a witness's prefiled testimony shall be considered waived unless
the objecting party states by motion its objection with particularity to the
Administrative Law Judge and serves a copy of such objections on the Commission
and all other parties by July 22, 2005.
If an objection is made by a party, the party shall be permitted to lay
further foundation for the objection through cross-examination of the
witness. Any prefiled testimony that is
not objected to shall be admitted during the evidentiary hearings without the
necessity of laying foundation for the testimony.
Dated this 4th day of May, 2005.
Administrative
Law Judge