OAH Docket No. 4-2500-19221-2
PUC Docket No. E-015/SA-07-1079
STATE OF
OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
FOR THE
|
In the
Matter of the Joint Application of |
PREHEARING ORDER |
A
Prehearing Conference in this matter was held on September 28, 2007, at 1:30
p.m. in the Small Hearing Room of the Public Utilities Commission,
Appearing
on behalf of Minnesota Power (MP) was Thomas Erik Bailey, Attorney at Law,
Briggs and Morgan, 2200 IDS Center,
Appearing on behalf of Mesabi Nugget Delaware, LLC (Mesabi Nugget) was Christopher Sandberg, Attorney at Law, Lockridge, Grindal, Nauen & Holstein, 100 Washington Avenue South, Suite 2200, Minneapolis, MN 55401.
Appearing
on behalf of Lake Country Power (
Appearing
on behalf of the Minnesota Department of Commerce (Commerce) was Valerie Means,
Assistant Attorney General, 1400
Appearing
on behalf of the Commission staff was Stuart Mitchell, Minnesota Public
Utilities Commission,
Based on the discussion held among the participants, and having considered all the arguments and comments, the Administrative Law Judge makes the following Prehearing Order:
Intervenors
1.
The parties identified in the Commission’s
Notice of and Order for Hearing in this matter named as parties: MP and Mesabi
Nugget (collectively “the Joint Applicants”),
Schedule
2. The following Schedule is adopted and, except when modified by Order of the Administrative Law Judge, shall govern this proceeding:
Intervention – October 5, 2007
Prefiled Simultaneous Direct Testimony – October 15, 2007
Prefiled Simultaneous Rebuttal Testimony – October 22, 2007
Discovery Deadline – October 25, 2007
Evidentiary Hearing – October 25 and 26, 2007
Posthearing Briefs – November 5, 2007
Administrative Law Judge Report – November 16, 2007
Procedure
3. The Rules of the Office of Administrative Hearings shall govern the conduct of the hearings herein. To the extent they are not superseded by the OAH Rules, the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure shall also apply. The Professionalism Aspirations adopted by the Minnesota Supreme Court will be observed.
Filing
of Documents
4. All direct testimony sponsored by all parties shall be filed in writing with the Administrative Law Judge and shall be received by the parties in accordance with the schedule herein. All prefiled testimony shall be in question and answer format. Each witness’s testimony shall have any attachments included as part of a single exhibit.
5. All documents filed, including prefiled testimony, shall be filed as follows:
The official record copy shall, wherever feasible, be filed using the Commission's E-file system. Prior to the issuance of the Report of the Administrative Law Judge, any exhibit that is not E-Filed will be filed by delivery or mailing to the Administrative Law Judge. Information requests and responses are not to be E-Filed or served on the ALJ or the Court Reporter. Regardless as to whether a document is E-Filed, the original and one courtesy copy will be filed with the ALJ by delivery or mailing to:
Bruce H. Johnson
Administrative Law Judge
Office of Administrative Hearings
For any document that is NOT E-Filed, fifteen (15) copies shall be filed with the Commission Secretary for distribution among Commissioners and Commission staff. The copies shall be delivered or mailed to:
Burl W. Haar
Executive Secretary
121
For any document that is NOT E-Filed, four (4) copies of each such document shall be served personally or by mail on Linda Chavez as follows:
Linda Chavez
Docket Coordinator
Minnesota Department of Commerce
After the Administrative Law Judge’s Report is issued, the parties shall file the original of all documents with the Executive Secretary of the Commission, in the manner provided for by the Commission.
Copies of all documents shall be served on the persons listed on the attached service list, in the number indicated. E-filing is sufficient service on those persons so indicated on the official service list. For those persons who are NOT receiving service by E-filing, they may agree to receive service by email. Any person seeking to receive service by email will provide the appropriate email address to the Administrative Law Judge for inclusion on the official service list and indicate whether service is email-only or with a hard copy to follow. The list will be revised as necessary by the Office of Administrative Hearings. Service shall be made according to the most current service list provided to the parties by the Office of Administrative Hearings. For the convenience of the parties, the service list will be made available through the E-Docket system.
Pursuant to Minn. R.
1400.5100, subp. 9, and
Proof of service shall be filed with each filed document or within three business days thereafter. Parties using the E-filing system must retain the unique document identifier as proof of service through that system. No document demonstrating proof of E-filing should be filed, as the E-filing system is self-authenticating.
Hard copies of trade secret and other nonpublic data shall
be transmitted by U.S. Mail or courier. If nonpublic data is filed with the
Administrative Law Judge or Commission, it shall be prepared and marked in
accordance with the Commission’s September 1, 1999, Revised Procedures for
Handling Trade Secret and Privileged Data, which is available at: http://www.puc.state.mn.us/docs/tradsecret.pdf.
Discovery
6. All requests for information shall be made in 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 or the court reporter. The party responding to the information request shall provide the information requested to the requesting party within five (5) business days from the date of the request. In the event the information cannot be supplied within that five-day period, the responding party shall notify the requesting party, in writing, within four days of the request to work out a schedule of compliance with the requesting party. For information requests received by 3:00 p.m. on a business day, the date of receipt is included in the five-day period. For requests received after 3:00 p.m., the five-day period for response begins the following business day. 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. The timeline for motions may be abbreviated by the Administrative Law Judge if needed to ensure adherence to the schedule.
7. Further discovery may be had herein in accordance with Minnesota Rules, parts 1400.6700 – 1400.6950. As set out in the schedule above, discovery may be had at any time up to the start of the evidentiary hearing.
Prefiled Testimony
8. Prefiled direct and rebuttal testimony shall not be bound into the record but shall be received as an exhibit to the record. Prefiled testimony not offered into the record shall be considered withdrawn and the witness may not be cross-examined concerning the withdrawn testimony. Except for cause shown, all revisions or corrections to any prefiled testimony shall be made in writing and served upon the Administrative Law Judge and the parties no later than two days prior to commencement of the evidentiary hearing.
Order of Testimony
9.
Testimony in the evidentiary hearing shall be
offered in the following order: the Joint Applicants,
10. No later than two days prior to the commencement of the evidentiary hearings herein, each party shall submit to the Administrative Law Judge, the Commission and the other parties, a list of that party's witnesses and the order in which those witnesses will appear, indicating, if necessary, any day or time certain needed for testimony, if known to the party calling the witness. The final order of testimony will be as established by the Administrative Law Judge.
Examination of
Witnesses
11. 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. In the case of the Joint Applicants, one attorney of behalf of both MP and Mesabi Nugget shall cross-examine the witness.
12. Except for 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 in writing its objection with particularity to the Administrative Law Judge and serves a copy of such objections on the Commission and all other parties no later than two days prior to commencement of the evidentiary hearings. 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 which is not objected to shall be admitted during the evidentiary hearings without the necessity of laying a foundation for the testimony.
13. Parties are encouraged to stipulate evidence not in dispute and to narrow the scope of contested issues to the matters actually in dispute. All stipulations will be subject to any public testimony to be received, acceptance by the Administrative Law Judge, and review by the Commission, which shall include the opportunity for the Commission or its staff to examine any witness on the record irrespective of the existence of a stipulation between the parties with respect to such testimony.
Court Reporter
14. The Office of Administrative Hearings will arrange to have a Court Reporter present at the hearings. Parties must make arrangements with the Court Reporter to obtain a copy of the transcript.
Request for
Accommodation
15. No person has requested accommodation for a disability or appointment of an interpreter. The Office of Administrative Hearings shall be notified promptly if either an accommodation or interpreter is needed.
16. This Order is effective immediately and may be modified by the Administrative Law Judge for cause.
Dated this _1st _ day of October, 2007
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/s/ Bruce H. Johnson |
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BRUCE H. JOHNSON |
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Administrative Law Judge |
Reported: Janet Shaddix Elling, RPR CRR
Shaddix and Associates
Transcript Prepared
[1] Commission Notice of and Order for Hearing, Docket No. E-015/SA-07-1079, at 4 (September 20, 2007) (https://www.edockets.state.mn.us/EFiling/ShowFile.do?DocNumber=4777705).