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OAH 15-2500-20657-2
PUC No. IP-6687/TL-08-988
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STATE OF MINNESOTA
OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
FOR THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
A prehearing
conference was held before Beverly Jones Heydinger, Administrative Law Judge,
on July 23, 2009, at the Public Utilities Commission, 350 Metro Square Building, 121 Seventh Place East, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Appearances:
Matthew B. Seltzer and Brian M. Meloy, Leonard, Street and Deinard, P.A., appeared on behalf Noble Flat Hill
Windpark I, LLC (Applicant).
Karen Finstad Hammel, Assistant Attorney General, appeared on behalf of
the Department of Commerce, Office of Energy Security, Energy Facility
Permitting Staff (Department).
Ray Kirsch, Public Advisor, and David Birkholz, Department of Commerce,
Office of Energy Security, were also present.
Commission staff Tricia DeBleeckere was also present.
Participating by telephone was potential intervenor Kathleen Stradley.
Discussion was held among the participants concerning the proposed
schedule. The Administrative Law Judge
makes the following Prehearing Order.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:
Intervention
1.
At this time, the only party to this proceeding
is the Applicant. The Department of
Commerce, Office of Energy Security, Energy Facility Permitting Staff, has
given notice of its intent to participate pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 216E.03.
2.
Members of the public need not become formal
parties to participate in the hearing.
Members of the public may offer either oral or written testimony, and
they may offer exhibits for inclusion in the record. But any person desiring to become a formal
party must file a petition to intervene.
3.
Persons who wish to intervene in this proceeding
are requested to file a written petition to intervene with the Administrative
Law Judge no later than August 28, 2009,
as set forth in Minn. R. 1400.6200. Any
objections to the petitions shall be filed by September 8, 2009. The petition shall be served upon all existing
parties and the Commission. A Notice of
Appearance shall be filed with the Petition.
Schedule
4.
The following schedule is adopted:
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Direct Testimony,
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September 14, 2009
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Rebuttal Testimony
List of Proposed Exhibits and Witnesses
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September 28, 2009
October 5, 2009
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5.
A combined public hearing and evidentiary
hearing will be held:
October 12, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. and 6:00
p.m. in Glyndon, Minnesota.
At
the same time, the Administrative Law Judge will take public testimony
concerning the Application for the Certificate of Need for the Flat Hill
Windpark I LLC windfarm and transmission line, PUC Docket No.
IP-6687/CN-08-951. The hearing will
continue on October 13, 2009, if necessary.
Public comments
may also be submitted to the Administrative Law Judge in writing. Written comments must be received by 4:30
p.m., October 22, 2009. Comments may be filed by U.S. Mail, fax
or e-mail to Marybeth.Gossman@state.mn.us.
6.
The parties shall file their post-hearing briefs
according the following schedule:
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Initial Briefs
Reply Briefs
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October 22, 2009
October 29, 2009
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Deadline for Decision
The
Applicant has agreed to extend the PUC’s deadline for decision to January 14, 2010.
Publication of Hearing Schedule
7.
The staff and the Applicant shall develop a
notice of hearing specifying the date, time and location of the hearing, for
publication by September 1, 2009.
Discovery
8.
A party may serve requests for information on
any other party. All requests for
information shall be made in writing by e-mail, and the requesting party shall
follow the e-mail with a copy of the request sent by regular U.S. mail or
other delivery service to all parties.
To the extent that a request includes material designated as Trade
Secret or Nonpublic under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Chapter
13, an e-mail request is required only between the requesting and responding
party. Requests shall be sent to the
person(s) designated to receive data requests by the party from whom the
information is sought. Any request
received by e-mail after 4:30 p.m. on a business day, on a weekend day, or on a
Minnesota
state holiday is considered received on the next business day.
9.
The party responding to the request shall
provide the requested information to the requesting party within ten business
days of receipt of the request. A
business day does not include weekend days and Minnesota state holidays. In accordance with Minn. R. 1400.6100, subpt.
1, the day that the information request is received is not counted in the
ten-day period. If the request is
received after 4:30 on a business day, the following business day is also not
counted in the calculation of the ten-day response period.
10.
Responses to information requests shall be
submitted by e-mail, and the responding party shall follow the e-mail with a
copy of the response sent by regular U.S. mail or other delivery
service. To the extent that a response
includes material designated as Trade Secret or Nonpublic, an e-mail response
is required only between the requesting party and the responding party. Any response received before 4:30 p.m. on a
business day is considered to be received on the same day. Any response that is received after 4:30 on a
business day is considered to be received the following business day.
11.
In the event that due to the volume or nature of
information included in a response, the responding party is unable to send the
response by e-mail, the responding party shall send the response by facsimile,
regular U.S. mail or other delivery service so that the requesting party
receives the entire response including any material designated as Trade Secret
or Nonpublic by the date due. Responding
parties may utilize CDs to convey large volumes of data. If the response is sent by facsimile, the
responding party shall follow the facsimile with a copy of the response sent by
regular U.S.
mail or other delivery service. There
shall be a continuing obligation to update and supplement information responses
with any responsive material that may subsequently be discovered or acquired by
the responding party. The responsive
information need not be supplied to other parties unless specifically requested
by a party.
12.
A party that wishes to receive e-mail copies of
requests or responses shall notify the requesting/responding party, who shall
provide the information in that format.
If the request or response contains material designated as Trade Secret
or Nonpublic information, the providing party may seek a Protective Order in
this matter before providing the information.
13.
In the event the information cannot be supplied
within ten business days, the responding party shall notify the requesting
party as soon as reasonably possible in advance of the deadline of the reasons
for not being able to supply the information and to work out a schedule of
compliance with the requesting party.
14.
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. Hearings on such motions may be conducted by
telephone conference call.
Prefiled
Testimony
15.
Prefiled testimony shall be marked as an exhibit
and offered for admission into the record at the hearing. A hard copy shall be provided for that
purpose and the offering party shall provide the unique E-file identifying
number, if any. The Administrative Law
Judge will assign a hearing exhibit number to the document at the time that it
is offered into evidence at the hearing.
16.
Prefiled testimony that is amended, or not
offered into the record, shall be considered withdrawn and no witness shall be
cross-examined concerning the withdrawn testimony. Any new affirmative matter that is not offered
in reply to another party’s direct case will not be allowed in rebuttal
testimony and exhibits. Except for good
cause shown, all revisions or corrections to any prefiled testimony shall be in
writing and served upon the Administrative Law Judge and the parties no later
than three days prior to the commencement of the evidentiary hearing.
Order
of Testimony
17.
Unless the parties agree otherwise, the order of
testimony shall be: the Applicant,
additional intervenors, if any, and the Department. Questioning of the witnesses shall proceed in
the same order, subject to change by agreement of the parties or further order
of the Administrative Law Judge.
Examination
of Witnesses
18.
Witnesses shall be allowed ten minutes to
summarize their prefiled testimony. For
good cause shown, witnesses will be permitted to respond to any new matters not
addressed in prefiled testimony through direct examination by counsel.
19.
Parties shall examine and cross-examine
witnesses through their attorneys, if the parties 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 relative 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 its objection by motion made to the Administrative Law
Judge, and serves a copy of such objections on the parties, no later than October 5, 2009.
Procedure
21.
The rules of the Office of Administrative
Hearings and Minn. R. 7849.5010 et seq.,
govern the conduct of the hearings, and the Professionalism Aspirations adopted
by the Minnesota Supreme Court will be observed.
Filing
of Documents (Excluding Information Requests and Responses)
22.
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.
23.
The parties have agreed to file all documents,
including prefiled testimony, using the E-File system of the Public Utilities
Commission, the Department and the Office of Administrative Hearings. Such E-filing constitutes filing of the
document and service on those offices and upon any other party that has agreed
to accept E-filing as service. A
document E-filed after 4:30 p.m. on a business day, on a weekend day, or on a Minnesota holiday is
considered to be filed on the next business day.
24.
The original document and one copy shall be
mailed or delivered to the Administrative Law Judge no later than the next
business day. 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.
25.
Parties using the E-filing system must retain
the unique document identifier as proof of service through that system. Proof of service shall be filed with each
document or within three business days thereafter.
26.
The service list will be revised as necessary by
the Office of Administrative Hearings.
27.
If trade secret or nonpublic data is filed with
the Administrative Law Judge, it shall be prepared and marked in accordance
with the Public Utilities Commission’s September 1, 1999, Revised Procedures
for Handling Trade Secret and Privileged Data.
The procedures may be viewed at www.puc.state.mn.us/PUC/consumers/data-practices/index.html. The party submitting the data may request a
Protective Order.
Court
Reporter
28.
A court reporter will be present at the
hearing. Parties must make arrangements
with the court reporter to obtain a copy of the transcript.
Request
for Accommodation
29.
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.
Subpoenas
30.
Requests for subpoenas for the attendance of
witnesses or the production of documents shall be made in writing to the
administrative law judge pursuant to Minn. R. 1400.7000. A copy of the subpoena request shall be
served on the other parties. A subpoena
request form is available at www.oah.state.mn.us.
Dated
this 28th day of July, 2009.
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s/Beverly
Jones Heydinger
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BEVERLY JONES HEYDINGER
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Administrative Law Judge
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Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings
600 North
Robert Street
Saint Paul, Minnesota
55101
Mailing
Address: Voice: (651) 361-7900
P.O. Box 64620 TTY: (651) 361-7878
St. Paul, Minnesota
55164-0620 Fax: (651) 361-7936
July 28, 2009
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To All Persons on the Service List
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Re: In the Matter of the Application for a Route Permit for the Noble
Flat Hill Windpark I LLC 230 kV Transmission Line Project
OAH No. 15-2500-20657-2
PUC No. IP-6687/TL-08-988
Dear Parties:
The document
listed below has been served as specified on the service list.
Prehearing Order
Sincerely,
s/Beverly
Jones Heydinger
BEVERLY
JONES HEYDINGER
Administrative
Law Judge
Telephone:
(651) 361-7838
BJH:nh
Enclosures