July 1993
the monthly newsletter for people who live, work or play on the Upper Mississippi River
Court Sends Nuclear Storage Decision to Legislature By Marc Hequet
The Minnesota Court of Appeals staved off expanded nuclear waste storage in the Mississippi River floodplain with a June decision requiring the storage plan for Northern States Power Company's (NSP's) Prairie Island nuclear plant to be approved by the state Legislature. NSP has appealed (see Big River, March 1993). The court decision is a win for the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Dakota Community and for antinuclear activists who opposed an expanded storage plan devised by NSP, the Minneapolis-based electric and gas utility. The plan calls for outdoor storage of spent fuel at Prairie Island, immediately upstream from Red Wing, in 16-foot-high steel casks set on concrete pads and surrounded by earth berms.
Attorney Richard Duncan of the Minneapolis firm Faegre and Benson, who won the case in the Appeals Court for the Mdewakanton Dakota, expects the state Supreme Court to decide by Labor Day whether to hear the appeal. Attorney Richard Duncan of the Minneapolis firm Faegre and Benson, who won the case in the Appeals Court for the Mdewakanton Dakota, expects the state Supreme Court to decide by Labor Day whether to hear the appeal. If it does, a decision would come six to eight months later. In its appeal petition, NSP argues that delaying expansion of storage jeopardizes operation of its Prairie Island plant and that replacing its generating capacity would cost $1.2 billion. NSP also calls the Appeals Court take on state law " "erroneous and unsupported," and faults the court for giving
(Prairie Island, continued on back page)
Vol. 1, No. 7
$2
Pelicans Roving River By Pamela Eyden
The first time I saw the Princess Winona statue in the center of a fountain in downtown Winona, I thought the pelicans along the edge were a strange touch. What would such big, .ocean-going birds with fish-pouch bills be doing paddling about in fresh water, alongside snapping turtles and catfish? It turned out the sculptor was not being fanciful - at least, not about the pelicans. These very large birds - with a wingspan as large as 108 inches and a body length of 62 inches - winter along the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California, and nest at reservoirs and lakes in South Dakota, Nebraska and Montana. They are occasional visitors to the Upper Mississippi River Valley in early summer. In recent years more have been staying all summer. "Their productivity seems good on their breeding grounds, so they may be spreading out a little bit. We're seeing more of them, but there is no evidence that they are nesting here," said Eileen Kirsch, wildlife biologist at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, La Crosse. At the end of April, Kirsch counted 500 white pelicans between St. Paul and St. Louis. Most were below the Quad Cities at that time and were probably still migrating northward. In mid-June, pelicans were reported at Lynxville, Ferryville, and La Crosse, Wisc;,onsin; at Weavers Dunes, near Wabasha; and at the Trempealeau Wildlife What's inside. .. Refuge, just downriver from Winona. Biological Survey 2 Pelicans are interestProperty Rights 4 ing to watch. Contrary to Current Events 5 impressions gleaned Big Watershed 7 from Saturday morning River Calendar 8 cartoons, they do not use Coming in August (Pelicans, continued on •Mississippi Undammed next page)