Fight over St. Anthony Power Flows to the Legislature from @NHalterJournals #NoCrownHydro
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 11:30AMFrom Nick Halter at The Journal on April 25:
The future of St. Anthony Falls — which is really a concrete spillway — is in the midst of a 12-year battle that has now reached the state Legislature and sparked a debate about authority of local land.
Crown Hydro has been trying since the late 1990s to build a hydroelectric facility on the west bank of the river, just above the falls. By installing turbines 40 feet below Mill Ruins Park, the company says it can produce 3.2 megawatts of clean, renewable electricity to power 2,200 homes.
But the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board owns that land, and, knowing it is the last defense against construction, has refused to lease the property to Crown Hydro. Park Board officials say they’re worried that the turbines will divert water from the falls, drying up the spillway and turning a historic icon into a wet slab of concrete.
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