Electric Utilities

Stone Arch Bridge Festival 2013 lineup and schedule

The massive Stone Arch Bridge Festival lineup has just arrived! Spread over several stages near the Minneapolis waterfront June 14-16, this year's fest boasts more than 40 acts alongside 250 visual artists' displays.Among the prime picks of the weekend are Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps ... More >>

Cedar Summit Farms could be forced to relocate due to power line expansion

It should be no surprise that running an organic farm is difficult. Cedar Summit Farm in New Prague has been running an organic operation since 1974, so it knows a little something about it. But Cedar Summit is now facing a new threat that goes beyond the usual vagaries of farming: A measure is unde ... More >>

Red, White, & Boom!

Rochester Post-Bulletin says Star Tribune "got used" in publishing "ridiculous" eagle story

In a blog post published this morning, Rochester Post-Bulletin Managing Editor Jay Furst blasts the Star Tribune for publishing "a ridiculous story" about "a report" of an eagle killed by a wind turbine on the Minnesota-Iowa border.The story -- "Eagle may have died from wind turbine" -- was written ... More >>

Prairie Island nuclear security supervisor pulls Homer Simpson, gets busted faking drug test

In a move worthy of Homer Simpson, a security supervisor at Xcel Energy's Prairie Island nuclear power plant was fired after he was caught faking a drug test urine sample.Homer certainly would've tested positive for Duff, but the Prairie Island worker was probably trying to hide the fact he had been ... More >>

Xcel Energy, EPA win Supreme Court battle on climate change laws

WikipediaXcel Energy and other utilities sided with the EPA in court and won.​In news that initially sounds like a contradiction in terms, the Environmental Protection Agency and five major utility companies including Minnesota-based Xcel Energy, have scored a win together in the U.S. Supreme ... More >>

Lyn Lake Street Fest, Stone Arch Festival of the Arts announce lineups

​Though much of their lineup had already been unveiled on their website, the Lyn Lake Street Fest has fleshed out its schedule and revealed all of its acts today, including Peter Wolf Crier's first local appearance in five months. As if that wasn't enough to get us salivating about summertime fun, ... More >>

Forecast in St. Paul: Radioactive rain

TopatoMaybe Blinky makes a guest appearance in the Mississippi this summer?​Officials at the Environmental Protection Agency say it's raining radiation in St. Paul as a result of the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. The readings show elevated levels of radioactive iodine-131 i ... More >>

Gas leak in St. Paul evacuates 12 buildings

KSTPReports are still coming in of the smell of natural gas throughout the area.​A large natural gas leak on the Central Corridor in St. Paul this morning resulted in street shut downs, building evacuations and over a thousand XCel Energy customers without a pilot light this afternoon. While ... More >>

New nukes for Minnesota?

TVAMonty Burns is looking to expand his operation.​For a while there, Minnesota was vying to take the lead in pioneering the use of renewable energy. This week, the new Republican legislature will try to push is in a different direction: building more nuclear plants.Minnesota already has two nucle ... More >>

Stone Arch Festival music lineup announced

Shawn Neary's Wapsipinicon is one of many local acts performing at Stone Arch this summer​The Stone Arch Festival, a two-day local art, food, theater, and music extravaganza that takes over St. Anthony Main every Father's Day weekend, has announced its music lineup for this year. The Stone Arch Fe ... More >>

3rd Annual Prince Family Reunion

Senate votes to lift ban on nuclear power

State legislators took steps yesterday to lift a 15-year ban on the development of nuclear power plants in Minnesota. Now it's up to the House to decide.

The T. Boone Pickens alt-energy show rolls across America

Pickens Plan focuses on using more wind power and natural gas

Cheetah Nunchuck

The Green Institute faces possible foreclosure after 15 years

It was ahead of its time, but now the nonprofit has a looming debt problem

Readers respond to RNC protest coverage

Homer Simpson Gets Clipped

After City Pages exposes a local nuclear power plant operator with a fake diploma, his bosses reluctantly give him the ax

Diploma-buying control room worker's employer: "No comment"

Former Minnesota nuclear power plant employee outed as diploma-buying fraudster

Blowin' in the wind: T. Boone Pickens has a Minnesota-friendly energy strategy

Rays of Future Present: Solar in Southeast Como

Electrifying Minnesota

A Kinder, Gentler Smokestack

Critics say a power plant designed to reduce carbon emissions could be a cancer-causing boondoggle

Just Don't Inhale

Mozaic Project in Uptown kicks off 2007 with a Big Dig

Pawlenty: Plugged in to power company cash

Xcel Energy customers reap unexpected windfall

The Straight Dope®

D'oh! A nuclear blunder and a one-day story

Passing gas: What went wrong with Xcel's D.C. lobbyist

Minnesota by the numbers: The nation's biggest importer of electricity

Dickinson

Nuke 'Em!

Xcel energy spearheads a high-stakes plan to store nuclear waste on a tiny, dirt-poor Indian reservation in the Utah desert

In Pork We Trust

Coleman and Dayton partner up to bring home the bacon

Made to Be Broken

Xcel comes begging for more nuclear waste storage

Burns Loves Quimby

Why is the nuclear-power industry courting Norm Coleman?

Lights Out

Residents of the Red Lake Indian Reservation fight the power company

Down on the Riverside

Activists want Xcel to clean up its oldest--and dirtiest--power plant

Nuclear Freeze

Terrorism puts industry self-regulation on ice

A Scare in the Air

Minnesota has a pollution problem. But don't hold your breath waiting for a quick fix.

Megawatts and Margins

NSP hands the keys for its Minnesota reactors to a holding company. Is this part of a dangerous chain reaction in the nuclear power industry?

Against the Grain

Alfalfa electricity? Northern States Power planted the idea, Minnesota farmers grew it, and a bitter tug-of-war chopped it down.

Cheesehead Power?

NSP says it needs to run high-voltage wires over the scenic St. Croix to keep the lights on in western Wisconsin. But critics charge the utility's plans go much further.

Whitewater Affair

The current investigation into rafting the rapids on Minneapolis's stretch of the Mississippi

Prairie Dogged

A fake flyer making the rounds at the Capitol suggests NSP wants to pay itself millions in fines for failing to move nuclear waste off Prairie Island. Lawmakers say the parody is eerily accurate.

Power Play: The Biggest Game in Town

The little-noted push to deregulate utilities will drive up rates and jeopardize service--not to mention

NUCLEAR POWER'S DIRTY SECRET

When a group of activists gained access to private papers from NSP's lawsuit against Westinghouse, they got a rare look at one of the nuclear industry's most serious problems.