Earth to Pawlenty: NASA scientist calls on governor to oppose Big Stone II

The director of NASA’s Goddard Institute has asked Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to oppose the Big Stone II coal-fired plant at the source of the Minnesota River. Dr. James Hansen is a renowned climatologist who was born, raised and educated in Iowa. Hansen advocates for the use of alternatives to coal in order to reduce global production of carbon dioxide.

The proposed Big Stone II would add an additional 600 megawatts of power to the existing 450-megawatt Big Stone I plant. The new plant would be located by the existing facility on the South Dakota side of Otter Tail Lake. The lake feeds the Minnesota River, which was recently designated as the fifth most endangered river in the United States by the conservation group American Rivers, primarily because of the proposed Big Stone II plant and concerns that the massive amounts of water used by the plants would result in a drawdown of water levels.

A Pawlenty representative told MPR’s Amber Espinoza that the governor would wait until an administrative law judge has finished reviewing the case and issues a ruling.

Pawlenty has been a frequent advocate for addressing climate change, carbon emissions and energy dependence. When he was elected chair of the National Governors Association for a one-year term, Pawlenty told Stateline.org that there is “an urgent need to improve our energy policy in this country, not just better alternative energy, but climate-change issues, conservation, getting better results from our traditional energy sources and applying new technologies to old sources.”