From it Quist concludes:

Since Antarctica was much warmer when some of the source-maps were drawn than it is today, the theory that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are the primary cause of climate change must be given up.

The same argument has been made in creationist literature. Science blogger PZ Myers points out that many of the Antarctic details of the antique map are wrong.

Quist was nominated this year as a social studies curriculum expert by the Texas State Board of Education, Myers notes. His candidacy failed when no one seconded his nomination by former board chair Don McLeroy. Quist’s academic work includes a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in speech. He in an adjunct professor at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato.

A preliminary artist's rendering of the plant, via BigStoneII.com

Despite a metro-area city backing out of the project, representatives for the proposed Big Stone II power-generation facility say they remain optimistic about  the plant’s future, while opponents are still insistent that the new plant will mean dirty power for the Dakotas and Minnesota.

The proposed coal-fired plant, to be located in northeast South Dakota, would generate between 500 and 580 megawatts of electricity. Five utilities are backing the project, including western Minnesota’s Otter Tail Power and the Central Minnesota Power Agency out of Blue Earth. The project is called Big Stone II because it is a major expansion of an existing facility of the same name near Milbank, S.D.

The municipal utility for Elk River, a western suburb of Minneapolis, has declined participation in the project, citing that taking part could carry considerable risk. “We have to commit a lot of money to something that’s not built,” said city utility board chair John Dietz. “They were asking us to commit $3.4 million by September for our share of the research-and-development costs. They’re going to have a go/no-go vote in September of this year, and next year we would be required to put up more money for construction.”

Dietz said that the ratepayers for the utility would be on the hook if the plant didn’t happen.

Elk River’s decision was the target of Twin Cities area activists who urged supporters to call Elk River officials asking them to turn down the project. At the recent meeting of the Elk River city council and utilities board, council members expressed no dissatisfaction with using coal-generated power, but questioned the price tag the utility would have to commit to the project. The utilities board had previously voted not to recommend the project, and the city council took no action, effectively killing Elk River’s participation.

A spokesman for the Big Stone II, Dan Sharp, said the project can continue without Elk River’s participation. “We could increase the scope of the project to 580 or 600 megawatts, if others were willing to come into the project,” he said. With the number of utilities that are on board, the project will probably be 500 megawatts.

Sharp said that all of the project’s partners are trying to secure their shares of the financing in anticipation of a September meeting of the partners, adding that construction is still slated for 2010, possibly starting as early as May.

Sharp says one factor that could be a benefit to this project would be if so-called cap-and-trade legislation becomes a reality. Then, Big Stone II would be about 20 percent more efficient than the existing facilities and would be in line to receive credits that could be traded on the open market.

The plant's proposed location, just over the Minnesota border (BigStoneII.com)

But, critics of the project contend the project will generate dangerous and antiquated coal-based power when other alternatives are becoming more viable in the region. The Northstar chapter of the Sierra Club, which counts Minnesotans in its numbers, has been active in opposing the expansion project. Northstar member Rich Felming said the project is largely past the point of any significant public input. He found it encouraging that Elk River declined to participate.

”We’re always trying to get letters to the editor in to make people aware of the hazards of this proposal,” Felming said.

In addition to his concern that the plant will create several million tons more of carbon dioxide emissions that could contribute to global warming, Felming has a more personal stake in the project: “I run a part-time business where I make fishing products, and I’m concerned about mercury emissions, the sulphur dioxides and the nitrogen dioxides are an issue also for me.”

Felming said he’s very concerned of the impact of this plant on sport fishing. The plant will withdraw cooling water from Big Stone Lake, which is co-managed by Minnesota and South Dakota authorities.

He said he also finds it odd that these utilities are overlooking a prime source of energy. The Dakotas are “the Saudi Arabia of wind power,” Felming said.

But in examining why utilities still seem wedded to coal-generated power, Felming said. “You want to do something you’re familiar with, you always want to keep going down that path.”

Felming added that groups like the Sierra Club and Clean Water Action in South Dakota will try to keep the public focused on what they say is a continued and dangerous reliance on coal for power.

Moorhead, part of the MnSCU system, which faces a $50-million budget cut (Creative Commons photo by J. Stephen Conn via Flickr)

For Minnesota’s college administrators, the announcement of the Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s unallotment plans was a good news/bad news story. The size of the budgetary hit was not as big as they expected. But, it’s still a substantial amount. They were prepared for it, but it’s still coming.

The governor announced that the state’s two higher-education systems — which comprise 32 colleges and state universities, four University of Minnesota campuses in greater Minnesota and the Twin Cities’ U of M campuses — will each take a hit of $50 million dollars, or about a 3.6 percent drop. Many of these campuses are a couple of hundred miles away from St. Paul where the budget decisions are made.

Kurt Hanson, a provost of Northland Community and Technical College in Northwest Minnesota, said the recession hasn’t hit that part of the state too badly, because of its proximity to North Dakota, which is doing relatively well. His school primarily provides job training programs, two-year degrees and general education credits for North Dakota and Minnesota students. Several months ago the president of the Minnesota State College and University (MnSCU) system told the member schools to look for money to cut, Hanson recalls.

“What we were given was a target of about 11.7 percent reduction in our allotments,” he said. That meant a $1.5 million mark for Northland to hit for the 2010 fiscal year. “We achieved that through some efficiencies in course section deliveries. If we had a psychology course that had cap of 40 and we had two sections with about 20 students, we’d reduce it to one section.”

That’s also meant leaving some positions open if people left them. Hanson said he knows his school is the type of institution that people turn to if they lose their job and want to pick up classes or a degree that would provide people with job training. The recession can help keep enrollments for schools like this relatively high, and at Northland, the fact that tuition is holding steady for the second straight year is appealing to prospective students.

“We certainly feel that we will be an important part of retraining people for the downturn in the economy,” Hanson said in an interview.

Edna Szymanski, the new president of Minnesota State University at Moorhead, had a different situation to deal with: a deficit and a subsequent hiring freeze. Between that and the new budget, Szymanski said: “It’s my job to say, ‘No.’”

Szymanski said that she and her fellow system presidents were told to expect bad budgetary news. She said that the previous deficits combined with the new figures will probably mean about a $9 million hit. “It was our job to keep the university alive during the recession and we did.”

Szymanksi said she doesn’t see a lot of competition from other institutions including ones that are right across the river in Fargo, N.D. “[North Dakota State University] is a graduate institution that focuses on research for that state. We primarily provide undergraduate education and some graduate programs.”

The University of Minnesota system was prepared for a cut in the neighborhood of $73 million. The CFO of the system, Richard Pfutzenreuter, told the Star Tribune: “I was just telling someone, well, the front end of the car got taken off, but at least the whole car isn’t destroyed.”

Continuing the analogy, it’s the out-state campuses, like the one that serves Crookston, that are going to have drive this car.

University president Charles Casey said it’s important that people realize that the University of Minnesota includes campuses like his at Crookston, which serves some 1,200 students. Casey says that his campus tries to train students directly for work, and has been dropping two-year degrees in for newer four-year degrees, like Communication.

“Saying I feel a little bit of frustration would be an understatement,” said Casey, who noted that his school has been trying to cast a wider net in its recruitment while also addressing budget realities, like dropping extras such as hockey. Casey said the school is hoping that that scholarship and federal stimulus money will hold tuition down and enrollments steady.

“I think it’s the reality today and we have to deal with the situation we have and not make as many investments as we have in the last couple of years.”

Students, too, are worried about funding levels. Tyler Smith, president-elect of the Minnesota State College Student Association, told the Star Tribune that “we’re still disappointed about the continued cuts to higher education,” fearing big tuition increases in the future and “decreased quality today.”

Meanwhile, the states two university and college systems are looking for a way to handle whatever good news comes along and bracing for more bad news.