America's Most Endangered Rivers - (Page 28) NUMBER 5 Minnesota River S O U T H D A K O TA , M I N N E S O TA TH R E AT : PR O P O S E D C O A L -FIR E D P O W E R P L A N T Summary The Minnesota River is treasured by thousands of residents and visitors who swim, boat, fish and hunt in and along the river. But a proposed coal-fired power plant threatens the health of the river and nearby communities. In addition to spewing greenhouse gases and other toxins, cooling and scrubbing mechanisms within the plant would require billions of gallons of water every year. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) must deny the Certificate of Need and instead encourage the use of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy resources. it joins the Mississippi. The Upper Minnesota River valley is considered to be one of the largest intact ecosystems in the Upper Midwest and contains the nation’s oldest exposed rock outcroppings, estimated to be 3.4 billion years old. According to sportsmen and resource conservation professionals, the Minnesota River is today supporting a resurgence of wildlife not seen along the river for 100 years, including the American eel, lake sturgeon, bald eagle, cougar, coyote and river otter. Moreover, the Minnesota, literally “land where the water reflects the skies” in the native Dakota language, is an extraordinary recreational resource. The river is becoming one of Minnesota’s fast-growing tourist destinations due to its wild and undeveloped reaches. Tourism brings hundreds of millions of dollars into the regional economy, much of which depends on a healthy Minnesota River. MINNESOTA RIVER AT-A-GLANCE RIVER LENGTH: 335 miles WATERSHED AREA: 15,000 square miles LARGEST CITY IN WATERSHED: Bloomington, MN (pop. 85,000) DID YOU KNOW? The Minnesota River is the state’s largest tributary to the Mississippi River. Where the Minnesota River flows into the Mississippi River, the flow of the Mississipi doubles. The Threat Five private and municipal power companies have proposed a $1.6 billion coalfired power plant known as Big Stone II (BSII) at the river’s headwaters in South Dakota’s Big Stone Lake. The new 500-580 megawatt The River The Minnesota River runs 335 miles from the Minnesota-South Dakota border to St. Paul, Minnesota where A M E R I C A’ S M O S T E N DA N G E R E D R I V E R S ™ : 2 0 0 8 E D I T I O N | M I N N E S OTA R I V E R W W W. A M E R I C A N R I V E R S . O R G RON BOLDAUN http://www.americanrivers.org
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