You want to put what? Where?

On April 6, 1992, several employees of Northern States Power's (NSP's) Prairie Island nuclear plant received a summons from fellow employees to meet at the Minnesota State Capitol to lobby against an amendment to a popular environmental bill. This amendment would have removed the decision to approve Prairie Island's proposed independent spent-fuel storage installation (ISFSI) from the jurisdiction of the public utilities commission (PUC) and shifted it to the state legislature. The employees who appeared that morning represented various areas of the plant: training, technical, management, operations, union, and nonunion-all volunteers with no prior lobbying experience who spent the remainder of that day speaking on behalf of the project. This effort continued through the week; ultimately, the amendment was debated on the Senate floor and failed, primarily due to the presence of Prairie Island employees. This became the first formal act performed by what would become the Prairie Island Community Involvement Steering Group (CISG). Prior to this, and against well-orchestrated and sometimes vehement public opposition, many employees had spoken as private citizens at public hearings held by various government bodies and an administrative law judge tasked with evaluating the need for and the legality of the proposed facility. The effort of the CISG to keep the public informed and win its approval for the project is outlined in this paper