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Dear Mr. Ingram:
I am writing to support placing the proxy resolution titled,
"A resolution concerning Xcel Energy's Corporate Practices,"
on Xcel Energy's proxy ballot.
The resolution focuses on Manitoba Hydro, one of Xcel Energy's
foreign suppliers.
This resolution raises my constituents' serious concerns
that the Pimicikamak Cree Nation, PCN, continues to experience
dispossession of their lands and resources, and denial of
their right to their own means of subsistence. It also charges
that this Minnesota based utility is contributing to these
problems.
I have met with environmental leaders from my state and
have seen and heard evidence of the widespread environmental
damage to Cree Indian lands resulting from Manitoba Hydro's
operations. I support these shareholders' efforts to further
a dialogue about the impact of Xcel's policies and about possible
actions that might be taken in response to documented pollution
of the air and water.
Environmental, socioeconomic and human rights impacts of
Xcel's power purchases are being raised at Minnesota's Public
Utilities Commission, and in legislation filed in the Minnesota
legislature as well as in this proxy resolution. I take the
growing Xcel shareholder concern about these issues very seriously.
I support my constituents' calls for shareholders to have
the right to recommend that Xcel's board of directors develop
and implement policies and practices to obtain power supplies
from renewable resources that do not have undue adverse impacts
for Manitoba's Cree Indians and for the environment.
Sincerely,
Paul D. Wellstone United States Senator
February 7, 2001
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