Sometimes there are a lot of balls in the air at the Minnesota legislature, and it's difficult to follow along.
Take policies intended to address the climate emergency. A couple of areas were under scrutiny this past week--100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040 by utilities and the proposed adoption of the so-called California clean car emission standards--got a couple of southwestern Minnesota state lawmakers mighty confused.
Or so a story in Saturday's Marshall Independent would imply.
On Thursday, the Office of the Governor issued the following press release, Governor Walz, Lieutenant Governor Flanagan, House and Senate DFL Energy Leads Announce Plan to Achieve 100 Percent Clean Energy in Minnesota by 2040 that included these details about the first subject:
. . .Governor Walz’s plan has four parts:
100 Percent Clean Energy by 2040. This standard would require all electric utilities in Minnesota to use only carbon-free energy resources by 2040, while setting interim goals along the way. It would also strengthen Minnesota’s renewable energy standard with new goals. The proposal includes provisions to assist workers and communities affected by the transition, while prioritizing local jobs and prevailing wages for large new clean energy projects.
Clean Energy First. This regulatory policy would require that, whenever a utility proposes to replace or add new power generation, it must prioritize energy efficiency and clean energy resources over fossil fuels. This policy would strengthen an existing renewable energy preference in Minnesota law, and it would allow for fossil fuel-based power only if needed to ensure reliable, affordable electricity.
Energy Optimization. This proposal would raise Minnesota’s Energy Efficiency Resource Standard for investor-owned electric utilities and expand the Conservation Improvement Program that helps Minnesota households and businesses save on their utility bills by using energy more efficiently. It would also encourage utilities to develop innovative new programs to help consumers and businesses switch to more efficient, cleaner energy. In addition, it would target more energy-saving assistance for low-income households.
Carbon Reduction Goals for Existing Buildings. This proposal would set a state goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions from existing buildings in half by 2035.
These policies build on the success of Minnesota’s Next Generation Energy Act, passed in 2007 with near universal legislative support and signed into law by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. The law requires utilities to get at least 25 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025.
Minnesota has already effectively achieved that standard. By the end of 2017, 25 percent of the electricity generated in Minnesota came from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. Meanwhile, electricity produced in the state from coal declined to 39 percent in 2017 from 59 percent in 2007.
The Next Generation Energy Act also set a goal of reducing the state’s greenhouse gas pollution by 15 percent by 2015 and 30 percent by 2025, from a 2005 base. As of 2016, greenhouse gas pollution from electricity had already declined about 29 percent since 2005.
The decrease is due to less coal and more clean energy being used to generate electricity in the state, as well as the positive impact of energy conservation measures. Several Minnesota utilities have already committed to additional coal plant closures that will further reduce greenhouse gas pollution produced by the electricity sector.
A draft of the as-yet-introduced House version of the bill (read it here) was up for discussion in the Minnesota House Climate and Energy Finance and Policy on Thursday. Representative Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, is the Republican lead of the committee.
Not that Swedzinski, R-Ghent, mentioned that in his Legislative Update to his constituents on Friday. Nope, it's the clean cars standards.
But the electricity generated proposals and the clean car standards are one and the same in the local newspaper today.
The Marshall Independent reports in Swedzinski, Dahms criticize governor’s clean energy policy proposals:
Two southwest Minnesota lawmakers sharply criticized a set of clean energy policy proposals announced by Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan on Thursday.
The Walz administration said the proposals will lead Minnesota to 100 percent clean energy in the state’s electricity sector by 2040. It also claimed that the policies build on the success that Minnesota has already achieved in reducing dependence on fossil fuels and increasing the use of clean energy resources to power the state while ensuring reliable, affordable electricity.
“The time to fight climate change is now,” Walz said. “Not only is clean energy the right and responsible choice for future generations, clean energy maximizes job creation and grows our economy, which is especially important as we work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. I am proud to announce a set of policy proposals that will lead Minnesota to 100% clean energy in the state’s electricity sector by 2040. Minnesotans have the ingenuity and innovation needed to power this future, and we are ready to pioneer the green energy economy.”
But State Sen. Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, said the “proposed benefit” of the rules seems questionable based on data from Minnesota and across the nation. He said without adopting the standards, the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDOT’s) forecast shows that gasoline usage has already hit its peak and is projected to decline exponentially in the future. Also, he said states that have already adopted the standards have a smaller percentage of electric vehicles than Minnesota.
On Wednesday, the Minnesota Senate’s Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy and Legacy Committees held a joint hearing regarding the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA’s) intention to adopt California Emissions Standards through the administrative rulemaking process, bypassing the legislature.
Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, doesn't serve on either senate committee according to his official senate page.
The article in the Independent later reports:
“We must take immediate action to protect our earth for future generations,” Flanagan said. “Burning fossil fuels pollutes our environment, permanently changes our climate for the worse, and wastes money on inefficient and outdated practices. This plan sets a clear path and destination for Minnesota’s clean energy future. Minnesota should be a state that continues to lead on the clean energy economy, and we know we can.”
Swedzinski criticized the proposals after the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency conducted its first public information session last week regarding the agency’s intention to adopt the California Cars Standard through the administrative rule making process.
“It makes no sense whatsoever for Minnesota to make itself subject to California bureaucrats 1,700 miles away,” Swedzinski said. He is the lead Republican on the House Climate and Energy Finance and Policy Committee.
“This is an effort by the governor to bypass the Legislature and once again push a metro-centric agenda on all of Minnesota. Adopting California’s auto standards would drive up the cost of cars and limit access to the vehicles Minnesotans want, especially trucks and SUVs.
“If the governor wants to encourage people to purchase electric vehicles, a better plan would be to increase demand by supporting policies to reduce consumer prices. It is the wrong approach for our governor to impose his will on Minnesota auto dealers and consumers and you can’t help but wonder what what he and his administration will go after next. Now it’s cars, but next is it semi-trucks, tractors, fishing boats, lawnmowers or snowblowers? This isn’t leadership, it’s catering to metro-based environmentalists at the expense of those of us in Greater Minnesota.”
Yep, if Walz is talking about carbon-free electricity generation, next thing you know, Peggy Flanagan is after your lawnmower.
Bluestem posted Minnesota House climate & energy committee considers “100% Clean Energy Standard” about the energy standard addressed to utilities, which we do not believe can be confused with snowblowers.
The post is largely House climate panel considers quickening push to carbon-free energy by Rob Hubbard at Session Daily:
Completely carbon-free by 2040. That’s the goal of the “100% Clean Energy Standard” the House Climate and Energy Finance and Policy Committee contemplated Thursday. It would require that all of a utility’s electric power should come from carbon-free resources by 2040.
The concept has not been officially introduced as a bill, but its sponsor, Rep. Jamie Long (DFL-Mpls), the committee chair, wanted to have a discussion of its merits at an informational hearing before formally presenting it next Thursday. And the meeting certainly inspired debate, as 28 testifiers offered opinions. Most were favorable, but utilities and environmentalists expressed reservations.
A standard would be established for all utilities to supply customers with electricity generated from carbon-free resources, beginning at 65% in 2025 and increasing every five years to reach 100% in 2040.
Under the plan, the Public Utilities Commission would expand its view of net benefits to include those pertaining to labor, environmental justice and low-income populations. It would encourage the location of new generating facilities in communities that are losing generating facilities that use fossil fuels. And it would allow the commission to require prevailing wage for workers constructing wind and solar facilities.
Grace Arnold, interim commerce commissioner, emphasized job creation and opportune timing.
“Already, about 60,000 Minnesotans work in clean energy, most of them in rural Minnesota,” she said. “And, in the next two decades, about 70% of the state’s power plants are up for retirement.”
Amol Phadke, deputy of the International Energy Analysis Department, Energy Analysis and Environmental Impacts Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has led studies on transitions to renewable energy sources. He commended Minnesota for its moves in that direction.
“It’s important to act on climate change, but it’s also the best economic choice,” he said. “Clean energy costs have fallen much more quickly than anyone predicted. … One of the main criticisms of going clean was the cost to consumers. But the cost is now actually 10% lower than for non-renewable energy sources. … If we let the technologies compete with each other, we can reach 90% by 2035 nationally. And Minnesota does even better because of its significant wind resources.”
Cited by Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen (R-Glencoe) and a few skeptical testifiers were the blackouts experienced in California last summer, inspiring questions about whether the grid will be reliable enough with entirely carbon-free energy sources.
Phadke responded that the blackouts in his state were chiefly due to natural gas plants not coming online, and Steve Jorissen of Northeast Metro Climate Action added that Texas is the largest user of renewable energy and that it doesn’t have blackout problems.
The chief objections to the bill came from testifiers representing utilities, who found the mandates too inflexible about what kind of carbon-free energy sources to use.
“Legal mandates that come forward may do more to inhibit than enhance,” said Rick Evans, Xcel Energy’s director of regional governmental affairs, adding that new clean energy technologies may emerge that aren’t addressed in the plan.
While, overall, the proposal received good reviews from representatives of environmental organizations, concerns were expressed that waste incineration would continue to be allowed. More than one said that such plants have been proven toxic to nearby residents.
In a release Thursday, Gov. Tim Walz endorsed the idea and said his administration has three more proposals coming regarding clean energy. The others will concern prioritizing clean energy resources over fossil fuels when replacing power plants; raising standards for energy efficiency; and cutting greenhouse gas emissions from existing buildings in half by 2035.
Was Swedzinski trying to change the subject to criticism of the clean car standards, which Minnesota Republicans seem to believe is a winning talking point?
He is, after all, the lead on the committee that had a first peak at the 100 percent carbon-free electricity standards on Thursday.
The Senate seems serious, Ricardo Lopez reports for the Minnesota Reformer in Senate GOP leader says MPCA commissioner could face removal over proposed clean-car rule:
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, on Friday signaled that if the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency presses ahead with its implementation of a new car emission standard modeled after California, the Senate may remove Laura Bishop as commissioner of the agency.
The MPCA last month proposed a rule that would require automakers to increase the number of electric vehicles they deliver to Minnesota auto dealers, drawing strong criticism from Republican lawmakers.
The Minnesota Senate, led by Republicans, has pushed back against the rule change, saying it would drive up costs on all cars sold in the state. They also say electric vehicles would fare poorly in Minnesota’s cold winters. . . .
The car emission standard has also received praise from Consumer Reports, a consumer advocacy nonprofit that publishes product testing reviews and investigates consumer safety issues.
“Consumer Reports supports state adoption of low and zero emission standards because they save drivers money on fuel, improve the kinds of vehicles consumers already like to drive, and increase buying options for consumers at their local car dealerships,” the publication wrote in 2019.
Read the rule and the process of rule adoption here at the agency's website.
Read more about the other issue in the Star Tribune in Gov. Tim Walz pushes again for carbon-free electricity in Minnesota to avert climate crisis.
Let's hope Dahms, Swedinski and the Marshall Independent can work to better inform the lawmaker's constituents and the paper's readers about both proposals.
Photo: Xcel's Sherco coal-fired electricity generating power plant, which the utility plans to close in 2030.
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