CEAC-2021-03-March

News
Minnesota Lawmakers Begin Work on
Renewable Energy Bill
By Mohamed Ibrahim | Associated Press/Report for America
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota lawmakers are beginning
work on clean energy legislation that would require utilities
to generate 100 percent of their electricity from carbon-free
resources by 2040, as a renewed focus on climate change
ramps up with a new administration in the White House.
The Minnesota bill, authored by Rep. Jamie Long, an environmental
lawyer who chairs the House climate committee,
would raise the requirement for the share of a utility’s retail
electric sales generated by renewable energy sources to 40
percent by 2025 and 55 percent by 2035. Under the bill, 100
percent of electricity generated by utilities must be carbon-free
by 2040. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission
would be required to evaluate the environmental impacts
should a utility request a delay.
Long said at a Jan. 27 hearing that the bill would help
combat public health problems caused by climate change —
which the Minneapolis Democrat said are disproportionately
felt by poorer communities — while creating jobs in clean
energy. Minnesota is not on track to meet its current goal
of reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and has
actually increased emissions over the last two years, which
highlights the bill’s urgency, he said.
Nationally, President Joe Biden signed several executive
orders aimed at limiting global warming caused by burning
fossil fuels, including a measure similar to the Minnesota bill
that seeks to eliminate pollution from fossil fuel in the power
sector by 2035 and the U.S. economy overall by 2050.
In another effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Democratic
Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota Pollution Control
Agency have proposed requiring automakers to provide the
state with more zero-emissions electric vehicles. The proposed
rule has seen pushback from car dealers and Senate
Republicans, who have made blocking that initiative a priority
this session.
Mohamed Ibrahim is a corps member for the Associated
Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report
for America is a nonprofit national service program that
places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered
issues.
“My home in Minneapolis sees warmer winters, more extreme
cold and less snow than we’ve ever known, and my
family of farmers in the Midwest experience more flooding
and erratic weather, which hurts their ability to support
themselves and their families,” Halley Norman of the
environmental group TakeAction Minnesota testified. “Our
futures are under threat now and will continue to be if we
don’t take action.”
While some larger utilities in the state like Xcel Energy
already have committed to eliminating carbon emissions by
2050, critics of the bill argue the requirements would outpace
technology available to smaller utilities that serve rural
Minnesota, and costs would hurt consumers in those areas.
Republican lawmakers proposed several amendments to
lessen the bill’s impact. One would have allowed anyone —
not just utilities — to ask the PUC to modify or delay implementation
of the standards. Another would classify incineration
plants that capture at least 80 percent of their carbon
emissions as “carbon-free.” Both amendments failed, as well
as another to lift the state’s moratorium on the construction
of new nuclear power plants.
Further discussion on the bill is expected. Prospects for the
proposal are dim in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Volume 86 · Number 3 | 35