Last week, Senate Democrats once again forced through more extreme, hyper-partisan legislation, this time focusing on energy. SF-4, which I call the “Blackout Bill,” undermines the goals of energy reliability and affordability, neglects our cleanest forms of energy, and subjects small co-ops and municipals to aggressive mandates. This is a bad bill that faced a lot of scrutiny on the Senate Floor, just for Democrats to push it through with an iron fist. There are so many dangerous parts of this bill that will adversely affect those in greater Minnesota.

Senate Democrats’ Blackout Bill is a nightmare for rural communities. The base of the bill mandates that all electric production in the state of Minnesota be 100% carbon-free by 2040, offering little-to-no flexibility when it comes to offramps for smaller locals and co-ops that will be unable to meet that goal. The bill completely closes our state off to coal and natural gas, while simultaneously shifting to renewable sources of solar, wind, hydroelectric, hydrogen, and biomass. The language mandates so much, and still fails to even consider nuclear energy and natural gas. The United States Department of Energy has already categorized nuclear energy as “clean and sustainable” for a number of reasons: it protects air quality, it has a small land footprint, and it produces minimal waste. The bottom line is that we can’t seriously discuss renewable energy unless we include nuclear energy in the conversation. With no flexibility or backup plans, our rural communities will suffer greatly. 

This is surely a Blackout Bill, but I consider it to be a “Taillight Bill,” because after it becomes law, I will just see more taillights of people leaving Minnesota. We’ve already seen targeted billboards advertising places like North Dakota as alternative options to live and do business, and this bill will push more folks to take up those offers. For years, we’ve seen businesses expanding over the border instead of staying in Minnesota. With this bill and other extreme regulations, Minnesota is sending a message to business owners that we are no longer a business-friendly state. This bill is going to drastically increase energy prices, and in doing so will price businesses right out of Minnesota. We should be doing what we can to keep these folks and their businesses in the state.  As long as we continue this trend of higher costs and more regulations, we are going to continue losings folks to our neighboring state. We must stop exporting these jobs and businesses.  

Senate Republicans not only spent hours once again offering commonsense amendments to help our local utilities contend with this bill, but we also presented an alternative energy plan known as the A+ Energy Plan. Our plan focuses on reliable, affordable, and consistent energy. It would also lift the ban on nuclear power construction in Minnesota, allowing for more innovation exploration in the energy sector. Additionally, it would allow for coal and natural gas to be used when demand is higher than average. Our plan outlines 5 key highlights: it allows nuclear construction in the state, authorizes hydroelectric power to count as a renewable energy, provides affordable renewable natural gas to continue to emission reduction, ensures that natural gas and coal are always on for consistent reliability and affordability, and an “all-of-the-above” strategy that mixes renewable energy with our current energy sources.

Despite our best efforts, we are left with yet another extreme bill that does little to represent greater Minnesota. This Blackout Bill is going to hurt our local utilities and will force families to pay higher costs when it comes to utility bills. Inflation is hurting families across the state—they are seeing rising prices everywhere from the grocery store to the gas pump, and they simply can’t afford an exponential increase in the cost of utilities, but this bill will do just that. Senate Republicans tried to offer amendments that keep costs down, energy reliable, and allow the use of coal and natural gas when the grid is overwhelmed—and believe me folks, under this plan, it will be. Naturally, Democrats voted against every amendment on multiple party line votes because they care more about partisan politics that forming real solutions. Our state is going to be forced to contend with less energy reliability, which will lead to rolling blackouts in the middle of winter and summer. Minnesotans want reliable and affordable energy, but they are being left in the dark by this extreme legislation.