Last week, Senate Democrats once again pushed through extreme partisan legislation with no interest in finding common ground. Their newest pet project was SF-4, also known as the “Blackout Bill,” due to the blackouts it will cause throughout the state. Not only does it neglect some of our cleanest forms of energy, but it imposes a drastic mandate on our co-ops and municipals. It’s a bad bill that Democrats forced through, disregarding any input for Senate Republicans. This bill will hurt our co-ops and municipals, will drive costs up for Minnesota families, and it will negatively affect our energy grid. It’s a bad bill around.

The Blackout Bill mandates that all utility providers must be 100% carbon-free by 2040. Up until this legislation came up, most of our local co-ops and municipals already had plans in place to work towards a carbon-free future, but it was a stretch for them to make the original end goal of 2050. Now that it’s being moved up to 2040, the goal is becoming totally unattainable for them. Even worse, the bill provides minimal “offramps” to these local utility providers, and what little it does offer only seeks to indebt them to the bigger energy organizations. If smaller co-ops cannot be carbon-free by 2040, they are able to buy renewable energy credits from larger corporations. This is wrong on so many levels—we should be supporting our local utility providers as they work toward such a lofty goal, instead of punishing them by making them buy credits from larger competitors. As a result, this will lead to higher costs and unreliable energy.

Families are also going to get the short end of the stick. As local utility providers have to race against the clock to meet an unattainable goal by 2040, families will face higher costs for power and utilities as a result. Energy should always be two things: reliable and affordable, yet this bill completely undermines both of those goals. Not only will the costs drastically go up for families across the state, but rolling blackouts will more than likely occur. The cost of utilities has been steadily rising, and this bill will only compound the issue.

Senate Republicans offered a number of amendments to this bill, all struck down by party-line votes. As bad as this bill may be, we wanted to make it better and more manageable. Yet, Senate Democrats had no interest in meeting us in the middle in a way that would better serve Minnesotans. Because of this, nuclear is not included in the bill. I find this to be a terrible oversight—nuclear is one of our cleanest energy options. If the Democrats are as serious about addressing the so-called “energy crisis” as they say they are, there is simply no reason to exclude nuclear from the bill. We also offered an amendment that would have prohibited the demolition of retired fuel-powered electric generation facilities for up to 10 years after their closure. This felt like a commonsense idea to address potential energy issues—if this Blackout Bill does what we assume and it causes rolling blackouts, this amendment would have ensured that these facilities could be activated to help provide energy when needed. Especially if these blackouts occur when people need power the most: on a cold winter night or a scorching summer afternoon. Democrats didn’t care enough to take those valid amendments, so we are left with an energy mandate that will hurt our State.

As we look ahead, we have an agenda of extremism: more abortion legislation, bills that create more government agencies, and a slew of bills that seek to limit your Second Amendment Rights. The Democrats have been shameless in the partisan issues they’re pushing this year. As we get further into Session, I will also begin holding Town Hall meetings—more details will be provided in the future. I value the neighbors in my district, and I want to hear how you feel about these bills. Until then, buckle up and stay tuned. Please contact my office with and questions and concerns about these bills at Sen.Steve.Green@Senate.MN.