ST. PAUL – Today the Senate Transportation Committee plans to hear the Clean Transportation Standards bill. The bill gives MNDoT the authority to aggressively reduce carbon emissions through rules and regulations. Several groups representing agriculture, business, and labor interests are planning to oppose the bill in committee.

“Clean Transportation Fuel Standards are a bad idea for Minnesota,” Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson (R- East Grand Forks) said. “The bill would inevitably make Minnesota’s fuel standards some the most extreme in the country. Similar rules in California estimate an increase in gas prices by $1.80 per gallon by 2040. Passing this bill would continue our state on the path to being a ‘Cold California.’ Democrats already raised $10 billion in taxes last year and this bill paves the way for bureaucrats to raise costs without the consequence of an election. I encourage the Transportation Committee to listen to the testimony from a broad array of groups representing Minnesotans before deciding what to do on this bill.”

Senator John Jasinski (Faribault), Republican Lead on the Transportation Committee said last month, “I’m going to look at the recommendations, but after a session with $10 billion in new taxes – including automatic inflationary increases to gas – we need to be very careful on moving forward without a plan to give consumers some other form of tax relief.”