Originally published at www.americanexperiment.org
By Isaac OrrThis week, DFL Governor Walz made headlines by announcing his administration would pursue legislation mandating that 100 percent of Minnesota’s electricity come from “Clean Energy” by 2050. Per the usual, the Governor seemed to talk a good game, but there are large and important differences between the way he represented the proposal, and the actual text of the legislation, HF1956, brought forward in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
For example, the Governor and others speaking at the press conference said nuclear would count toward attaining the 100 percent clean energy requirement, but House File 1956, which was introduced by Representative Jamie Long, implies otherwise. Nuclear power is mentioned five times in the forty-page bill. Interestingly, the legislation that is supposed to fight climate change, which the Governor described as an existential threat, does not allow existing nuclear power to count as “carbon free.”
This means Minnesota’s existing nuclear power plants, Monticello and Prairie Island, which produced 23 percent of Minnesota’s electricity in 2017 wouldn’t be considered “carbon free” on paper.
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Additionally, HF 1956 does not allow for large hydro (hydroelectric dams greater than 100 MW in size) to count, either.
Read more at HF 1956: MN Green New Deal Denies Role for Nuclear and Large Hydro
