Governor Pawlenty Signs the ‘Next Generation Energy Act’ establishing greenhouse gas and energy use reduction goals
[From a Governor's office press release:]
Following through on the sweeping energy initiatives he outlined last December, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the Next Generation Energy Act of 2007 [on May 25th].
The Governor’s energy plan puts Minnesota squarely at the front of states leading the way toward our nation’s energy future. The legislation signed today will increase energy efficiency, expand community based energy development, and establish a statewide goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and supplements the aggressive 25 x ’25 renewable energy standard proposed by the Governor and signed earlier this year.
“The best time to have taken action on energy issues would’ve been 30 years ago. The second best time is right now,” Governor Pawlenty said. “The nation has been asleep at the switch, but here in Minnesota we are kick-starting the future by increasing our nation-leading per capita renewable fuel use, boosting cost saving measures and tackling greenhouse gas emissions.”
Governor Pawlenty first introduced his Next Generation Energy Initiative in December 2006 to provide more renewable energy, more energy conservation, and less carbon emissions for Minnesota.
Following the framework developed early in the legislative session with the passage of the nation’s most aggressive Renewable Energy Standard, the Next Generation Energy Act establishes nation-leading requirements on Minnesota’s electric utilities while ensuring reliability and protecting the cost-competitiveness of Minnesota’s electric system.
The legislation received overwhelming bipartisan support and was co-authored by Rep. Bill Hilty and Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon.
The Next Generation Energy Act includes:
Earlier this year, the Governor signed legislation containing the first components of his Next Generation Energy Initiative:
o $17 million for energy research, including funding for the U of M Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment.
o $3 million to double the number of E85 stations in Minnesota from the nation-leading 300 stations to 600 stations.In addition, the NextGen Energy Board is established and will begin meeting next month to develop bioenergy and biofuels policies and recommendations.“The Next Generation Energy Initiative is providing the pathway to a better energy future,” Governor Pawlenty said. “Minnesota is the leader in energy policy that benefits the environment, rural economies, national security and consumers.”Well done Minnesota! If you’re interested in the development and debates surrounding these bills, head over to www.energista.org and poke through their archives for lots of detailed posts discussing the renewable energy standard and the Next Generation Energy Initiative.
I just want to say, we shouldn’t paste up the Governor’s press release up here, as though he actually pushed this legislation, rather than fought it. A huge number of groups, citizens, students, and others dedicated their time and worked with a climate-friendly legislature to pass this bill. Fresh Energy in particular did some heroic work. Pawlenty has signed this bill, but members of the It’s Getting Hot in Here community probably have some on-the-ground experience we should listen to for this major climate victory.
Good point Richard. I’m a bit far removed from the ‘on the ground’ experiences of folks working on this legislation in Minnesota. This was the only detailed announcement I saw on the bill recently, so it’s what I ran with.
I sure hope folks don’t come away from this (or any other announcement from an elected official for that matter) thinking that the governor is solely responsible for the passage of this bill. As with most legislation, it’s a strong coalition of advocates, stakeholders and citizens who push the idea, get legislative or executive champions and then work the bill through development, committees and eventual passage (with lots of compromise and negotiation along the way).
Here in Oregon, Governor Kulongoski helped get the ball rolling with his commitment to the 25% by 2025 Renewable Energy Standard that also passed last week(as well as other clean energy and climate legislation pending in the Oregon Legislature this year) and he did make sure it was a priority for his senior staff. But it was a huge coalition of supporters working with several key legislative champions who helped develop the bill and push it through the legislature this year. (It was even advocates like the Renewable Northwest Project and OSPIRG that helped plant the seed in the governor’s mind initially that a 25×25 standard should be his priority). There’s always plenty going on behind the scenes on big legislation like this.
If anyone out there in the IGHIH community has more details, insights or comments on the Minnesota Next Generation Energy Act, please fire away in the comments section here.
Cheers,
Jesse
Of course Governor Pawlenty isn’t solely responsible for passing this bill, but he did set the aggressive tone for the 2007 Minnesota Legislative session back in mid-December of 2006 when he shocked everyone (even the folks that knew he was green) with the breadth, scope and depth of his Next Generation Energy Initiative announcement. I was at the announcement, and the energy advocates gave the Governor a standing ovation… Richard is absolutely mistaken when he suggests Governor Pawlenty “fought” the legislation — SF 145 was the Governor’s bill, which he asked DFL’ers Bill Hilty and Yvonne Prettner Solon to carry. This session, with all of the energy legislation that passed, including this bill, the 25x’25 RES, and many other provisions, was the most incredible energy session ever in Minnesota, and maybe the entire country. All of a sudden, due to the strong and aggressive bi-partisan efforts of all of us, Minnesota is second to no one in the march toward clean energy and climate mitigation.
Minnesota Public Radio quotes a National Conference of State Legislator’s analyst as saying:
Minnesota’s new energy bill puts the state in a leadership position nationally, according to Glen Andersen of the National Conference of State Legislatures. He says California is the only other state that has passed binding limits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “It will propel Minnesota into the top at least two states, leading the way towards reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases. And by doing so, likely will become a model for other states,” Andersen says.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/05/23/energy_bill/
It is true, there has been a major and pronounced shift in Minnesota that climate and energy are issues that everybody needs to tackle, whether a student, pastor, or a DFL or Republican office-holder. However, while Pawlenty has always been more climate-friendly than the occupant of the White House by a serious margin, he is a more recent convert. So while he didn’t fight this bill, he has fought them in the past. But I welcome and applaud his leadership on the issue over the past session, it truly brought historic change. However, I wanted to recognize the countless hours that individuals put in to make that the political reality in MN. But I will admit that I was too quick to dismiss his more recent leadership on the issue.
I worked on the ground with the community in Saint Cloud, MN to help pass this legislation along with my co-workers in Duluth, Rochester, Albert Lea, and Minneapolis. Indeed, as Jesse suggests, the passage of this bill is due in large part to a coalition of groups called Clean Energy Minnesota, who researched, developed and lobbied for it. Minnesota Environmental Partnership and Fresh Energy, which Robert refered to, are two of the most active groups that worked to pass the MN RES and now the “Next Generation Energy Act.” It was a good session for energy in MN!
In addition to this coalition, notable legislators that should be applauded for their efforts on this bill include Rep. Bill Hilty, Sen. Ellen Anderson, and Rep. Kathy Tingelstad. They stuck their necks out for this bill and should be applauded for that efforts.
As for the governor, it was his bill from the beginning, as Sundog mentions. However, despite his dedication to energy efficiency and renewables, he and his staff pulled out the big guns and threatened a veto of this very bill 3 weeks ago due to the inclusion of House section 5, which required a moratorium on future coal electric plants (and if passed would therefore nullify the plans for Big Stone II, a 600 MW coal plant sited to be build just over the Minnesota border in South Dakota). After further negotiation (mediated by Rep. Tingelstad), the moratorium won’t kick in until 2009 and Governor Pawlenty has agreed to sign and has given every sign that he is ready to kick off a stakeholder process to develop the nitty-gritty plan of how to lower the state’s ghgs. So yes, there has certainly been bipartisan effort on this bill, but it hasn’t been all skittle and sunshine.
I am currently in Vermont working on a very similar campaign to convince Governor Douglas (another Republican gov elected in a progressive state) to stick with his orginal commitment he made after signing a law last year to lower the state’es ghgs 50% by 2028. The similarites between these two campaigns are intriguing. It’s great to work and win on campaigns where the proper pressure convinces our elected leaders to contribute to global warming solutions.
Oh yeah, no question that it wasn’t all skittles and sunshine! This stuff is hard work, and the Governor thought the House version of the bill went too far. His staff (kudos to the Governor’s energy team, Mike Bull and Edward Garvey) worked really well with Bill Hilty and Yvonne Prettner Solon to achieve a compromise that not only did the Governor support, but brought near unanimous support from Democrats and Republicans alike in the end. That’s how we do things in Minnesota — remember last year’s Mercury Emissions Reduction Bill? No one thought it had a chance in hell to pass, until the Governor committed to it, and we ended up passing the most aggressive emissions reduction legislation in the country unanimously through both houses. Witness also the 25x’25 RES — again, the Governor and his energy team went to work on the utilities and House Republicans, and we ended up with the most aggressive renewable energy standard in the country passing nearly unanimously. It’s hard work and there are definitely bumps in the road — but you have to expect that, and you have to give credit where credit is due.
And good luck in Vermont, by the way!
The Governor’s Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group already has begun its work (actually long before passage of the bill) — if you’d like to follow along, here’s the website:
http://www.mnclimatechange.us/