Advanced Search
After Anderson Rejection, Senate Needs Reality Check
On Monday, the conservative majority in the Minnesota Senate voted to reject Governor Dayton’s appointment of Ellen Anderson as chair of the Public Utilities Commission. Leaders cited Anderson’s views as “extreme”, not in line with Minnesotans and controversial because she “demonized traditional energy sources…that built this country”.
Although there will be the inevitable mud-slinging and name-calling surrounding the politics of the vote, the Senate’s decision reflects a detachment from the past, current and future realities of energy production in our state.
First, Minnesota has never and will never have its own fossil fuel energy supply. There are no reserves of “traditional” energy sources like coal, oil or natural gas within our state’s borders. All the fossil fuels that we burn are imported from other states or countries, and yield little to no economic or jobs-producing benefits to Minnesota workers or businesses. These energy sources may have “built” other parts of our country, but not Minnesota.
Second, the state’s landmark Next Generation Energy Act of 2007, which promotes energy efficiency and includes the Renewable Energy Standards that set the goal of 25% renewable energy by 2025, passed both the House and Senate with strong bipartisan support, was signed by Governor Pawlenty, and had the support of businesses and utilities throughout the state. Less than four years ago leaders from across the state, including conservatives still in office today, made the decision to invest in non-traditional energy sources in Minnesota.
Finally, Minnesota is already a leader in one renewable energy source (wind) and is rife with potential to produce energy from other sources such as solar, pumped hydro storage, biomass and biogas. To criticize leaders who foster innovation and work to build new economies in these areas as extreme and controversial is short-sighted, unimaginative and unproductive, and will keep Minnesota stuck in the past as others try to move forward.
True, traditional energy sources aren’t completely going away anytime soon. But the path forward has been clearly laid out for how energy can be produced in Minnesota’s future that reduces the negative impacts of burning fossil fuels. Conservatives at the Capitol need to reconnect with reality.
Posted in Economic Development | Related Topics: Energy Minnesota Legislature
1 Comment
Ginny says:
February 2, 2012 at 1:36 pm
I email Sen. Senjem and got a reply that still doesn’t make sense to me. He says that the very thing that makes her strong, “a very active and powerful energy policy advocate, was the greatest detriment to her role as being perceived as a fair and impartial jurist on Minnesota’s quasi-judicial supreme court of energy and telecommunication decision making, the PUC.”
When I questioned that answer, his second reply was more of the same, if not odder: “If you know Ellen, you know she has a very heavy bias. That is not wrong or bad in and of itself but no matter who it is, should we have person with such known public opinions, or even opinions completely opposite of Ellen’s, making decisions of law for our state.”
Tell me, who in state government who is making laws for our state is not “heavily biased”? What or who would be a fair or impartial jurist? Someone who has no facts? If you are fully informed, are you without an opinion?