On Monday the General Counsel of Canada paid a visit to the Minnesota Legislature. Despite it being just a day after our hockey team’s defeat, we had an excellent discussion on how Minnesota and Canada can work collaboratively to encourage economic development.
This week the Senate’s Environment, Utility and Technology Committee began hearings on a bill to remove the moratorium on nuclear power. There is a lot of interest and controversy around this issue. Some DFL senators proposed an amendment, which I supported, which would allow nuclear plants to be considered in Minnesota but require several conditions before one could be approved: a permanent federal waste depository, a plan to safely transport the waste, and a guarantee that no excessive rates or cost overruns would be paid by ratepayers or taxpayers, etc. I think this language is a big step forward.
We heard testimony from our Office of Energy Security that we don’t need any new big base load electricity plants before 2024 or even 2034 in Minnesota. It seems premature for Minnesota to put too much energy into this issue, at the expense of further developing wind, solar and energy efficiency. I will be appearing on Almanac on Twin Cities Public Television at 6:30 tonight with Senator Koch to discuss this issue. Tune in if you can!
Another important energy related issue of note this week was the Minnesota Department of Commerce’s release of rebates for energy efficient appliances. These rebates were funded by the stimulus bill and have already been allocated to over 25,000 households. It is great that there was so much excitement around this program and it means a lot of Minnesota families are now able to purchase energy efficient appliances that they may not have been able to before. This means less energy use and lower energy bills for consumers in the long run. Many people were frustrated with some of the hiccups the Department of Commerce experienced while being so overwhelmed with requests. Despite allocating the money in just one day, I intend to review the process to make sure future programs are run more efficiently and ensure fair access.
On Thursday my committee, the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources division passed our budget out of committee. This bill makes many painful, but necessary cuts in order to solve our budget deficit this year. We cut over $19 million from our state agencies, or about 6%. The bill will be incorporated into a larger budget bill and heard in the Finance Committee.
My bill creating an income tax check-off for homeless shelters and food shelves has been getting a lot of media attention this week! This bill is something very positive in the midst of a very difficult budget year and I am happy that there is so much interest and support for this idea brought to us by a Johnson High School student. On Wednesday, the bill was discussed on WCCO, and on Thursday it was featured by KSTP!
