Six months ago, John Delurey, the senior regional director at Vote Solar, would have said that Illinois “sits on the shoulders of some of the most robust and equitable climate legislation in the country and region.” But after this year’s legislative session, Minnesota is giving Illinois a run for its money as the equitable clean energy state in the Midwest, he said.
Legislative sessions recently wrapped up in the two Midwestern states that saw the most clean energy transition efforts in the first quarter of the year. The states, where Democrats control both legislative chambers and have Democratic governors, saw a slew of bills introduced this session promoting clean energy and environmental justice. Still, each had generally different aims and outcomes.
A new report by the NC Clean Energy Technology Center at North Carolina State University logged proposed and adopted policy changes for the decarbonization of the electricity sector. Decarbonization is generally the reduction of carbon dioxide in any sector. According to the report, Minnesota was the most active state in the Midwest and third behind Massachusetts and California nationally. Illinois was second in the region and fifth nationally, with fewer measures proposed and enacted.
While the report listed at least 16 electricity decarbonization bills introduced in Illinois, none advanced to the other chamber. The report listed 20 actions in Minnesota, most of which did not advance, but the ones that did include a new statewide clean energy standard and updated long-term utility plans.
Experts say the difference in each state’s number of actions taken and how many of those measures were enacted can also be attributed to differences in electric utility markets between the two states, when their 100 percent clean energy standards were set and the political makeup of their legislative bodies. Minnesota’s Senate flipped from Republican to Democratic control in the 2022 midterms.
Illinois had a head start, setting its 100 percent clean energy standards two years ago with equitable clean energy job opportunities at the center of its promises. According to the report, 65 percent of its electricity is from clean energy sources, versus 55 percent in Minnesota. Illinois’ actions noted in the report mainly were implementation measures related to the existing clean energy targets and renewable portfolio standards, said Autumn Proudlove, the author of the report and associate director of the NC Clean Energy Technology Center.
Now, with additional federal incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act for states to transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy, legislators in almost all states took and continue to take steps to decarbonize polluting sectors, including electricity. This was especially true in Minnesota, where Democrats saw more opportunity for action in this session from the new “trifecta” control of the governor’s office and both houses of the legislature.
“We certainly saw [Minnesota] Democrats coming into this session with a long and ambitious list of things that they wanted to get done, and they really accomplished that,” said Annie Levenson-Falk, executive director at Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota.
In February, Minnesota passed a 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2040 law that also streamlines permitting for renewable energy projects, defines what qualifies as renewable energy and ensures that constructing or retrofitting of major electric facilities receive the prevailing wage in the state. The new law also includes provisions excluding large polluting incinerators near environmental justice communities from counting toward its 100 percent target and ensuring that all Minnesotans have access to and benefit from clean and renewable energy.
Other actions include reforming its community solar program to cater to more low-income households and approving a new clean transportation standard.
Source: insideclimatenews.org
Photo Credit: istock-shansekala
Categories: Minnesota, Energy, Sustainable Agriculture