By Lindsay Starck
By now, you’ve probably heard that 100% Clean Energy passed the Minnesota House. And you’ve likely heard that it also passed the Minnesota Senate. Maybe you, like other passionate environmental advocates and Sierra Club members across the state, are out celebrating right now: sipping a bit of bubbly from a bamboo straw or taking public transit in a victory lap around the metro area.
And why wouldn’t you be? This major victory means that all Minnesota electric utilities will be using carbon-free energy by 2040. It also means that historically marginalized and underserved communities will be heard and supported during this transition, and it means that the new jobs in the clean energy sector will be equitable, local, and unionized. And it's still only February!
If you’re breathing a little easier, it may also be because Environmental Justice allies insisted that the HERC (the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, the largest of Minnesota’s seven garbage incinerators) not be classified as a renewable energy source. We’ll all benefit from cleaner air, but if allies and the Sierra Club are successful in closing the HERC, the positive health effects will be particularly noticeable to the North Minneapolis residents who are located closest to the incinerator and who suffer higher rates of asthma than any other community in the state. Ensuring the HERC is not falsely labeled renewable energy is a small step on the path to closure and justice for the Northside.
Moreover, since leaders in the House and Senate worked ahead of time to ensure that they were passing identical bills, we don’t need to wait for a conference committee to iron out the differences. The text can go straight to the Governor’s desk and be signed into law before February is out. We usually have to wait until May to celebrate our wins, but not this time. We’re ahead of schedule!
This victory is thanks to you, along with other Sierra Club members and Minnesotans across the state who helped to establish, inspire, and lead the coalition of organizations behind this legislation. It is thanks to all the volunteers who contacted their legislators. It is thanks to Sierra Club staffers, like our lobbyist, Peter Wagenius, and energy expert, Jessica Trisch, who pushed at the Capitol on this issue for years.
As happy as we are, however, we’re not done. We wanted to pass 100% Clean Energy as soon as possible because we know that, as Sierra Club State Director Margaret Levin put it, “Clean energy is the lynchpin for further climate action.”
This law is the foundation we need to decarbonize and electrify other parts of the economy. Winding 100% Clean Energy in February gives us momentum, time, and space to focus on other key initiatives such as transportation, PFAS bans, lead contamination, road salt, and lowland conifer carbon reserves.
So, yes: we want to celebrate. We need to celebrate. But only for a minute – because there’s much more for us to do, and so we’ve got to get back to work.
Join us on March 1st at our SierraAction Social to learn more and join in.