Lindsay Starck
Legislative sessions are not typically associated with moments of great drama. This is probably why television networks and streaming services tend to look elsewhere for inspiration: hospitals and FBI offices, royal courts and deserted islands -- but definitely not a committee hearing room on a January day at the St. Paul Capitol.
If you were able to attend or stream the testimony for the 100% Clean Energy Bill on January 23, 2023 in the Minnesota Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate, then you know that most of the nearly two hour session was business as usual. Individuals called to testify before a crescent-shaped table of Senators usually approached the microphone with written comments that they proceeded to read aloud. The background was beige; the lighting fluorescent. A viewer would have seen a parade of navy blazers and pressed suit-jackets, necklaces and ties. There were a few jokes, or attempted ones. But for the most part, everyone stuck to the script: they either supported the bill that would soon be headed toward the Senate floor for a vote, or they expressed their concerns.
Perhaps, you might have found yourself thinking as you watched another well-dressed citizen calmly approach the microphone, the real conflict occurred two years ago, when the Senate refused to hear this bill at all. Is there anything interesting left?
The answer is yes! At the 1:42 mark, when the testimony ended and the discussion began, the session finally got a little more heated. This is when Senator Eric Lucero (Republican, 30), in a turquoise dress shirt and shimmering gray sportcoat, recalled testifier Dr. Dawn Wheeler (a retired physician recruited to testify by the Sierra Club) to the microphone in order to ask her a follow-up question.
During her original testimony, Dr. Wheeler had spoken about the health effects of heat waves on vulnerable populations. But – in a turn that baffled not only Dr. Wheeler, but many others present – Senator Lucero insisted that she talk about the Ice Age.
Weren’t there heat waves back then, too? he demanded. And if Dr. Wheeler was saying that our present-day heat waves are a consequence of human-caused climate change, then wouldn’t the heat wave that ended the Ice Age obviously have been human-caused, too? The implication, of course, was that climate change is not a human problem and we don’t need to concern ourselves with it.
If this line of questioning bewilders you, you’re not alone. And if it exasperates you, you’re not alone. While Senator Lucero was wrapping up his allotted time at the microphone by telling young people in the audience “not to let their hearts be troubled” by climate change because it’s a perfectly natural phenomenon, Senator Nicole Mitchell (DFL, 47), a former meteorologist who was sitting right next to him, was requesting permission to speak.
As soon as Senator Nick Frentz (DFL, 18) turned the microphone over to her, she proceeded to dispute and disprove Senator Lucero’s unfounded claims. She confirmed that meteorological records over the course of Minnesota’s statehood prove that the last few decades have seen more extreme weather events (especially heat) than at any other point in our history. She remarked that core samples from the ice reveal that since the Industrial Age, we’ve polluted the atmosphere so quickly, so completely, that neither humans, nor animals, nor plants have been able to adapt. She named forest fires and rises in respiratory illness as examples of the impact of human-caused climate change.
Then she concluded: “So yes, all of these things are a concern, and to the young people out there, I validate your concerns, we do need to act on them, and we are going to do that.”
The chair adjourned the meeting immediately afterward, and although Senators Lucero and Mitchell were seated side-by-side, they did not say a word to one another.
Although this scene might have been one of the more entertaining moments of the committee hearing, by far the greater drama is the triumphant arc of the bill itself. For years, members of the Sierra Club have been working with allies and supporters to overcome obstacles and naysayers and unscientific tangents about the Ice Age in order to make clean, affordable energy available and accessible to all Minnesotans.
The initial heat of the legislative battle may be fading, but the truth is that the real action, the real drama, is just beginning. The 100% Clean Energy Bill passed the Senate a few weeks after this hearing, unusually early in the legislative session, which means that we now have the time, energy, and momentum to turn our attention to crucial, related goals such as transit equity and environmental justice.
So, what’s coming up?
Well, next week on Tuesday, the Frontline Communities Protection Act will be heard in the Senate Environment, Climate, and Legacy committee. This core environmental justice bill addresses the cumulative impact of multiple sources of pollution located in neighborhoods where people are low-income earners, are Black, Indigenous, or from other communities of color. Legislation is a critical step to address environmental racism and the unjust burdens these communities carry. The Frontline Communities Protection Act will stop the State from permitting new polluting facilities in over-burdened neighborhoods, improve air quality, and give residents a say in how decisions are made in their communities. You can support this bill by sending your legislator a message or joining the hearing.
We expect transit legislation out in the coming weeks, and more. In other words, please stay tuned!