REP. KIEL: RURAL FAMILIES WILL PAY MORE FOR ELECTRICITY UNDER DEMS’ PLAN
St. Paul—May 8, 2013—State Representative Deb Kiel, R-Crookston, said that hardworking rural Minnesotans can expect to see even higher electric rates next year as a result of the unfunded renewable mandates contained in the House Democrats’ Energy Policy omnibus bill passed this week.
“Regardless of location, the entire energy industry is interconnected, and the overreaching mandates in this bill will inevitably hurt our rural electric co-ops and municipalities, which will be forced to pass on higher costs to rural homeowners, farmers, businesses, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, you name it,” Kiel said.
Kiel explained the bill had so much opposition due to the overreaching renewable and solar mandates—upped from 25 percent to 40 percent—that the House Democratic majority had a hard time garnering enough support to even debate, much less pass, the bill.
“I voted against the bill to take a stand for hardworking rural families who will be forced to pay more for increasing expenses that are completely out of their control—including the billions of dollars in new taxes proposed by the DFL—forcing families to hand over their hard-earned money just to pay for wasteful government spending,” Kiel said.
Kiel explained the Energy Policy bill was able to pass because it contained several protective “carve outs” for some DFL members in rural Minnesota, like the Iron Range.
“We need to ask ourselves: If the policies in this bill are so damaging to areas like the Iron Range and its businesses that they require legislative protection, why is this bill good for Northwest Minnesota and our businesses and homeowners? I believe that the lack of support for this bill just goes to show how devastating these mandates will be on all of Minnesota,” Kiel said.
The Energy Policy omnibus bill passed the House floor with bipartisan opposition on a vote of 70-63 and awaits a hearing in conference committee.
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State Rep. Deb Kiel serves District 1B, which includes the counties of Polk, Pennington and Red Lake.