ST. PAUL – State Rep. Shane Mekeland, R-Clear Lake, issued the following statement regarding legislation (H.F. 700/S.F. 850) which would raise Minnesota’s renewable energy standard to 100 percent carbon-free by 2045. Mekeland is a member of the House Energy and Climate Finance & Policy Division, which conducted a hearing for the bill Tuesday.
“This bill could cost our area hundreds of jobs and significantly damage the local tax base by preventing the construction of a new, natural gas-fired power plant in Becker,” Mekeland said. “Those are losses we can’t afford to suffer and the bill doesn’t include compensation for taking away local jobs and property tax revenue. The economic impacts to families and cities in our area would be devastating and we simply can’t sit back and allow extreme environmentalists to push their agenda on us. I will continue opposing this bill and any others like it that come through the House. We need to be focusing on a more sensible, all-of-the-above energy approach to help guarantee our needs are met at all times.”
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