Trump’s Affordable Clean Energy Rule Can Save Minnesota Billions

The Trump Administration should be applauded for finalizing the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, a common-sense reform which correctly scales back the EPA overreach that occurred under the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP). This overreach is why the Supreme Court took the unprecedented step to stay the Clean Power Plan before it was ever implemented.

According to our research, Doubling Down on Failure, fully utilizing the ACE rule would save Minnesota families and businesses $7.5 billion, compared to 2018 costs, by 2050.

The savings provided by the ACE rule are even more significant when compared to the alternative, an electric grid powered by 54 percent wind and solar, our “renewable scenario,” in the study. The difference between these two plans is approximately $88 billion through 2050. This means the ACE rule would save each Minnesota household nearly $1,300 every single year compared to a grid that is heavily dependent upon intermittent wind and solar.

It’s also important to keep in mind that Governor Walz and the DFL House wanted to mandate that 100 percent of Minnesota’s electricity come from carbon free sources by 2050, but these proposals excluded large hydro and new nuclear power plants. As such, this 100 percent carbon free standard would be heavily reliant upon wind, solar, and impossibly expensive batteries.

This is why MIT research found that attempting to go 100 percent renewable with batteries would cause an exponential increase in electricity costs.

The Trump Administration was correct to replace the Clean Power Plan with the ACE rule. The CPP would have drastically increased the cost of electricity for no measurable environmental benefits. According to the climate models used by the Obama Administration, the CPP would have averted 0.018 degrees C by 2100, an amount too small to be even measured. In short, the CPP would have been all pain, and no gain.