Trump says, ‘no new windmills’?
That’s the headline in The Hill, quoting Trump at a recent press availability. The Hill reports:
President-elect Trump signaled Tuesday that he would oppose all new wind energy production in his second term in remarks to reporters.
“We’re going to try and have a policy where no windmills are being built,” Trump said, adding “they don’t work without subsidy. … You don’t want energy that needs subsidy.”
Trump is correct, of course. And Minnesota is relying heavily on new wind power to reach the state’s chimeric mandate for 100 percent “carbon-free” electricity. The state’s largest electric utility, Xcel Energy, plans to add 3,200 MW of new wind capacity by 2030. That amount represents an addition to wind capacity, in just five years, roughly double in size to the utility’s nuclear power fleet.
But don’t look for any immediate course correction in Minnesota, despite the partisan change in the state’s legislature. Democrat Tim Walz still has two years remaining on his current term.
MPR News published a story today under the headline:
Can Minnesota lawmakers find common ground on energy issues? Some think so
The reporter mostly quotes Democrats in the piece. The one exception has the incoming chairman of the House Energy Committee, Chris Swedzinski (R-Ghent), promoting the repeal of the ban on new nuclear power plants. No Democrats are quoted in support.
For Democrats, the “common ground” “bipartisan” ideas appear to be indistinguishable from the status quo.
A Democratic senator is quoted as saying the 100 percent clean-energy mandate won’t be repealed, but invites Republicans “to clarify” certain details.
It should be noted that the renewable mandate was passed without a single Republican vote in either chamber of the legislature. Having lost their monopoly on state political power, Democrats would be happy for Republicans to make cosmetic, non-substantive changes to the Democrats’ unpopular work, giving it an ex-post ratification.
MPR reports that Democrats are suddenly concerned about energy costs. Unfortunately, their solution to lowering energy bills, such as more subsidized solar panels on homes, would increase the overall costs, not reduce them.
To paraphrase Talleyrand on Minnesota Democrats and last year’s elections, “They learned nothing and forgot nothing.”