Dayton Reaffirms Minnesota’s Commitment to Foolish Paris Climate Accord Pledges

Yesterday, Governor Mark Dayton doubled down on committing Minnesota to the Paris Climate Accord, a so-called treaty that was never ratified by the U.S. Senate. President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the accord last year.

In reaffirming Minnesota’s commitment to reducing the use of low-cost fossil fuels, Dayton is committing the state to implement even more policies designed to promote expensive sources of energy like wind and solar.

Remember, these policies have been a major reason Minnesota’s electricity prices have increased 26 percent faster than the national average since 2007.

The event, dubbed “MN Is Still In: Leadership in Climate Action” was also attended by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who touted his exceedingly bad idea to run Minneapolis on 100 percent renewable energy.

I’ve already explained why Frey’s measure is nothing more than expensive virtue signaling here, but  Governor Dayton seems painfully unaware that the state is nowhere near meeting any of its greenhouse gas reduction goals, as noted by MPR:

“Lawmakers in 2007 set an 80 percent emissions cut to get Minnesota to the levels most experts agree are needed to stave off the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.

But the state has missed its 2015 goal under the law, and “frankly we’re not going to make the 2025 goal. But we are starting to think more realistically about what do we have to do between now and 2050 to try to achieve the 2050 goal,” said David Thornton, assistant commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.”

Minnesota is not the only place failing to meet their expensive carbon dioxide emissions reduction goals. Many countries that signed the Paris Accord have also failed to live up to their pledges.

Even Germany, which likes to fancy itself as a leader on climate change, is falling far short of its self-imposed 40 percent reduction target. What do the German people have to show for their government’s failure? The most expensive electricity in Europe.

Governor Dayton should learn from the failures of Germany, and his own administration, and stop cheerleading irresponsible energy policies that increase electricity prices and make it harder for Minnesotans to put food on their table.