The state Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) is on the brink of approving two massive new electric transmission line projects. Next week (April 10) the Commission will meet to take up…
Thank oil and gas for concrete, fertilizers, and plastics. The New York Post’s Dec. 9, 2024 article contained exclusive polling taken in November of that year showing that most Americans…
No three-eyed fish here! Homer Simpson, patriarch of the Simpson family and the eponymous, long-running animated sitcom “The Simpsons,” is the ineffective safety inspector in Sector 7G of Springfield’s nuclear…
A St. Paul foundry fought the environmental bureaucracy — and won. For more than a century, Northern Iron & Machine foundry has been a fixture in St. Paul’s traditionally blue-collar…
During President Trump’s joint address to Congress, he promised “historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the U.S.A.” Prioritizing domestic critical minerals exploration and development…
Suddenly, the “wrong” people are doing the “right” thing. The full quote from Nobel-prize-winning economist Milton Friedman goes as follows: I do not believe that the solution to our problem…
This month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did some spring cleaning and took steps toward 31 significant deregulatory actions. Utilities and American electricity consumers will benefit from averted blackouts and billions of dollars of…
Starting April 1, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) will hold a three-day series of hearings in St. Paul on the proposed acquisition of the electric utility Minnesota Power (MP).…
The Cato Institute released a new report this month estimating the staggering costs of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The 2022 law could cost a staggering $1.97 trillion by 2034,…
Yesterday, the White House announced an executive order titled “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production.” The order is intended to increase domestic mineral production and decrease reliance on foreign…
It would be difficult to overstate the likely impact of the jury's decision in the defamation case brought by the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline against environmental icon Greenpeace…
HF 2002, which would lift Minnesota’s nuclear moratorium, cleared the House energy committee last week. The bill’s next stop is the House floor. Current state law prohibits the Minnesota Public…
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published last month an article warning that planned retirements of coal-fired electric-generating capacity are expected to increase in 2025. The EIA reports that electricity…
The Province of Ontario wages a trade war against Minnesota, but without any ammunition. The putatively Conservative premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, launched a trade war of his own against…
Last month, the owner of the Palisades nuclear plant signed an agreement to build two small modular nuclear reactors by 2030. If this is successful, these would be the first…
I was asked to submit written comments on Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 (SCR2) to the Ohio legislature. SCR2 requires the Ohio Assembly to consider adopting legislation to invest in the…
That’s “billion, with a “b.” Minnesota has much experience with brand-new nonprofits getting multi-million-dollar grants from the state government. The Feds have managed to go over the top in this…
The Trump administration has singled out the most crucial electrification metal, copper, as a focus of its domestic minerals policy. Last week, an executive order was released “addressing the threat…
Xcel Energy proposed to issue a $318 million rebate to Minnesota customers in a press release on Monday. More than half of the refund ($176 million) will come from federal…
The Trump administration this week signaled that it may roll back almost 50 years of regulations that created the lengthy and litigious permitting process in the U.S. That would be welcome news…
A recent U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) map gives Minnesota a dubious distinction: It was the state with the largest increase in gasoline taxes since July 2024. State taxes and…
On Friday, February 28, the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will take up the proposal by Amazon for 600 MW of diesel backup generators to serve their massive, planned data…
Yesterday, I testified on H.F. 1311 before the Energy Finance and Policy Committee. H.F. 1311 would allow utilities to only profit from the reliable portion of an energy asset. This…
What should be the guiding principle of federal lands management? The House Subcommittee on Federal Lands heard from witnesses about just that last week. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages 245 million…