Gas Station Inflation Vol. 2
Crazier Than California
In 2022, Center of the American Experiment released our report entitled, “Gas Station Inflation: How the Walz Administration’s Clean Fuel Standard Would Increase Pain at the Pump.” This report explained how Gov. Tim Walz’s proposed “Clean Fuel Standard” would be a stealth gas tax that would increase costs for families and businesses but provide no money for roads and bridges. It would also have no measurable impact on future global temperatures.
Since that time, liberal lawmakers in St. Paul have introduced a new, more extreme version of their proposal, rebranded as a “Clean Transportation Standard,” or CTS. This new proposal will make Minnesota’s mandates the most extreme, and most expensive, in the country, surpassing California, Oregon, and Washington.
The original version of the bill called for a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the fuel sector, below a 2018 baseline level, by the end of 2035. However, the new version calls for a 25 percent reduction below a 2018 baseline by the end of 2030, a 75 percent reduction by the end of 2040, and a 100 percent reduction by the end of 2050.
These changes will have an enormous impact on gas prices, making them much more expensive. Using data from Stillwater Associates and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), American Experiment has calculated that this more aggressive CTS could increase gasoline and diesel prices by 39 to 45 cents per gallon by 2030.1
As a result, this mandate would increase the cost of driving for Minnesota families by…