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on June 13, 2019
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Global CO2 Emissions To Skyrocket As India Plans To Build 42 Shercos in the Coming Years

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment

During the legislative session, we heard Governor Walz, House DFL members, and liberal environmentalists call climate change an "existential crisis," several times (give or take a million). This so-called crisis was used as justification for trying to pass radical Green New Deal-style legislation in Minnesota in an attempt to dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Absent from these discussions, however, was any context for global carbon dioxide emissions and the impact they will have on future temperatures. This seems like a massive oversight. It's called global warming, after all. The most likely reason this discussion never occurred is because it would undermine the Governor's case...

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on June 09, 2019
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Rob Port: Xcel’s Coal-Free Plan is Politics Not Reality

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy, Environment

The article below originally appeared in the Inforum, and it's spot on.  Xcel's decision is about padding its ratebase, and thus its corporate profits, and if they have to team up with the environmental groups, then so be it. MINOT, N.D. — “Xcel Energy plans to shutter its two remaining coal plants in the Upper Midwest a decade earlier than scheduled — a move that will make the utility coal-free in the region by 2030,” Mary Divine reported for the St. Paul Pioneer Press this week. That’s big news. All the more so because it’s not the full measure of Xcel’s ambition. The...

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on June 07, 2019
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Pollution Control Equipment Has Greatly Reduced Emissions at Minnesota’s Clean, Beautiful Coal Plants

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

Some renewable energy advocacy groups claim that Minnesota should aspire to have cheaper and cleaner electricity by using more wind and solar. Of course, this logic makes no sense because wind and solar increase the cost of electricity in Minnesota, but it is worth looking at whether coal-fired power, which is among the most affordable ways to generate electricity in Minnesota, is actually dirty. According to data from the Energy Information Administration, it isn't. When most people think of coal, they probably think of the smog-filled skies of 1950's Pittsburgh or scenes from modern-day Beijing, but advanced pollution control technology at coal-fired...

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on May 30, 2019
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Xcel’s Plan to Close Coal Plants Early Is Bad News for Minnesota Families and Businesses

Written by Isaac Orr
in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

Last week, Xcel Energy announced their desire to shutter the last of their coal-fired power plants a decade earlier than previously planned. If approved by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the plan would increase electricity costs for Minnesota families and businesses and produce zero measurable reductions in global temperatures. It would, however, result in handsome corporate profits for Xcel Energy, which would be a direct wealth transfer from everyday Minnesotans, who are forced by the government to buy their electricity from Xcel, to the company's shareholders. Minnesota's coal plants provide some of the lowest-cost electricity in the state. The graph below...

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on May 16, 2019
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North Dakota Has $5 Million War Chest To Sue Minnesota Over Energy Issues

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy, Environment

It looks like the State of North Dakota is poised to take Minnesota back out behind the woodshed again (legally speaking) if it enacts legislation that would mandate the use of 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050, which has been supported by the Walz administration and several DFL members of the House of Representatives this session. According to Senator Pratt, North Dakota has a massive $5 million war chest ready to sue the state of Minnesota once again over emission regulations that would violate the Commerce Clause of the Constitution  or violate other federal laws by effectively allowing Minnesota to regulate...

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on May 09, 2019
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From Wisconsin: Why Are We Paying We Energies $430 Million in Profits on a Coal Plant That Shut Down Last Year?

Written by Isaac Orr
in Energy, Environment

The article below was written by Thomas Content, who is the Director of the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin CUB eloquently argues that the government-approved monopoly utility company in Wisconsin should not get to profit on a coal plant it shut down before the end of its useful life. I couldn't agree more. The most important thing you can remember about utility companies like Xcel Energy and WE Energies is that they are not private companies. They are government approved monopoly utilities that are guaranteed to make a profit. You have no choice but to purchase your electricity from the utility...

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