Today, I'll be presenting to the Minnesota State Senate Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee on Governor Walz's California car mandates. The hearing will begin at 4:30 pm....
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Leisure and hospitality jobs plummeted in December of 2020 as Governors tightened economic restrictions nationwide, causing almost half a million layoffs at restaurants, bars, and hotels. Interestingly, the mining and logging sectors of the economy grew by 4,000 jobs during the month....
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The Minnesota Auto Dealers Association (MADA) has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Walz administration's attempt to force Minnesota to comply with California car mandates....
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When it comes to energy policy, legislators in Minnesota often cite Germany as an example of a shining star on a hill. This fondness for Germany probably stems from the taxpayer-funded trips that lawmakers take to experience the German Energiewende, or "Energy Transition." The ironic thing about their love affair with Germany is that the country's experiment with wind and solar power has been a total disaster, resulting in skyrocketing electricity prices and a failure to produce an electric grid that emits less carbon dioxide than the United States. You don't have to take my word for it, either. Vaclav Smil, a world-renowned...
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Twin Metals Minnesota has produced a very good webinar discussing their proposed copper-nickel mine in Northeastern Minnesota. I would encourage you to watch the entire thing if you have the time. [embed]https://vimeo.com/464001146[/embed]...
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According to research by the Tax Foundation and Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Minnesota`s high excise tax rates are to blame for Minnesota`s high and increased levels of inbound cigarette smuggling activity. ...
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The role of mining is looming large in the run-up to the Presidential election next week. This is especially true in Minnesota, which was the 4th largest mining economy in the country in 2019, producing more than $5 billion in the value of minerals produced, according to the United States Geological Survey. Center of the American Experiment's research has shown that developing Minnesota's massive copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, cobalt, and titanium resources could add $5.9 billion to the state's economy and create up to 14,850 new jobs in our state. With so much on the line, it is no surprise mining has...
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Democrats in California are starting to wake up to the reality that wind and solar mandates are some of the most regressive policies we can enact in a society. Liberal wind and solar groups like Fresh Energy pretend to care about concepts like "environmental justice," but the policies they advocate for are a driving force behind income inequality. These policies, which increase prices for energy, hurt low-income households the most. These groups pay lip service to helping low-income communities while advocating for policies that make their life harder every single day. California Assemblyman Jim Cooper, a Black Democrat from Elk Grove, California...
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The future of nuclear power looks a little brighter now that U.S. officials have approved a design for a small commercial nuclear reactor for the first time in the nation's history. According to the Associated Press: "The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday approved Portland-based NuScale Power’s application for the small modular reactor that Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems plans to build at a U.S. Department of Energy site in eastern Idaho. "The small reactors can produce about 60 megawatts of energy, or enough to power more than 50,000 homes. The proposed project includes 12 small modular reactors. The first would be...
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The following article was written by Isaac Orr and originally appeared in the Faribault Daily News: Millions of California families and businesses recently lost their electricity during a record-breaking heat wave. The blackouts occurred because of bad decisions by California politicians to shut down many of the state’s reliable nuclear, natural gas, and coal-fired power plants, resulting in an overdependence on unreliable energy sources like wind and solar. As a result, the state was unable to generate enough electricity to meet demand when it was needed most. California’s rolling blackouts should be a reality check for the Minnesota lawmakers, utility executives, and...
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