on January 16, 2020

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Center of the American Experiment Testifies on the Minnesota Senate’s Clean Energy First Bill in Rochester

Written by Isaac Orr

in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

Last night, I drove down to Rochester to testify at a hearing on the Minnesota Senate's Clean Energy First bill. As you will see in my testimony, this proposed legislation offers several significant improvements over previous legislation introduced to shape Minnesota's energy future, such as those proposed last session by Governor Walz and the Minnesota House of Representatives. However, there are still a few problematic parts of this legislation that I address later on in my comments. My testimony begins at 1:31:29 and I've pasted my comments below with additional links to provide references for my testimony. https://www.facebook.com/mnsrc/videos/477619166520895/ January 15, 2020 Testimony Clean Energy...

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on January 07, 2020

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Xcel Energy Electricity Bills Will Increase $50 This Year Due to Renewable Energy

Written by Isaac Orr

in Climate, Energy, Environment

Xcel Energy is seeking to increase your electricity prices by 4.736 percent in order to pay for an additional $101.8 million in spending on wind projects between 2019 and 2020. This will cause the average family with Xcel Energy to pay about $52 more in 2020 than they did in 2018. As a result, these families would pay the highest electricity bills they have ever paid....

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on November 18, 2019

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Our Perspective: Minnesota’s Days of Cheaper Electricity Seem Numbered

Written by Isaac Orr

in Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

This weekend, Mike Hughlett of the Star Tribune wrote an excellent article entitled "Minnesota's Days of Cheaper Electricity Seem Numbered," which details how Minnesota electricity prices have increased substantially in the last 15 years. The piece is an important acknowledgement that the energy policies pursued in Minnesota are causing electricity costs to rise, an argument Center of the American Experiment has been making since late 2017. I have included portions of the article below and added additional commentary to provide more context to help readers understand the topic in a more comprehensive manner. The article begins below: "Hefty rate hikes that Minnesota’s...

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on November 08, 2019

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NREL Data: There’s Virtually No Demand for Voluntary Renewable Energy Programs

Written by Isaac Orr

in Climate, Energy, Environment

I often hear that there is a massive demand for wind and solar power among utility customers, but if this were true, one would expect participation in programs like Xcel Energy's Windsource and Renewable Connect to be off the charts. However, according to data compiled by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), almost no one enrolls in these voluntary programs. For example, NREL data show Xcel Energy sold 424,589 megawatt hours (MWh) of voluntary renewable energy in 2017. That may sound like a lot, but it accounts for just 1.39 percent of all the electricity Xcel sells in Minnesota. When you consider the fact that Xcel Energy...

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on November 07, 2019

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High Electricity Prices Killed More Than 1,280 People in Japan After The Government Foolishly Shuttered All Nuclear Facilities Following Fukushima

Written by Isaac Orr

in Climate, Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

High electricity prices are deadly. That's the conclusion reached by a new paper produced by the National Bureau Of Economic Research (NBER), which investigated the relationship between electricity prices and mortality after the Japanese government's decision to shut down all of its nuclear power plants following the Fukushima meltdown in March of 2011. According to NBER, shutting these plants down came at enormous costs, both economic and human. The paper reads: "To meet electricity demands, the reduction in nuclear energy production was offset by increased importation of fossil fuels, which increased the price of electricity by as much as 38 percent in some...

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on October 31, 2019

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Xcel Energy Sponsors Gala for Anti-Mining, Anti-Farming, Pro-Wind and Solar Green Group To Help Them Pad Their Profits

Written by Isaac Orr

in Agriculture, Climate, Energy, Environment, Greater Minnesota, Minnesota Economy

Minnesota families saw their electricity bills reach a new all-time high in 2018 due to an increasing reliance on expensive and unreliable wind and solar power. Despite the fact that Minnesota is already on track to meet current renewable energy mandates, Xcel Energy wants exceed these regulations by building 3,000 to 4,000 megawatts (MW) of solar, a massive amount, and shutting down their existing coal plants, which produce some of the lowest cost electricity in the state. It appears Xcel is enlisting the help of the Minnesota Center For Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) to help gain public approval for this plan by...

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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 May 24, 2019

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Isaac Talks About Xcel’s Coal Plant Closure Plan on Justice and Drew

Written by Isaac Orr

in Energy, Environment

Isaac Orr joins Justice and Drew to talk about why Xcel Energy's plan to shut down the last of its coal-fired power plants is a bad deal for the Minnesota families, who are forced to buy their electricity from the government-approved monopoly utility....

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on May 23, 2019

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Wind Subsidies for Xcel Energy’s Minnesota Operations Totaled More Than $49 Million in 2016

Written by Isaac Orr

in Energy, Environment, Minnesota Economy

According to data found in utility documents filed with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Xcel Energy earned $49.3 million in federal subsidies in 2016 from its wind facilities located throughout Minnesota and North Dakota. It's important to remember that the cost of wind energy in Minnesota is not just reflected in your monthly electric bill, but it also increases the amount of federal taxes you must pay. While $49 million is no doubt a significant chuck of change, it likely represents only a small amount of the federal subsidies doled out to wind producers in Minnesota because most of the wind...

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on April 15, 2019

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Minnesota Should Keep Burning Clean, Beautiful Coal

Written by Isaac Orr

in Climate, Energy, Environment

With President Trump visiting Minnesota today, there is no better time to emphasize the fact that Minnesota would save $87.7 billion dollars through 2050 by continuing to burn clean, beautiful coal to generate electricity instead of pursuing more wind and solar. Despite claims to the contrary, coal-fired electricity is far more affordable than wind or solar. Minnesota can only reap these massive economic benefits if we implement the Trump Administration’s proposed Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which requires coal plants to make common sense, and cost effective improvements to reduce carbon dioxide emissions....

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