FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 16, 2021
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bill Walsh (651) 373-1819
Golden Valley, MN) Minnesotans paying their bills at the kitchen table have seen the cost of electricity increase 23 percent faster than the national average since 2007, when the state mandated the use of wind and solar energy. Now, Xcel Energy’s plan to shut down their coal plants before the end of their useful lifetime to build new wind turbines, solar panels, and natural gas plants, will cost each of those ratepayers an additional $1,428 per year, every year, through 2051, and avert only 0.00039° C of future global warming by 2100, according to Isaac Orr, a policy fellow specializing in energy and environmental policy at American Experiment, based on extensive research conducted by Center of the American Experiment (“CAE”).
It is time for Minnesotans to speak up against totally unnecessary increases in electricity bills resulting from purely symbolic “environmental” actions designed to curry favor with special interest environmental groups. Represented by the Upper Midwest Law Center (“UMLC”), CAE has filed comments to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (“PUC”) arguing the cost of Xcel Energy’s plan far outweigh any environmental benefits, so the PUC should reject the Plan.
“Rising electricity costs,” commented Orr, “are a hidden tax on our quality of life. It is important that we shine a light on this ‘wind and solar tax’ so people can decide for themselves whether the costs of these politically favored energy sources are worth the benefits.”
“Increasing the cost of electricity increases the cost of everything,” he cautioned. “Rising costs mean the local school has higher electric bills, so they need to make hard decisions between laying off teachers or other staff or raising property taxes.” The same problem affects every user of electricity and their customers.
Doug Seaton, Esq., President of UMLC, added: “We believe that the PUC should reject this Plan because it is irrational to incur these costs for the nominal, really purely symbolic benefit to be gained, and that the courts cannot allow this Plan to be implemented if the PUC should wrongfully endorse it.”
UMLC filed CAE’s comments regarding Xcel Energy’s proposed integrated resource plan with the Minnesota PUC late last week. Click here to view the filing.
About the Upper Midwest Law Center
Upper Midwest Law Center is a non-profit, public interest law firm with the mission to initiate pro-freedom litigation to protect against government overreach, special interest agendas and public union corruption and abuses. UMLC is a 501(c)(3) organization.
To learn more about Upper Midwest Law Center, click here.
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