Greenhouse gas emissions

Minnesota would implement a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electric power plants and other industries, if a bill sponsored by Rep. Kate Knuth (DFL-New Brighton) becomes law.

HF3195, also known as the Green Solutions Act, would implement a program whereby total emissions would be limited and major emitters could purchase and sell emissions allowances to one another. The House Environment and Natural Resources Committee heard testimony Feb. 26, but took no action.

Knuth said the goal is to build on last year’s Next Generation Energy Act, which directs the state to reduce its total greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels — 15 percent by 2015, 30 percent by 2025 and 80 percent by 2050. The act also created the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group, which was charged with recommending a strategy to meet these goals. Knuth noted that although the group failed to settle on the details, it did favor a cap and trade program.

“The reality is, emissions are still going up, and they need to go down,” Knuth said, adding that a cap and trade system would be a “powerful and simple way to get real reductions.”

Supporters of the bill include J. Drake Hamilton, science policy director for Fresh Energy. She warned committee members they would see a “different Minnesota” if the impacts of climate change went unmitigated.

Bob Schulte, CEO of the Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, was among numerous representatives from power companies who testified in opposition. He said a federal- or regional-level approach would be more effective, and warned that any costs incurred by electric utilities in the state would ultimately be passed on to their customers.

Ed Garvey, director of the state’s newly created Office of Energy Security, also testified against the bill, arguing that it would hamper the state’s ability to negotiate with fellow signatories to last year’s Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord. The accord lays out a framework for a regional approach to cap-and-trade.

A companion bill, SF2818, sponsored by Sen. Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul), awaits action by the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.