Hello from the State Capitol,
We have nearly completed our first full month of work at the Minnesota House of Representatives. While I have not been thrilled with the priorities the House majority has been fast-tracking to the House floor, I have been pleased with the number of local residents who have reached out and not only shared their opinions with me, but in some cases have asked for help.
What I’ve learned in the past few weeks is that this job is more than just pushing a yes or no button on the House floor. It is about hearing the issues facing people in Hastings, Cottage Grove, and Denmark and Nininger Townships and finding ways to eliminate those problems.
For example, I had a family recently contact me concerned that the rates at their care center had increased by $1,200 a month. Why is this happening? Is it happening to everyone? Is there any way to scale back this increase? All good questions, and I’m happy to help investigate.
To me, this is the most important part of being your State Representative – trying to help you directly solve problems that you are having with government agencies or just trying to help you find answers to problems that don’t make sense. I enjoy serving as a conduit to those who do not have a voice in St. Paul, helping navigate issues and make government more accountable to you.
As always, please contact me at rep.shane.hudella@house.mn.gov if I can be of assistance. I’m happy to help.
BLACKOUT BILL APPROVED IN HOUSE
Yesterday House Democrats approved their bill that would force Minnesota’s electric utilities to generate or acquire 100 percent carbon-free energy by the year 2040. Not one Republican supported it, mainly because it is doomed to fail due to the blackouts that will likely happen during our winter months.
The plan would eventually eliminate coal and natural gas fired power plants – which are extremely reliable - and force utility companies to use renewable energy sources such as wind and solar – which are not nearly as reliable.
Along with unreliability, this carbon-free plan is expected to be highly unaffordable for many. A report from the Center of the American Experiment (CAE) estimates that the Walz/Democrat plan to move to 100 percent carbon free electricity by 2040 will cost $313 billion, or nearly $3,900 per family per year.
And how would the Earth benefit from this change? According to CAE it would help avert 0.00096 degree Celsius of warming by the year 2100.
The type of radical policies Minnesota House Democrats are pushing already are causing havoc elsewhere. While everyone has heard about the rolling blackouts in California, Germany is also having major problems as it is rationing electricity as electric vehicles and heat pumps threaten the collapse of local power grids. In fact, Germany has now resurrected its coal-fired power plants to ensure the country has enough energy to get through the winter.
No one wants to harm the Earth, but some of us also don’t want to harm Minnesotans, either. Making this kind of leap with little of the needed infrastructure currently in place will not only make energy costs unaffordable for us in the future but dangerous.
A more sensible solution would be using numerous sources to create more of a balanced energy portfolio that includes nuclear, hydro, and natural gas. But that’s not what the Governor and legislative Democrats want, and they have complete control of our state government right now, so here we are.
The bill now heads to the Minnesota Senate for debate.
Talk to you soon.
Shane