10 Things to Know About the Threat to the 100% Law

People across the state celebrated the historic passing of Minnesota’s 100 percent Clean Energy Law, which MCEA helped pass back in 2023. But our experts knew the attempts to stymie the law’s aims to decarbonize Minnesota’s power sector by 2040 wouldn’t stop at the bill signing. Now the landmark legislation is at risk of being undermined before it’s even implemented. Here’s what you need to know about the threats and what MCEA is doing to counter them. 

1. The law is making its way through the implementation process at the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). One of the first orders of business is for the Commission to determine which energy technologies will qualify as “carbon free” under the law. These are the technologies that utilities should increasingly use to power the grid moving forward. 
2. The process includes a comment period where the public can weigh in to try and impact the outcome. The process has been hijacked by special interests like the forest products industry and electric utilities that are trying to convince PUC commissioners that carbon EMITTING technologies like biomass and trash incineration should be included even though the language of the statute clearly prohibits them. 
3. Of particular concern is that two of our own state agencies - the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Commerce – have aligned with industry and are also pushing for false climate solutions like biomass and trash incineration to qualify under the law. 
4. Burning biomass and trash undeniably emit carbon dioxide. In fact, per megawatt-hour of electricity produced, both technologies actually emit more carbon dioxide than burning coal.
5. Burning wood and trash also have major environmental justice implications as the processes emit dangerous air pollutants into surrounding communities. Six of the seven municipal trash incinerators in Minnesota are located in or near environmental justice communities, and one of the state’s biggest biomass facilities - Hibbard Energy Center - is in Duluth.  
6. The PUC would have to ignore the plain language of the law to allow biomass and trash incineration to qualify. The law defines “carbon free” as a “technology that generates electricity without emitting carbon dioxide.” 
7. MCEA submitted a detailed comment to the PUC along with Sierra Club laying out the law and the commission’s responsibility to uphold it. We backed it with science and leading research. We also partnered with legislators who helped pass the law on a press conference to amplify our message and the stakes of this decision. 
8. MCEA has an unrivaled history and track record of success at the PUC. We are committed to protecting the law and doing everything we can to make sure it has the teeth it needs once implemented to achieve its goal: a decarbonized power sector that paves the way for Minnesota to meet its climate goals in every other sector.
9. The PUC will hold a hearing on this later this summer and issue a decision sometime after. The docket will then move to the next phase of detailing other compliance criteria. The proceeding is not expected to be completed until 2025.
10. Stay tuned for more to come on this and ways you can help.