History in the Making

Earlier this summer, I took a break from campaigning for a couple of days. My fiancee was aready up at her family cabin on Lake Vermillion, and I was cramming through a bunch of tight deadlines at work and on the campaign. It was one of those months where the pace gets faster and faster and it seems you can't do anything but keep working your way through it. I barely had time to keep up with email let alone absorb any of the news. I was just diligently keeping my head down, trying to get enough done to finally get away.

So, when the moment finally came, I treated myself to a quiet drive up I35 towards Duluth, savoring the relative silence. All of a sudden, there it was. Barreling down the freeway the other way was a long and massive white object, taking up nearly all of the freeway. I developed a knot in my stomach, wondering what in the world had transpired the last few days. Quickly, I snapped the radio on, flipping from WCCO to MPR to ClearChannel, hoping for any hint of news. By the time I looked up again, the object and its oversized flatbed trailer was vanishing in my rear-view mirror.

We all probably remember that 8th-grade civics lesson about the Interstate Highway system, and Eisenhower's emphasis on a means to move military infrastructure quickly.

About two minutes later, another missile-like object appeared at the top of a ridge. I watched it very carefully as it approached. This time, it was closely followed by a large, towering, bulky object. On the side of this large manifold was a barely distinguishable logo.

Only after these trailers passed me did I realize that these were not missiles headed to a silo, but instead were the blades and the hub of a new wind turbine, likely headed for southeastern Minnesota from the port in Duluth.

Tonight, the House convenes at 6 p.m. in our first evening session of the year, to debate and vote on the Renewable Energy Standard (RES), Senate File 4. The bill will require that Excel energy generate 30% of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2020. All other utilities are required to generate 25% of their electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2025. The mandate for Excel - who provides almost half of Minnesota's power - is larger and sooner partly due to their license to operate the two nuclear power plants in Minnesota. Overall, Minnesota will generate 25% of its electricity from cleaner sources by 2020, and an average of 27.5% or so by 2025.

This bill will create thousands of new jobs in Minnesota - from operating engineers to manufacturers of the turbines themselves. In fact, those turbine parts I saw this summer on I-35 - many of them will now be made at a Suzlon plant in Pipestone, Minnesota, saving a ton of money in transportation costs.

Combined with an Energy Efficiency performance standard, see my bill, House File 789, the RES will likely ultimately result in a net drop of carbon dioxide emissions from power generation in Minnesota by 2025 - as much as a 15% drop in CO2 emissions, actually.

And, most importantly, as I speak with veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the RES is a major step toward Energy Independence, at least for Minnesota. By adopting one of the nation's most aggressive and achievable standards, we can lead the way toward an Apollo Alliance style national initiative for Energy Independence and self-sufficiency. Is 25 or even 30% independence? Not yet. But we will control much more of our own energy destiny - without sacrificing our high quality of life - and can reduce the staggering amount of money we send to areas of the world intent on killing our soldiers.

Tonight, history is in the offing. I look forward to the debate. You can watch it live here by clicking on "Updates from the House Floor" on the upper right hand corner of the page.