Tim Walz, V.P. Kamala Harris’s choice as her vice presidential running mate and Governor of Minnesota, has one of the most extreme state-level records on “clean energy” in the United States, rivaling Governor Newsom in California. In 2023, Walz signed into law a target for Minnesota to get 100 percent of its power from zero-carbon sources by 2040, having signed legislation prioritizing the creation of “greener” plants in areas that previously featured fossil-fuel plants. Coal has since fallen behind renewables and nuclear as the state’s top source of power. He set aside $2 billion in grants for “clean energy” projects in the state—a local version of Biden’s climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. In June, he signed legislation expected to cut a full year off the time it takes to get permits to build energy and grid transmission projects. As a member of Congress, he voted in favor of carbon-pricing legislation and pitched it to skeptical constituents in Minnesota as a new way to squeeze profit out of farmland.
Walz’s climate plan includes a goal of increasing the share of electric cars on Minnesota roads to 20 percent by 2030 from the current 1 percent, setting stricter limits in vehicle emissions; reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030; and achieving a zero net carbon emissions goal by 2050. Minnesota is one of 17 states that have tied their vehicle emission standards to California’s rules rather than federal regulations that are less strict. He has also proposed completely banning liquid transportation fuels by 2050. Minnesota’s “clean transportation standard” (CTS) would ban all liquid fuels including gasoline, diesel, ethanol, and Minnesota’s homegrown biofuels. A study from Stillwater Associates found that such an energy policy in Minnesota would be responsible for raising gas prices by as much as 94 cents per gallon by 2030 and up to $1.05 per gallon by 2040. Diesel prices under the policy could rise by $3.61 cents per gallon by 2030 and over $4 per gallon by 2040.
Background
In a campaign announcement in 2022, Walz unveiled a 69-page plan for fighting climate change that he pledged would be a priority in a second term if voters reelected him. Politico reports that “it took Governor Tim Walz all of a month after being sworn into a second term to sign a sweeping clean energy bill that put in place one of the Midwest’s most progressive climate policies.” Walz came to the governor’s mansion with a history of pitching skeptical voters on climate action. His carbon-free energy standard was made possible by Democrats flipping the state Senate in November 2022 and giving the party a political trifecta for the first time in nearly a decade, passing it with a one-vote margin. The vote to pass the measure was along straight party lines and opposed by Republicans. Critics outside the state including Walz’s GOP neighbor, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, continue to threaten to sue Minnesota over its energy policies.
North Dakota officials and leaders in the state’s coal industry are pushing for carbon capture and storage to qualify as an eligible technology under Minnesota’s carbon-free standard, a key part of that state’s climate law. The North Dakota Industrial Commission, a three-member panel led by Burgum, filed formal comments with Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission in June 2024, expressing concerns about the Minnesota law’s constitutionality and stating that carbon capture “must be recognized as a ‘carbon-free energy technology.’”
Before the November 2022 midterm election, Walz championed climate reforms on his own, via executive order. In 2021, the state adopted California’s clean cars rule. Despite his anti-internal-combustion-vehicle policies, Walz rides in a gas-fueled SUV, claiming that it is for security reasons. Before needing the protection of an SUV, however, the governor drove an immaculately restored 1979 International Scout. The Scout averages less than 12 miles per gallon. According to the Center of the American Experiment, Walz’s ownership of the 1970s gas guzzler is emblematic of a Democratic-run state “where rioting and looting are given tacit approval, and where liberal politicians happily impose more costs on Minnesota families for purchasing vehicles while tooling around town in one of the least fuel-efficient cars around.”
Walz said at a 2023 event, “I have to tell you, when I hear people say, ‘You’re moving too fast’ — we can’t move too fast when it comes to addressing climate change.” His climate plan requires utilities to produce 100 percent carbon-free energy in just 15 years. In 2023, he promoted a prototype electric firetruck that an Austrian company is producing in Wyoming, Minnesota, calling it “the future of firefighting.” The trucks cost between $1.6 million and $1.8 million–about twice as much as a regular fire truck. According to Republican VP Candidate, J.D. Vance, Walz is just a “San Francisco-style liberal.”
Conclusion
Harris has chosen a candidate whose approach to energy more closely resembles her long-term vision for the United States. Minnesota produces no oil, natural gas, or coal, and Walz’s signature legislation requires utilities to produce 100 percent carbon-free energy in just 15 years. Walz’s policies and implementation resemble the Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act philosophy: Use a combination of regulation and public spending to force “clean energy” on Americans as a supposed driver of economic growth and job creation. Walz is an experienced practitioner of the jobs-centric climate policy that Harris is seeking to defend and his record shows he knows how to sell it to his constituents. It will be interesting to see how Walz sells his clean transportation standard given that Minnesota’s biofuel industry is one of the largest in the country. The protection of farm-related jobs could outweigh concerns about the carbon and land footprint of biofuels.
