Governor Pawlenty and the Renewable Energy Standard: The Real Story

Last year the legislature passed the Renewable Energy Standard, that calls for at least 25% of our electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020! I am proud to say that this was my bill and my legislative mission. This put Minnesota in the lead on aggressive clean energy policies and is probably the toughest renewable energy law in the nation. Standing next to Governor Pawlenty as he signed the bill was one of the highlights of my legislative career. There was a genuinely bipartisan celebration that day.

Republican lobbyist Sarah Janezcek tells the story of how Governor Pawlenty “brought everybody together in a room to work out that bill and get it done.” It’s a great story; unfortunately it’s just not true. Since I was in the middle of it, I feel compelled to set the record straight.

I give Governor Pawlenty credit for being a leading voice in the Republican party for renewable energy and fighting global warming. But I will not stand silent in the face of hypocrisy or lies. Last year he went to Washington for the National Governors Association calling for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, but at the same time made a deal to approve a new polluting coal plant for Minnesota. When his supporters claim he got the Renewable Energy Standard passed, Minnesotans need to know the truth. Governor Pawlenty and the Republican leadership fought to weaken or kill the bill year after year. I will be watching to ensure that Governor Pawlenty supports the policies when it really counts—not in front of a camera but in the halls of the Capitol! I will be watching to ensure that both the legislature and Governor Pawlenty are truly looking out for future generations and making the tough decisions to dramatically cut our greenhouse gas emissions statewide.

I first introduced a version of the renewable energy standard bill in 2001. I was able to get it passed in the Senate as part of an omnibus energy bill, but the House, then controlled by Republicans (including then Assistant Majority Leader Pawlenty) opposed the idea of a “mandate” on utilities so we passed a weaker compromise voluntary version. I kept introducing the stronger bills and had hearings on them every year in the Senate. By 2003 I was the Chair of the Senate Energy committee and I clearly remember the lead Pawlenty Adminstration official on energy testifying against my bill, arguing it was “premature.” I kept pushing hard despite opposition from the Pawlenty Administration, House leadership, and the electric utilities. I met with utility lobbyists every year and asked them for suggestions to improve the bill, but they were not interested in negotiating when they had the power to simply defeat the legislation in the House. Due to the opposition, the bill went nowhere.

In 2005 and 2006 the House Republicans killed the bill and refused to let it come up for a vote on the House floor, despite the valiant efforts of House author, Representative Aaron Peterson. I was able to pass the bill in the DFL-controlled Senate in 2006. Very late in the 2006 legislative session, it became apparent that the Speaker of the House, Steve Swiggum, was not going to let the entire energy omnibus bill, which had a number of important provisions for low income consumers and renewable energy, negotiated and agreed to by all stakeholders, come up for a vote. The fear that the Renewable Energy Standard would be offered as an amendment, that would be likely to pass, was enough to stop consideration of the entire energy omnibus bill! Late one night at the end of the legislative session I called a number of the key utility lobbyists together to ask them to talk to Speaker Swiggum and let the omnibus bill come up for a vote. Representative Peterson and I gave our word that we wouldn’t try to pass the RES anymore that session, just so we could save the omnibus bill. The utility lobbyists walked out of the room saying, “we’re sorry, we are going to tell Speaker Swiggum to allow the bill to die because it’s too risky.” And they did speak to Speaker Swiggum and the bill was not even considered!

The Republicans had clearly overreached and the House Democrats were so mad that it became a major campaign issue. Margaret Keliher Anderson campaigned around the state in 2006 saying that if Democrats took over the House, one of the first things they would do is pass the Renewable Energy Standard.

During the 2007 Legislative Session, that’s exactly what happened. The Pawlenty Administration was publicly very supportive of renewable energy by then, but still only supported a “voluntary” standard. A
a “voluntary” standard wouldn’t have the same impact of driving market development of wind power. Since the Democrats took control of the House, the utilities finally came to the table, knowing that the House and Senate had the votes and support of leadership to pass the bill. That’s why we were finally able to negotiate a compromise, which kept the basic framework of the bill, strong benchmarks the utilities had to meet, a mandatory requirement, and the dates and percentages I insisted on, combined with some “offramps” that made the utilities comfortable that if it was too expensive or technically difficult to comply they had some outs.

I believe there were three reasons the Renewable Energy Standard finally passed: persistent advocacy by a few legislators year after year; a groundswell of public support and grassroots organizing; and the 2006 election which gave the DFL the majority in the House of Representatives.

The fact is Governor Pawlenty has a clear record of blocking or weakening the Renewable Energy Standard bill. Let the real legislative history be known instead of the "greenwashed" marketing image of Governor Pawlenty.