Minnesota Introduces Their Own Green New Deal, As Written By Kids

Hey, AOC’s GND looks like it was written by kids with zero experience of the world, so, hey, why not. And, it is a bill, not a resolution like AO’s one (via Watts Up With That?)

Minnesota Introduces Bold New Climate Change Bill Crafted By Teens

Everyone always looks to California for climate action, but don’t sleep on the Midwest. On Thursday, Minnesota legislators introduced a sweeping new bill modelled after Alexandrio Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.

But their bill and its rollout differs in one huge way: they let teens lead the way in crafting and introducing it, a first for climate legislation. The press conference and bill may be less visible than 1.5 million students in the streets, but it’s a landmark moment as young adults open up a new front in the push for climate action.

“This is our future, and we’re actually taking action on it,” Anna Grace Hottinger, a 16 year old sophomore who helped author the bill, told Earther.

Hottinger is part of the group Minnesota Can’t Wait, a youth-led climate advocacy group that has been pushing for climate action at the state level. The idea of a bill arose in the fall and the group has been meeting with Minnesota state legislators for months, including a January meeting Governor Tim Walz shortly after his inauguration.

What does it do?

The Minnesota Green New Deal bill represents a much more dramatic step. Introduced by state Representative Frank Hornstein and Senator Scott Dibble along with 17 co-sponsors, the legislation follows the outlines of the Green New Deal resolution introduced at the federal level earlier this year.

The bill requires the state to run on 100 per cent carbon-free energy by 2030 and puts a moratorium on fossil fuel permitting. It also requires commissioners of various state agencies to come up with plans for decarbonisation of different sectors, including transportation and agriculture, as well as divesting the state’s pension system from fossil fuels.

Throughout, the text nods to the need for getting input from a wide range of groups including unions, low income communities, people of colour, and tribes. Hottinger said those provisions were really important, and that Minnesota Can’t Wait reached out to trade unions and other groups who would be impacted for feedback on the proposed text.

So, it’s all about hardcore leftist SJW and identity politics? Huh. And, as far as being “a much more dramatic step”, the legislation would deny the construction of any “facility to transport, store, or process coal, crude oil or its derivative products, propane, or natural gas,” which would also mean that no new homes would be able to be constructed with the best option for a Minnesota winter, natural gas. Also, no new gas stations, and the legislation seems to imply that upgrades to existing gas stations would be disallowed.

Further

The bill is ripe with language on how the state can help facilitate a just transition to a clean energy economy, from jobs training to identifying any economic impact the shift could have on electricity rates.

“The Minnesota Green New Deal not only represents a bold agenda toward climate change, but also represents a new style of politics, one that values people over profits,” Tiger Worku, a junior from Minneapolis, said at the press conference announcing the bill on Wednesday.

This is about shifting away from capitalism into their Modern Socialist type system as run by Government. And good luck running the snowplows on solar panels.

It has zero chance of passing, though, since Republicans control the Minn. Senate.