Minnesota is behind schedule in achieving the transportation-related greenhouse gas reduction and clean fuel adoption goals established through the bipartisan Next Generation Energy Act of 2007. We believe that a clean transportation standard can help get Minnesota back on track.

We believe that a clean transportation standard, designed based on recommendations in the Midwestern Clean Fuels Policy Initiative’s white paper A Clean Fuels Policy for the Midwest, can have many benefits for Minnesota, including:

• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions in Minnesota’s highest-emitting sector: transportation.
• Economic benefits to households while creating additional labor income, employment, and economic output.
• Benefits for consumers through market access for clean fuels that are often lower cost than conventional fuels and currently face barriers to entry in the marketplace.
• Equitable access to clean transportation for all Minnesota communities.
• Increased investment in cleaner fuels for all types of vehicles and a more innovative and prosperous clean fuels sector spurring consumer demand for cleaner products.
• A technology- and fuel-neutral, performance-based approach that rewards the cleanest fuels and expands the fuel market without having government pick winners and losers.
• Reductions in air pollution and associated health benefits, particularly in areas that have been disproportionately impacted by transportation pollution.
• Economic incentives and market demand to maximize the resource value of organic waste (including manure, biosolids, and food waste), reducing the climate impacts of organic waste, and supporting counties’ efforts to achieve state recycling goals.
• Increased energy independence by relying less on imported resources and more on state resources.
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions in the two highest-emitting sectors of transportation and electricity, as well as in the agricultural sector.
• The potential to support voluntary farmer-led efforts to invest in and adopt agricultural conservation practices that benefit soil health and water quality and reduce farm-level greenhouse gas emissions.