Don’t put the cart ahead of the horse

Businesses, and in fact all Minnesotans, are struggling enough in today’s economy without imposing further regulations that will put us at a competitive disadvantage with our counterparts across the nation and world. It makes little sense to pass new regulations until the financial impact is known. That’s just one of the reasons why we oppose enactment of the proposed low carbon fuel standard.

The standard set forth in HF 86/SF 13 could adversely affect our state’s economy by potentially increasing fuel prices for all Minnesotans and destabilizing our fuel supply. As a result, the bill would likely fail to achieve its goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

The proposed standard could restrict the use of Canadian crude oil in favor of lower carbon sources, potentially wasting billions of dollars of investment in infrastructure to bring crude oil from Canada to the Midwest.

The Minnesota economy – read: jobs – should be the priority as lawmakers engage in this debate. Most businesses rely on the transportation system to ship and receive products. This bill could potentially increase those costs at a time when our economy is so fragile.

What will be the impact of a low carbon fuel standard on the state’s economy? What are the environmental and land-use impacts? Will jobs be lost or created? A University of Minnesota study is under way to try and answer these exact questions. Let’s find out the answers to these common-sense questions before venturing into unknown policy.