Counterpoint | Walz is no villain on energy affordability

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Annette Meeks (“Minnesotans cannot afford more years of Walz energy policy,” Strib Voices, Oct. 9) is right about one thing regarding the energy policy of Gov. Tim Walz: “[O]ur state deserves an affordable and more secure energy future.” Unfortunately, she and the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota miss the mark on how to get there.

First, affordability: For 10 years running, renewables have been the cheapest form of new electricity generation. Recent analysis from investment bank Lazard found that the levelized cost of energy utility-scale solar is in the ballpark of $38-$78 per megawatt-hour. For wind, it’s about $37-$86. If it’s a race between clean power and coal, coal is losing badly with its $71-$173 per megawatt-hour price tag.

Those economics are inconvenient for the coal companies and their favorite politicians. The Trump administration has recently interfered in the “free” energy market with $625 million in funding for coal infrastructure. President Donald Trump also issued an unnecessary order to prolong the operations of a Michigan coal plant that utility operators had moved to shut down. Ratepayers and taxpayers are on the hook for this polluting boondoggle.

Minnesota, meanwhile, is already leading on the transition to clean energy, and most of our electricity generation is now carbon-free. If warnings of skyrocketing costs were true, one would expect our household electricity bills to be out of control. A quick glance at recent residential electric bills in Minnesota and similarly sized, red-leaning Midwestern states tells a different story.

Between July 2024 and 2025, Wisconsinites’ home power bills increased 4.6%. In Missouri, there was a 6.4% rise, and Indiana saw a whopping 10.1% increase. Here in Minnesota, land of the 100% carbon-free mandate, home power bills rose only 2.9%. Many of us will remember an event that did hit our power bills: the 2021 winter storm in Texas, where that state’s failure to weatherize its natural gas systems disrupted the energy market for much of the country, Minnesota included.

As far as vehicle emissions go, Meeks hasn’t provided any evidence that Walz has come for anyone’s pickup truck or tractor. His administration has indeed worked to make electric vehicles more widely available. Minnesotans have responded with enthusiasm, with EV sales rising to a record 7.6% of all auto sales in 2024.

Meeks claims that “generations of Minnesotans understood that these fuels” — fossil fuels, that is — “provided a reliable and necessary energy source that literally fueled American innovation and production for generations.” Minnesotans before them had the same view of the horse-drawn wagon and the coal-powered locomotive. Technologies advance, and unlike coal, wind power doesn’t pump carcinogens or toxic mercury into the air. Unlike oil, solar panels don’t have toxic “spills.”

Minnesota doesn’t produce our own coal or natural gas, but we have plenty of wind, especially in areas like southwestern Minnesota. We have plenty of areas where solar panels can coexist with rooftops or grazing. We have opportunities for clean-energy job growth in every corner of the state.

Minnesotans might not all agree on how to approach the energy transition — perhaps we’re not “One Minnesota” in that sense. But we can all see the impacts of fossil fuels right in front of our eyes. We’ve all coughed on increasingly common wildfire smoke. We’ve all felt this month’s record-high temperatures. We’ve seen tornadoes in December. We’ve seen drought scorch our state’s crops one year and floods drown them in another.

Minnesota can’t solve the climate crisis on our own, but the technologies that are good for the climate are good for our wallets and good for our health. Gov. Tim Pawlenty understood this when he signed the Next Generation Energy Act in 2007. State Rep. Melissa Hortman understood it when she passed the Solar Energy Jobs Act in 2013. Gov. Walz understands it today, and Minnesotans are better off for it.