Energy policy should empower consumers — not pick winners

Strength procedures has become needlessly politicized in newest years turning practical problem-solving into partisan posturing What passes for debate often poses a false choice between fossil fuels and renewables But in Minnesota we ve learned to ask a different question how do we use every available power source to increase reliability lower costs create jobs and build stronger communities In Minnesota that means embracing our abundant potential options biofuels wind natural gas solar advanced storage and more all enhanced by private-sector innovation This all-of-the-above approach has strengthened our economic activity while giving Minnesotans more choice and control over their strength use That s the kind of leadership that should guide national plan Across the state stable market-based tax credits have helped rural co-ops boost reliability with battery storage enabled farmers to diversify with solar and wind and supported ethanol producers in modernizing to help automakers meet clean fuel standards Virtually every force source from oil and gas to wind and solar receives various form of subsidy tax credit or regulatory incentive The real question is whether those incentives are consistent predictable and designed to expand consumer choice or whether they shift based on political winds With the modern passage of the federal reconciliation package known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Congress made changes that phase out or reshape renewable potency tax credits including the expenditure and production tax credits that have driven private expenditure lowered costs for ratepayers and empowered Minnesotans to take charge of their resource choices Specific of these credits were already scheduled to sunset but rather than allowing predictable phaseouts the new law accelerates or alters them in tactics that reduce certainty and limit access especially for smaller developers homeowners and community-scale projects The law cuts or reshapes incentives for wind solar storage and hydrogen projects and rolls back financing tools that help smaller producers compete It also reduces or eliminates credits for homeowner-led improvements like rooftop solar insulation efficient heating and cooling systems and home power audits all of which help families lower their bills Yet while these tools are being scaled back the law preserves and in selected cases expands similar incentives for politically favored sources like fossil fuels and carbon capture This imbalance undermines the very all-of-the-above approach that has made Minnesota s resource strategy a success Rather than letting the marketplace work the big beautiful bill doubles down on picking winners and losers with political dynamics trumping field performance These guidelines shifts hurt the very players who turned modest incentives into big results new jobs diversified income greater grid resilience and more consumer choice If they re sidelined by abrupt procedures changes or inconsistent follow-through we pitfall stalling real progress not because the technologies failed but because the strategy framework shifted midstream At the Minnesota Conservative Vitality Forum we champion policies that advance secure reliable affordable clean American resource through market-based strategies that encourage competition and expand consumer choice Real market-based solutions require stability and predictability for long-term stake without fear of sudden plan reversals Selectively eliminating a few force incentives while expanding others doesn t reduce administration involvement it entirely shifts which technologies get aid That s not free-market procedures it s administration interference exactly what it should avoid Rachel Stuckey Worse it sets a precedent for a future Congress to use the same rationale to pick different winners and losers Given in contemporary times s political volatility that could happen as soon as This back-and-forth isn t just destabilizing for America s economic system it s also politically unnecessary America s strength future depends on an all-of-the-above procedures strategy that delivers stability affordability and prosperity Now that the big beautiful bill is law the focus must shift to thoughtful implementation because how these changes are implemented will determine whether Minnesota s vitality business sector continues to grow or loses momentum Federal agencies and policymakers must follow through in a way that minimizes uncertainty protects ratepayers and ensures that clean potency remains a driver of rural advance economic opportunity and consumer choice Rachel Stuckey is the executive director of the Minnesota Conservative Resource Forum The post Strength approach should empower consumers not pick winners appeared first on MinnPost