While Minnesota works toward climate policy reform, Dakotas see emissions increase
Post Bulletin
12/26/19
By Sarah Mearhoff
ST PAUL -- As young people across the country take to their state Capitol and to local city hall steps in protest, weather events seem to grow increasingly severe and frequent and with the Trump Administration's rollbacks on environmental regulations, the question has fallen to states: What is the government's role in addressing climate change?
...According to a February 2019 report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, all 50 states nationwide decreased their energy-related carbon emissions by 12.4% between 2005 and 2016. The report documented how many metric tons of carbon dioxide each state released in those years thanks to residential, commercial, industrial and transportation needs, as well as from electricity generation.
Minnesota, itself, decreased its emissions by 12% in those years. The Dakotas, however, were two of only nine states in the country whose carbon emissions increased during those years. In North Dakota, emissions went up 3.9%. In South Dakota, 12.8%...According to a 2017 report by the World Resources Institute, North Dakota had the second-largest carbon emissions per capita in the country in 2014, behind Wyoming. South Dakota came in 10th for the country's largest per-capita emissions.
As North and South Dakotans see little in the way of climate change policy...In Minnesota, Governor Walz began pushing for 100-percent green energy by 2050 early in his tenure -- an issue he pledges to take to the 2020 campaign trail if Republicans stand in its way in the upcoming legislative session.
More here
https://www.postbulletin.com/news/politics/while-minnesota-works-toward-climate-policy-reform-dakotas-see-emissions/article_7c996cf4-27ed-11ea-98e7-1bd5553791fd.html
