The contrast couldn’t be greater

For two neighboring states which have a lot in common, the contrast in public policy couldn’t be greater.

Those who live in eastern North Dakota or northwestern Minnesota probably don’t see a lot of difference between themselves and their neighbors across the Red River. They’re culturally similar, their values and traditions are similar (many are even related to one another) and (no doubt surprisingly to some), their politics are even similar. When it comes to the public policy which governs their states, however, the contrast couldn’t be greater.

Perhaps nowhere is this more true than in the states’ opposing approaches to energy.

As we’ve previously written, Minnesota has latched onto the so-called “green agenda” so rigidly that its regulations’ stranglehold on energy companies force them to make business decisions which not only drive up their costs, but also force them to pass those additional costs onto their consumers. In fact, they’re so extreme that they’ve even tried to stop energy generated by means which they don’t like from flowing through their state on transmission lines.

West of the Red, North Dakota has adopted an “all of the above” energy policy which encourages diversity in an energy portfolio, supports new as well as traditional forms of energy, and the state is recognized as an energy powerhouse throughout the nation, as a result.

The stark contrast is showing up, once again, when it comes to nuclear energy. 

Minnesota already has nuclear generated power but it has, ironically, put a moratorium on its future development. 

In North Dakota, on the other hand, nuclear is one of the few forms of energy generation the state lacks, but it is actively pursuing the possibility of developing it in the future.

Center of the American Experiment, the parent organization of American Experiment North Dakota (North Dakota’s Think Tank), has taken on the fight in Minnesota to encourage the reversal of its moratorium.

The nation has sadly become more aware of Minnesota’s political extremism recently. Perhaps its leftist majority will begin to moderate or perhaps enough of the state’s voters will rebel against its extreme leftist agenda to change its majority. 

It will be interesting to see what the future holds.